History 1973–1977

Difficult times

In 1973 the monetary policy known as “Competition and Credit Control” came to an end. It had begun in 1971 and was intended to increase competition between financial organisations by letting them set their own interest rates. Along with this, new government rules raised minimum repayments from the greater of £2 or 5% of the balance to the greater of £6 or 15%¹. Suddenly the outlook for Access (and Barclaycard) was rather more difficult.

Expansion & change

Also in 1973, JCCC bought a 15% share in Eurocard, and the following year joined “Master Charge” (now Mastercard), which gave Access the use of the extensive payment network that company had already built up².

Soon after joining Master Charge, Access cards took on the bank identification number (BIN) prefix they would keep for many years, moving from the original 4987 to 5224. From the mid-1970s a leading “4” came to mean Visa, and a “5” Master Charge – so Access had to move away from 4987 anyway.

Enlarge picture

Enlarge picture

See how the cards themselves changed on the Early Plastics page.

Your Flexible Friend

From 1972 until 1977 Access advertised widely in print; many adverts appeared in the TV Times and Radio Times, and examples are in the press adverts section. 1977 saw a slowdown in new adverts and, with hindsight, the likely cause was the build-up to the hugely successful “Access – Your Flexible Friend” campaign.