Diners Club

Diners Club
legal form	Limited
founding	1950
Seat	Riverwoods , Illinois , USA
management	Eduardo Tobon, CEO and President
Website	www.dinersclub.com

The " ANA Diners Super Flyers Premium Card"

Diners Club International (DCI), founded as Diners Club, is a credit card company owned by Discover Financial Services . Founded in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara , Ralph Schneider, Matty Simmons and Alfred S. Bloomingdale , it is the first independent payment card company in the world and for the first time established the concept of an independent provider of cards for the payment of travel and entertainment with collective billing. Diners Club International has franchise companies with offices in 59 countries.

history

On February 8, 1950, Diners Club was founded with starting capital of $ 1.5 million. McNamara was able to convince a few restaurants of his concept and in early 1950 issued the first credit card for 27 restaurants. About 200 members joined in the first year. In 1952, millionaire Alfred Bloomingdale joined the company for the breakthrough. Its reputation and department store attracted new members and acceptance points.

There were approximately 20,000 users in late 1950 and 42,000 users in March 1951.

The Diners Club credit was valid for a maximum of one month, however, as the bill, typically for a charge card, was paid monthly and not later, as was later made possible by Bank of America for the first time .

McNamara did not believe in the long-term success of Diners Club and sold his shares in 1952 for $ 200,000 to his business partners.

In 1961, Diners Club introduced the first plastic credit card, followed by American Express , which had been issuing plastic cards since 1959.

Ten years later, the Diners Club was a listed company and began to develop an extensive additional program (e.g. travel insurance). In 1969 the Diners Club was able to establish its first shops in what was then the Eastern Bloc , even before the other credit card companies such as Visa or Mastercard . The Diners Club card is not as popular as its competitors; it has found its acceptance primarily among business travelers because of its numerous airport lounges around the world. Thus, in Frankfurt am Main airport lounge opened in 1977th However, this privilege has become increasingly less important in recent years, as the airlines' frequent flyer programs have recognized the need for special support on the ground before departure.

Like its competitor American Express , the Diners Club credit card has no official spending limit, unlike the MasterCards and Visa cards offered in Germany. With their combinations of silver, gold or elite status for business travelers, they also offer their important customers lounges. There are currently around 850 lounges available worldwide, 17 of which are in Germany. With increasing acceptance problems in retail in the USA and Canada, the Diners Club card has recently also been accepted by MasterCard partners there. In addition, since October 1, 2009, all Diners Club cards have been accepted in the Discover network ( Discover Card in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean). The Discover Network logo can be found on the back of new Diners Club cards .

Diners Club was taken over in 1981 by the major bank Citigroup . In 1992 Diners Club took over enRoute, Air Canada's credit card business . In April 2008 Citigroup sold Diners Club's international credit card business to payment service provider Discover Financial Services for $ 165 million, and the North American business to Bank of Montreal the following year .

present

Diners Club Deutschland GmbH announced on January 24, 2014 that, on the basis of a realignment of the business strategy, the card business in Germany had been transferred to DC Bank AG in Vienna as a licensee with effect from March 31, 2014 . The credit cards issued by Diners Club Deutschland GmbH thus lost their validity at the specified time. For the issuance of a new Diners Club credit card by DC Bank, a new credit card contract was required.

Founding myth

From the beginning of the Diners Club, the story invented by the employee Matty Simmons about the founding was told: According to this, the founder McNamara is said to have noticed in 1949 while eating in a New York restaurant that he had forgotten his wallet and should - in his local restaurant - as security have left their signed business card. So that this embarrassment doesn't happen to him again, he is said to have founded the Diners Club.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Louis P. Cain: Bloomingdale, Alfred Schiffer (April 15, 1916– August 20, 1982), cofounder of Diners Club and adviser to President Ronald Reagan . In: American National Biography Online . Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7 , doi : 10.1093 / anb / 9780198606697.article.1001951 .
^ David Sparks Evans, Richard Schmalensee: Paying with Plastic: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing . MIT Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-262-55058-1 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).
↑ ^a ^b NZZ Folio 07/99 "When Frank McNamara forgot his wallet"
^ Edmund Lindop: America in the 1950s . Twenty-First Century Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8225-7642-6 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).
^ Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search. Retrieved September 5, 2017 .
^ Paul Holper, Paul: Inventing Millions . Orient Paperbacks, ISBN 978-81-222-0458-2 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).
^ Merrill Fabry: Now You Know: What Was the First Credit Card? Retrieved September 5, 2017 .
^ Frank Braatz, Ulrich Brinker, Hans-Jürgen Friedrich: Everything about payment transactions with cards . Luchterhand Verlag, Neuwied 1999, ISBN 3-472-03030-5
^ COMPANY NEWS; Air Canada Sells Credit Card Unit . In: The New York Times . March 27, 1992, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed September 8, 2017]).
^ Reuters: Discover Card Buys Citigroup's Diners Club . In: The New York Times . April 7, 2008, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed September 8, 2017]).
↑ Bank of Montreal press release dated December 31, 2009
^ Pamela Klaffke: Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping . arsenal pulp press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-55152-143-5 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).

Web links

Commons : Diners Club International - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Group website (regional, including DE - AT - CH )

[Cain99-1] A ^b Louis P. Cain: Bloomingdale, Alfred Schiffer (April 15, 1916– August 20, 1982), cofounder of Diners Club and adviser to President Ronald Reagan . In: American National Biography Online . Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7 , doi : 10.1093 / anb / 9780198606697.article.1001951 .

[2] David Sparks Evans, Richard Schmalensee: Paying with Plastic: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing . MIT Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-262-55058-1 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).

[NZZ-3] NZZ Folio 07/99 "When Frank McNamara forgot his wallet"

[4] Edmund Lindop: America in the 1950s . Twenty-First Century Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8225-7642-6 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).

[5] Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search. Retrieved September 5, 2017 .

[6] Paul Holper, Paul: Inventing Millions . Orient Paperbacks, ISBN 978-81-222-0458-2 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).

[7] Merrill Fabry: Now You Know: What Was the First Credit Card? Retrieved September 5, 2017 .

[8] Frank Braatz, Ulrich Brinker, Hans-Jürgen Friedrich: Everything about payment transactions with cards . Luchterhand Verlag, Neuwied 1999, ISBN 3-472-03030-5

[9] COMPANY NEWS; Air Canada Sells Credit Card Unit . In: The New York Times . March 27, 1992, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed September 8, 2017]).

[10] Reuters: Discover Card Buys Citigroup's Diners Club . In: The New York Times . April 7, 2008, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed September 8, 2017]).

[11] Bank of Montreal press release dated December 31, 2009

[12] Pamela Klaffke: Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping . arsenal pulp press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-55152-143-5 ( google.de [accessed September 5, 2017]).