About Ignite Payments | First Data

About company

Founded in 1988 as Cardservice International (CSI), Ignite Payments has a storied history of providing the payments industry with best-in-class services and solutions. First Data, which partnered to provide merchant processing services since CSI’s inception, took a majority-ownership stake in the company in 1997. On December 28, 2001, First Data assumed 100 percent ownership of CSI – the largest privately held Independent Sales Organization (ISO) in the United States at the time. A wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data since that point, CSI was rebranded as First Data Independent Sales (FDIS) in the spring of 2006. In January of 2013 the FDIS brand was given a final ‘fiery’ makeover – assuming the name Ignite Payments.