I'm not too concerned about this issue since I don't have huge sums of cash sitting around in bank accounts (it's mostly under my mattress). (moneysmartsblog.com)
It was still a relatively new concept that allowed people to avoid carrying huge sums of cash or writing checks, which at the time were not widely accepted when traveling away from home. (creditcards.com)
@Roy, 1:01 pm: I thought their main use was to generate huge sums of cash in the form of taxpayer - funded subsidies for their manufacturers and owners? (bishop-hill.net)