Previously, there were cards that were neither bank nor ordinary plastic ones. The purpose of these cards was to confirm the credit capacity of the cardholder outside the bank. In 1914, some enterprises and oil companies began issuing special tickets to their richest regular customers in order to connect these customers with their business entities.
Many people claim that the banks are greedy institutions which want only to make use of their clients. However, one has to remember that banking is a business created for generation of profit. In case a bank will not get any profit from its operations, it will not be able to operate in the first place, providing such services like Internet payments and other, let alone lending money to clients. Surely some banks have less favourable conditions for clients than others, but it is the client who decides what bank to use.