American Express was established in the year 1850 by Henry Wells, William Fargo, and John Butterfield. They got into the card business in 1958 with an annual fee of $6. The cards were made of paper that had the account number and card member’s name typed in. they began to issue embossed ISO 7810 plastic cards in 1959.
The First American Express Credit Cards: The Gold card was offered to the public in 1966 and a Platinum card in 1984. The platinum card had an annual fee of $250 as it was an exclusive offer to only a few privileged customers. In 1987 they introduced the Optima card, which was the first American Express card that permitted customers to carry a balance. In 1994, the Optima True Grace card was introduced which offered a grace period but this card was discontinued after a while.
