A charge card by any other name will work as well, right? Wrong. At least this is what National Bank Americard Inc. and the parallel company Ibanco, controller of 22 other credit cards throughout the world, have found out. Known as BankAmericard, Barclaycard, Carte Bleue, Sumitomotocard, Chargex, Ban-comer (and the list goes on) the universal blue, white and gold bands have caused enough confusion worldwide to warrant a name change.
What started in 1958 as a policy to allow the “autonomy of each bank” and “equitable representation of all members” has blossomed into an international headache for travelers attempting to use their blue, white and gold card in a shop where the salesperson doesn’t understand that BankAmericard is the same as Barclaykaart. And multiply the 45 million cardholders by two million establishments accepting the card and you have just developed Excedrin headache number one billion.
So, beginning in next March, National BankAmericard Inc. and all the rest will change to VISA, a universal name with a universal meaning. A national advertising campaign on network media will be launched in the spring and the Dallas banks are expecting to change the cards as the old ones expire.
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