Base II

Base II was the data processing system that handled clearing the transactions between card issuers and the institutions where they use their cards. Base II was created by Bank of America, as was Base I, although Base II was not active and live until 1976. Base 1 was the creation of a real-time credit card authorization system by Bank of America in 1973. It was considered revolutionary to have all this done by a system, rather than by people.

There, now you have a fun bit of trivia to share with people the next time you swipe a card or open a statement.