Your credit card speaks for you and what your spending ability is. How much can you spend and how much have you already used up from your credit limit? All this can be found out using this rectangular piece of plastic. Certain stores have a facility wherein they use a voice authentication system with a touch-tone phone. The most common system though is the magstripe-card swipe terminal where you swipe the card at the terminal through a system of Electronic Data Capture EDC. There is also the option of using your credit card at virtual terminals on the Internet, where you can make your purchase online and pay for it online as well.
When you are at a store and you make a purchase, the cashier at the counter swipes your credit card on the magstripe reader and the EDC software dials a certain telephone number, which is normally an organization that will give them the go-ahead signal on a purchase request. This company is given the name of the store, the credit card number, the expiry date and the credit card limit and all this within seconds of swiping it. Once done, you sign on the bill and voila! The purchase is yours.
The power of owning a credit card is just...