A.
A credit card is a (36) of identification (37) which the owner may obtain consumer credit for the (38) of goods or services (39) than pay cash. At the time of sale he (40) his card to his seller, (41) records the purchaser’s name and account number (42) with the price of the purchase. Records are sent to a (43) billing office that calculates the total price of purchase (44) by the card owner during the business month and sends him a (45) .The purchaser returns his personal check, (46) all or part of the total, to the central office, which allocates the money to the (47) entitled to it.
B.
The credit card, an American innovation, first gained national (48) in 1938 (49) oil companies selling gasoline to (50) set up a national pool to honor each other’s cards. Rapid growth, (51) , was not possible (52) the mid-1950’s,when the development of electronic computers (53) fast, accurate billing and accounting. Department stores, airlines, banks, and other enterprises then entered the (54) and now offer credit to (55) 140 million card owners.