In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Western Union offers one of the easiest ways for families and friends to send money and stay connected almost anywhere in the world. Western Union has several divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, money orders, business payments and commercial services. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union incomes for 2007 have made $4,9 billion US dollars, and the quantity of transactions has made 572 million. In 1856, in 7 years after the foundation of New York State Printing Telegraph Company, the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network. Gold Card Loyalty Program Western Union