# Oldest ATM card in circulation



## GeneralZod (15 Jan 2006)

I've got a still working AIB Banklink ATM card from 1988, the year before the Berlin Wall came down.

Can anyone beat that?


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## Guest127 (15 Jan 2006)

your are probably still running albania too!


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## GeneralZod (15 Jan 2006)

Think you're mixing up your table quiz dictators beginning with Zeds. The other fella was called Zog.


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## ClubMan (15 Jan 2006)

Any idea why they never replaced your card? Is it _ATM _only or combined (e.g. cheque guarantee, _Laser _- presumably not since it predates it - _Cirrus/Plus+/Maestro _etc.)


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## GeneralZod (15 Jan 2006)

It's an ATM only card for a "cashsave" account with a tragically low interest rate.

All my other cards are replaced every two years but this one soldiers on.


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## shoegal (16 Jan 2006)

Hi GeneralZod, I have one from 1994! not as good as yours but it's also AIB, started life as a student account, moved to cashsave and is now current! 12 years later still going strong. In fact a friend of mine has an even older one, it's got the blue and white stripes which AIB had before they changed their colours!


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## Guest127 (16 Jan 2006)

apologies general. dyslexia. (causes me to  lose money with the bookies. i keep getting the winning bet mixed up.)


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## GeneralZod (17 Jan 2006)

shoegal said:
			
		

> In fact a friend of mine has an even older one, it's got the blue and white stripes which AIB had before they changed their colours!



That's the one I've got. The colour scheme is eye popping.


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## kait889 (17 Jan 2006)

i got one from 1920 discover low apr with cashsave


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## Alex (17 Jan 2006)

when did atm cards first arrive in ireland?

Alex.


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## ClubMan (17 Jan 2006)

More to the point surely _ATMs _did not exist in the 1920s!?


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## GeneralZod (17 Jan 2006)

Did some googling and got a lot of hits.

[broken link removed] claims to have been the first to introduce ATMs to Ireland, with 4 in O'Connell Street in 1968. 
This does not appear to be a true ATM as we know it today.

Bank of Ireland's [broken link removed] says they introduced the first PASS machine in 1980.

AIB don't seem to have a history on-line.

The first true ATM with magnetic strip, PIN and functionality appears to have been introduced in New York in 1971. 
Here's another [broken link removed] from the summer 2000 issue of Invention and Technology magazine.


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## ClubMan (17 Jan 2006)

Jaysus - are we anoraks or wha'?  Anyway, this Wikipedia article on _ATMs _includes a history section which might be of interest in the context of the current discussion. Interesting to see that _ATM _patents were registered in the 1930s!


> *History*
> 
> The world's first ATM was developed by De La Rue and installed in Enfield Town in North London on June 27, 1967 by Barclays Bank. This instance of the invention is credited to John Shepherd-Barron, although Luther George Simjian registered patents in New York, USA in the 1930s and Donald Wetzel and two other engineers from Docutel registered a patent on June 4, 1973. Shepherd-Barron was awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year's Honours.
> 
> ...


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## irishpancake (18 Jan 2006)

GeneralZod said:
			
		

> Think you're mixing up your table quiz dictators beginning with Zeds. The other fella was called Zog.



There's no doubt about it, but wikipedia brings you down strange paths.

This King Zog guy, didya read how many fags he smoked per day 



> In the absence of nightclubs or theater in Tirana, the king spent much of his free time playing poker. He was also a great lover of perfumed cigarettes, smoking about one hundred and fifty a day. His household expenses made up nearly two percent of the national budget.


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## wavelength (20 May 2006)

yeah no doubt, in contrast I have a record number of new cards due to loss of existing cards.


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## MB05 (20 May 2006)

I have an EBS ATM Card and they never update them.  I have had the same one for 13 years!


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## Sarn (21 May 2006)

Another student one here from '94. I always get a funny look/comment about the age of the card when doing transactions in the branch (BOI). It still works so no need to change it.


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## wheeler (21 May 2006)

GeneralZod said:
			
		

> I've got a still working AIB Banklink ATM card from 1988, the year before the Berlin Wall came down.
> 
> Can anyone beat that?


 
I have one from 88 as well. Blue and white. Heard on the Jerry Ryan show a few years ago a guy called in and said he had one from 84.


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## Alex (24 May 2006)

my cousin has one from 1988 also.


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## car (25 May 2006)

> the year before the Berlin Wall came down.



The Berlin wall came down?


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## brian.mobile (28 May 2006)

GeneralZod said:
			
		

> I've got a still working AIB Banklink ATM card from 1988, the year before the Berlin Wall came down.
> 
> Can anyone beat that?


 
98, ah, sweet innocence.

No, I can't beat that. But I have an old birth certificate from 1975.

Anyone beat that?

BM


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