From the turn of the century until the 1970s, American retailers that sold on credit did so mainly as a customer convenience. Offering extended payment terms allowed them to attract and retain customers. During most of this period, few lenders earned any profits on their customer credit accounts. Most treated lending as a sales promotion, similar to advertising costs, and cross-subsidized the lending departments out of sales profits. The emphasis on customer convenience pushed early retailers toward innovations that were initially costly but also tailored to improve the shopping experience. The first was the credit card itself; the second was the revolving charge account. Both would eventually be adopted by bank lenders, but had their roots in retail.

Ultimately, the way in which American retailers managed their credit programs helped change public perceptions of credit. Because retailers focused on the customer experience, they developed collections techniques that were highly accommodating to consumer borrowers. They rarely harassed late borrowers. They also rarely pursued so-called hard collections, meaning repossession, because their goal was to attract customers. Instead, they discovered the value of timely, friendly reminders for keeping repayment rates high. In order to maintain amicable relations with borrower-customers, they were also rigorous about evaluating the creditworthiness of credit applicants. Together, these policies taught American households that store credit was hard to get, but once one was approved, convenient and forgiving. It also led them to one of the most important insights of modern lending: keeping customers happy and treating them with respect, along with careful management of accounts and collections, could dramatically reduce the apparent riskiness of consumer credit.