American Express is credited with inventing the traveler's check

American Express debuted its first charge card in 1958 to give travelers access to cash abroad

The original American Express charge card was made of purple paperboard and allowed customers to book travel. Unlike credit cards, the card's balance had to be entirely paid off each month. When the card first launched, 250,000 customers used it, and 17,500 companies had agreed to accept it.

See a timeline of American Express' history

Since its founding in 1850, American Express has evolved from a mail delivery service to a multinational financial services company. Small additions to the company over time, such as taking money orders and inventing traveler's cheques, were key drivers of the company's transformation.

Two of American Express' co-founders also founded Wells Fargo

Henry Wells and William Fargo formed Wells, Fargo & Co. two years after American Express was created. Wells and Fargo saw an opportunity to expand the express delivery service from the East Coast and Middle America to the West Coast. The two initially asked the American Express board to expand operations, but the board declined, so they decided to create their own company. Today, Wells Fargo is among the top four largest banks in the US.

How 'Don't leave home without it' became the American Express tagline

The tagline was created by legendary New York advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather. Its first commercial was fronted by Karl Malden, famous for his role in the TV show "The Streets of San Francisco." The slogan was originally designed for American Express traveler's cheques, but was revived for the company's credit cards. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

In 2025, American Express paid $230M to settle fraud and deceptive marketing charges

American Express launched a wire payment service targeted at small businesses and falsely touted the service as a tax-deductible business expense in 2018. American Express was also accused of allowing small businesses to open corporate credit cards without the necessary employer identification number (EIN).

American Express stopped its rail service when President Wilson seized American railroads

After the US entered World War I, the federal government took control of American railways and consolidated rail companies. American Express officially exited the express shipping business in 1918 and turned its focus to its travel and financial services.

American Express has acquired restaurant software companies to elevate its cardholder experience

One of the many perks of American Express cards is dining credits and special reservation access to fine dining restaurants. Since American Express cardholders are often more affluent than other credit card users, restaurants have benefited from increased partnerships with American Express to offer cardholders preferential reservations and premium experiences. In 2019, American Express acquired Resy, a reservation software, and went on to acquire Tock in 2024.

American Express uses co-branded cards to provide brand-specific perks

Co-branded credit cards are partnerships between a card issuer and another company. Unlike regular credit cards that offer many different kinds of benefits at different companies, co-branded cards tend to only offer perks with the partner company. For example, American Express has a co-branded card with Delta airlines that allows users to earn points specifically towards the Delta rewards program.

Soybean oil fraud almost decimated American Express in 1963

A New York commodities trader who had defrauded the American government over uninspected meat for school lunches, Anthony "Tino" De Angelis, used American Express warehouses to sell soybean oil. However, Angelis had actually filled the tanks with water and placed just enough soybean oil on top of the tanks to pass inspection. American Express was liable for many of the tanks and its stock faced a huge downturn, opening the door for a then 33-year-old Warren Buffett to make his first purchase in the company.

In 2018, the Supreme Court sided with American Express in a case that significantly changed antitrust regulation.

The US Department of Justice sued Visa, Mastercard, and American Express in 2010 over alleged anticompetitive contracts with merchants. While Visa and Mastercard settled out of court, American Express went to trial and had its case taken all the way up to the Supreme Court—which ruled that both sides of a transaction business must be analyzed to determine a monopoly.

London bankers created the first clearinghouse to process checks in 1770

Until that time, each banker was required to bring that day's checks to every other bank for settlement. Perhaps understandably, the first place bankers opted to gather to clear and settle checks was a tavern known as the Five Bells. The innovation gave rise to what would become clearinghouses, key institutions that facilitate payments.

American Express is targeting Gen Z, who are generally less risk-averse than older generations

Unlike Millennials, who grew up during the Great Recession in 2008, Gen Z has a higher risk appetite and has grown up with more gamified spending platforms, like online gambling and prediction markets. Analysts say Gen Z's risk appetite makes them prime targets for credit card companies like American Express that can sell younger customers on large benefits in exchange for annual fees.

ATMs drastically expanded access to checking accounts in the 1960s

The invention disrupted the local bank industry, allowing customers to access cash around the clock and when out of town. The innovation also reduced the headcount needed for bank services and created a new revenue stream via ATM fees for noncustomers. This 50-year anniversary retrospective revisits the cash kiosk.

The idea of a check—or promissory note—goes back to antiquity

As long as traders have looked to pay in cash or coin, the idea of an IOU has been close behind. Clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia (roughly modern Iraq) and Persia (Iran) suggest proto-checks were used at the time. Islamic traders innovated "sakks" in the 9th century, leading to the broader adoption during the Middle Ages in Europe.

Congress mandated that the Fed streamline check payments

When it was first created in the 1910s, the Federal Reserve System became a crucial link between the nation's regional banks. The increasing number of checks used by the thousands of banks across the nation required a central operator, and the Fed was uniquely positioned to help. Learn more about the role the Fed played in the history of checks.

The name Visa was conceived by the company's founder, Dee Hock.

Visa was previously called National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI), but as other banks began to license the network and it expanded internationally, it needed a name less associated with both Bank of America and America itself. Hock believed that the word "Visa" implied no national identification and was relatively easy to pronounce in any language.

The history of credit cards begins with the 'Fresno Drop.'

On a 1958 morning in Fresno, California, about 60,000 people woke up to find a strange rectangular piece of plastic on their doorstep without explanation. Those chosen for the "Fresno Drop" didn't know it yet, but Bank of America was behind the credit card delivery stunt.

See checks signed by US presidents

One bank has made it a point to conserve checks from US presidents. Peruse this gallery of signed checks from Washington, FDR, JFK, Lincoln, and more.

19th-century Americans discovered tipping in Europe

Tipping waiters was a custom in medieval Europe, where masters gave their serfs money for exceptional work. Wealthy Americans vacationing in Europe in the mid-1800s discovered the behavior and brought it back to the US.

Merchants have to pay credit card transaction fees each time a card is swiped

Credit card networks such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express must calculate fees for not only the customer, but also the merchant in every transaction.

Credit reporting's earliest origins in the 1700s resemble a game of telephone, with rural merchants asking their most esteemed neighbors to vouch for them to sleuthing urban lenders

It would be decades before the system evolved into something more formulaic. For instance, New York City's Mercantile Agency—which was created to formalize information and rumors about borrowers, sorting the reports into enormous ledgers—wasn't started until 1841.

The long-lost art of coded postage stamps

In the 1800s, the postcard was a relatively new phenomenon, as was the post office. In the burgeoning system, recipients of mail had to sometimes pay prohibitively costly fees to receive it. So to get around the fees, a system of placing stamps on the envelopes in specific ways to communicate—a simple yes or no—was devised by clever mailers and expanded and codified by postcard companies into guides. Learn about the fascinating system here.

Browse a timeline of the fascinating history of board games in America.

Cook’s ‘Travellers Handbooks’ were precursors to the travel guide

Long before Rick Steves or Lonely Planet, Thomas Cook’s “Travellers Handbooks” offered maps, recommendations, and tips for 19th-century tourists in unfamiliar locations.

Thomas and Anne Rogers were famous counterfeiters in 17th-century England

The pair used a practice called “coin clipping,” shaving the edges off silver coins to decrease their weight before sending them back into circulation. When banknotes rather than coins gained popularity, counterfeiting methods evolved—in the 1700s, an early banknote counterfeiter named Mary Butterworth created counterfeit paper money using starched cloth and a hot iron to transfer the pattern of a banknote onto paper.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.