Credit: Easy Go

A socially irresponsible act to induce people to get deeper in debt. —Excerpt from a talk at a Chicago church

Charge a tithe—Use your BankAmericard. —Sign outside a San Francisco church

That wide divergence between churches last week was prompted by the same phenomenon: the fast-spreading use of bank credit cards, which have become the hottest topic of debate and a source of frenetic competition among U.S. bankers. During the past twelve months, estimates the Federal Reserve Board, more than 1,000 banks have moved into the field. "We're on a creditcard binge," says Executive Vice President Paul Welch of Atlanta's Citizens & Southern National Bank. And most bankers agree that neither banking nor business will ever be the same.

Mortuaries & Teeny-Boppers. Though basically kin to such familiar cards as American Express and Diners Club, bank credit cards aim more at the ordinary needs of middle-income families than at travel and expense-account entertainment by executives. In a few cities, doctors, dentists and veterinarians already accept bank cards; in Chicago, several mortuaries and ambulance services have signed up, and at the city's Cheetah Twistadrome Boutique, teeny-boppers allowed access to their parents' cards can even charge their miniskirts and papier-mâché earrings.

Most bank cards cost consumers nothing—provided they pay their bills at the bank within 30 days. After that, the banks usually collect a highly profitable 1½%-a-month interest on the balance. Merchants who agree to honor the cards usually pay a 5% discount to exchange their charge slips for cash from the banks (v. up to 7% through American Express). In parts of the Midwest, competition has driven the rate down to 3%, but even that is not quite low enough to attract major retailers, who have a heavy investment in their own credit setups. President M. E. Arnett of Los Angeles' Bullock's Magnin suggests that at a 2½% discount department stores might well join up. Meantime, bank cards are helping many small shopkeepers to lift their sales—to the discomfiture of their competitors.

"Absolutely Wild." The obvious goal for any ambitious bank or bank group is to span the U.S. with a single credit-card system. With computers keeping the bookkeeping cost within bounds, local banks would reimburse local merchants, then pass their bills on to the cardholders' own banks for collection. In the race to go transcontinental, the giant Bank of America has grabbed an early lead. Last year it began licensing banks outside its California domain to use its highly successful (2,057,000 members, $228 million annual billings) BankAmericard. Fifteen banks have signed up, adding 1,500,000 cardholders and 30,000 retailers to the system.