MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Shoppers visiting Walmart stores in Canada will no longer be able to use their Visa cards to pay, as the retailer could not reach an agreement with the credit card company.
Walmart cited Visa’s fees as the reason the two entities could not reach a deal. In its statement, the company called the fees “unacceptably high,” reported LowCards.com.
“Last year, Walmart said it paid more than $100 million in credit card fees, but it did not specify how much of this total went to Visa,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com, Birmingham, Ala.
Hardekopf noted that Walmart Canada added, “To ensure we are taking care of our customers’ best interests and delivering on our promise of saving customers money, we constantly work to reduce our operating costs, including credit card fees.”
Visa has more than 50 million cards in circulation in Canada, resulting in $232 billion in transactions per year. “This action could hamper some shoppers from making purchases at Walmart,” said Hardekopf.
Visa has accused Walmart of putting its own interests ahead of its customers.
“Walmart made this business decision despite Visa offering one of the lowest rates available to any merchant in the country,” a spokesperson told BBC Canada, Hardekopf explained.
However, the retailer, which has 370 stores in Canada, said it remained “optimistic that we will reach an agreement with Visa.”
The Thunder Bay Walmart will stop accepting Visas on July 18, and the credit card will be phased out of stores across the country in the weeks that follow, reported Hardekopf.