This post is by Georgette Green, Business Reference and Research Specialist in the Science & Business Reading Room.
August is the month for back-to-school preparations and consumers are swiping their credit cards to purchase school clothes, supplies, and groceries for school lunches! Did you know that the Library of Congress has resources on the credit card industry? These resources include trade publications, industry reports and more.
The Nilson Report is a semimonthly publication that analyzes the credit card industry. The Library has issues of the Nilson Report dating from 1990 to present. The reports focus on payment transactions made using credit and debit cards and mobile payments. Each issue contains a “fast facts” section at the front, providing quick information about critical industry topics such as credit card companies, technology, banking institutions, financial networks, management changes, career opportunities, conferences, and seminars.
In addition to the fast facts section, the Nilson Report has in-depth articles on specific topics. If you are interested in, say, historical credit card usage, the Nilson Report has analyses. An article from the August 1990 issue, titled “Credit-Card Debt,” for example, reported that consumers owed a total of $225.4 billion in credit card debt to credit card companies, which was expected to double in the following years. The article included tables showing United States economic indicators, from 1980 to 2000, and the credit card rolling debt.
If you find industry publications like the Nilson Report useful, I encourage you to explore our collection of books and journals, available in our online catalog, which provide an overview and understanding of the credit card industry, to inform your research needs.
Select Books on the Credit Card Industry
Acquiring Card Payments by Ilya Dubinsky (2019). This book provides an overview of the card payments industry, and explores the systems and technologies involved in credit card transactions.
Preventing Credit Card Fraud: A Complete Guide For Everyone From Merchants To Consumers by Jen Grondahl Lee and Gini Graham Scott (2017). This book provides strategies against credit card fraud.
The Paytech Book: The Payment Technology Handbook For Investors, Entrepreneurs And Fintech Visionaries (2020). This book compiles chapters from 74 different authors with varying backgrounds and expertise in payment technology. Topics include the advancements in digital payment processing technology, from credit cards and mobile applications to blockchain, and issues with regulations and compliance.
Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, And The End of Financial Control by Sean Vanatta (2024). This book examines the increasing use of credit cards by consumers in postwar America, congressional bills aimed at protecting consumers, and the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp.
A Global Guide To Fintech And Future Payment Trends by Peter Goldfinch (2019). The book explores trends in payment systems and introduces the evolution of alternative forms of payment.
If you are interested in learning more about business and business topics, check out our business research guides!
Want to read more posts on Business and Science topics, then to Inside Adams — it’s free!