VISA's suit against First Data Corp. of little impact to CUs

<p>WASHINGTON – VISA USA’s suit against First Data Corporation, the credit card processor for hundreds of credit unions will likely not affect its credit union customers, according to David Banks, First Data spokesman. The suit involves what First Data calls its “intra-FDC processing,” a system which allows First Data to process a credit card transaction in its own network without having to use VISA net, as long as both the merchant’s bank and a customer’s card issuing bank have a relationship with First Data. Customarily Visa requires credit card transactions pass through its fee-generating network twice; once when the purchase is authorized and again when it is settled. First Data’s getting around the network appears to have brought the suit, Banks observed. Even though hundreds of credit unions which issue credit cards are First Data customers, relatively few of them have merchant accounts of the type that usually process credit card transactions, Banks said. “I am not knowledgeable enough to speak to every case,” Banks said, “but my general impression is that credit unions are more oriented to the individual consumer than to business accounts,” he said.</p>