The Great Chicago Christmas Credit Card Fiasco of 1966: Echoes
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Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- As Christmas approached in 1966,Chicago’s banks gave criminals the best gift of all: free creditcards.
They didn’t do this intentionally, of course, but thatholiday season the city’s banks put thousands of credit cardsinto criminal hands, with disastrous consequences. Althoughembarrassing and costly, the Chicago credit card fiasco did havean upside: It eventually led to consumer protections that arestill with us today.