A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card used to pay for telephone services. It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is sufficient. Standard cards which can be purchased and used without any sort of account facility give a fixed amount of credit and are discarded when used up; rechargeable cards can be topped up, or collect payment in arrears. The system for payment and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call vary from card to card.
Optical phonecards from Austria. The balance is shown by the vertical marks on the white bar.
Phonecards from Olneyville, Rhode Island, 2008
A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
Metal signs at a plant nursery in Los Angeles County, California marketing Mastercharge and Bankamericard
Receipt from 1997 – card physically swiped and information imprinted on the receipt
Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are card-issuing entities that set transaction terms for merchants, card-issuing banks, and acquiring banks.
An example of street markets accepting credit cards. Most simply display the acceptance marks (stylized logos, shown in the upper-left corner of the sign) of all the cards they accept.
