The wide acceptance of Bankcard undermined loyalty to a single department store. In response, department stores geared up to ensure their customers would keep coming back. Coupons, stamps, and branded charge cards had long been used to build customer loyalty, but the schemes of the 1990s were unprecedented. Facilitated by technological innovations such as mass data processing, the new loyalty culture engaged more Australians than ever in the pleasures and pitfalls of retail credit. Loyalty programmes became an additional means for retailers to exploit status anxiety for profit and a significant feature of ‘aspirational’ Australia. The promise of rewards encouraged consumers to shop using their linked credit card, drawing more Australians into credit card use and the debt this might incur.