Eight of the top 20 innovations debuted in 1997. Most are still around in one form or another more often than not, but under new corporate ownership.

#9: Beneficial Finance

Beneficial Finance, now owned by Household International, launched the first real-time approved mini-app in January 1997. The loan program, cleverly branded “Two-Minute Loan,” wasn’t widely marketed, probably due to credit quality concerns. At left is a screenshot from January 1997.

#15: PeopleFirst Finance

PeopleFirst Finance, pioneer of blank-check auto lending in 1997, was purchased by Capital One Sept. 2001 and continues to dominate the category. Total originations in the four years prior to its acquisition were more than $2 billion. Here’s a screenshot from August 1998.

#18: QSpace

QSpace, now owned by Experian, was a couple years ahead of its time. It launched the first Web-based retail credit report in August 1997, but it wasn’t until 2001 that a significant number of consumers trusted the Web enough to use it for credit report retrieval. This is how the service looked at launch, mid-1997 .