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The First Bank Credit Card

Client: Bank of Virginia (now Capital One)

For Bank of Virginia, SIR's research findings were like money in the bank. In 1950, the Diners' Club issued the first credit card in the United States designed exclusively for restaurant bills. American Express followed in 1958. By the early 1960s, companies started to offer "store" credit cards, advertising them as a time-saving device rather than a form of credit.

Richmond-based Bank of Virginia was one of the first banks to see the potential of this new credit card concept, not as a "store card," but rather as a bank credit card that would be recognized at all stores.

SIR was called in to test the concept. Would consumers feel comfortable with one card … would they replace store cards with a master card … and would retailers sign up to accept them? SIR's mall intercepts and focus group research suggested that the new master card concept held great promise. What followed changed banking history.

But there's more to this story. Bank of Virginia eventually became part of Signet Bank. As bank credit cards swept the nation, Signet's credit card portfolio grew and eventually attracted the attention of two financial marketing wizards -- Rich Fairbank and Nigel Morris. Fairbank and Morris perfected a credit card lending approach called information-based strategy (IBS), which brought marketing, credit, risk, operations, and IT together into a flexible decision-making process. Credit solutions could be tailored to individual customer needs and credit history. Bank of Virginia recognized their brilliance and put them in charge of their bank card division.

There was no turning back. Under Fairbank's and Morris' leadership, Signet's Bank Card division became a phenomenal success. In 1995, Signet spun off its Bank Card division to create the publicly held Capital One. Since then, Capital One's customer base has grown to close to 50 million people with managed loans exceeding $75 billion.

And all along the way, SIR helped Capital One conduct hundreds of focus groups to explore new credit product concepts and new customer acquisition strategies.

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