Walmart Canada says no more Visa!

That’s right, after being unable to reach an agreement regarding merchant fees, Walmart Canada will stop accepting ALL Visa credit cards on July 18th.

The retail chain has claimed that Visa has been charging merchants “unacceptably high” fees and the two companies could not come to a satisfactory agreement.

The decision does not affect the US stores.

In a statement, Walmart Canada said:

“Following an evaluation of credit card transaction fees in Canada and the rest of the world, we have concluded the fees applied to Visa credit card purchases remain unacceptably high.

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. Unfortunately, Visa and Walmart have been unable to agree on an acceptable fee for Visa transactions. As a result we will no longer accept Visa in our stores across Canada, starting with our stores in Thunder Bay, on July 18, 2016.  This change will then be rolled out in phases across the country.”

A Visa spokeswoman said in a statement that the payments giant offers, “one of the lowest rates available to any merchant in the country,” adding that Walmart’s decision in Canada will have a detrimental effect on its customers.

In Walmart Canada’s statement, the company highlighted that it pays over C$100m (US$78m) and how it must take steps to lower that figure.

Customers will continue to be able to use other forms of payment including cash, Interac debit, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

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