Payments history and curiosities

There is an exact crossover point, and most people have never worked it out.

The most widely copied price in software, and nobody set it by calculation.

The 1958 experiment that went badly wrong, got unsolicited card mailings banned, and became Visa.

Rewards are paid for out of interchange — which means out of the merchant.

For decades the signature was the security check. Then all four networks dropped it at once.

The first digit tells you the industry. The first six tell you the bank.

The most retold origin story in payments was described as embellished by the family of the man it is about.

The last digit of your card is not part of the account number. It is a checksum.