Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. By 1861 Western Union telegraph lines entangled the whole America. It's time to explore Europe. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders.