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Bling Nation's debut of a closed-loop on-us transaction network (CardLine, 11/18) is not without precedent in the payments industry. First Data Corp., a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based processor, operated First Data Net, a closed-loop network that processed so-called "on us" transactions in which the card-issuing bank also was the merchant acquirer for the same transaction. The transaction would go through First Data Net and bypass the Visa-owned VisaNet transaction switch. In 2002, Visa sued in an attempt to force those transactions onto its network after First Data attempted to expand the program. The companies settled in 2006 (CardLine, 7/5/06), with First Data agreeing to migrate its customers that were Visa members onto VisaNet. A First Data spokesperson was unavailable for comment today.
