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Here are some fun and interesting facts about Credit Card Processing:

• A pre paid card is not considered a real card. This is because no issue is offered as such by the card agency.

• The first widely accepted plastic charge card was issued in 1958 by American Express.

• There were approximately 176.8 million credit cardholders in 2008 (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)

• How did MasterCard begin? In 1966, a number of banks formed the Interbank Card Association. In 1969, the Interbank Card Association bought the rights to use "Master Charge" from the California Bank Association. It was renamed MasterCard in 1979. (Source: MasterCard.com)

• The average credit cardholder has 3.5 credit cards. Including cardholders and non-cardholders, the average consumer has 2.7 cards each. (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)

• Half of college undergraduates had four or more credit cards in 2008. That's up from 43 percent in 2004 and just 32 percent in 2000.  (Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards," April 2009)

• At about 20 percent, New Hampshire and New Jersey have the largest concentration of consumers with 10 or more credit cards. (Source: Experian national score index study, February 2007)