Walmart Canada to stop accepting Visa, says fees too high

TORONTO, June 11 (Reuters) - Walmart Canada stores will stop
accepting Visa Inc (NYSE:V) V.N cards as the credit card provider
charges merchants "unacceptably high" fees, the retailer said on
Saturday.
Walmart has been unable to agree with Visa on an "acceptable
fee," and will no longer accept the company's credit cards
starting July 18, it said in a statement.
The move will not affect the U.S. stores of parent Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT)
Stores Inc WMT.N .
A Visa spokeswoman said in a statement it offers "one of the
lowest rates available to any merchant in the country" and said
Walmart Canada's decision will have a negative impact on
shoppers.
Representatives of Walmart Canada and Visa declined to
address questions on specifics of payment terms.
A Walmart Canada spokesman said the retailer pays more than
C$100 million ($78.27 million) in credit card fees every year,
but specific transaction fees are part of "confidential
agreements."
Canadian retailers have long complained about what they call
the high interchange fees they pay credit card companies.
In 2014 Visa and MasterCard Inc said they would trim
Canadian transaction rates to an average effective rate of 1.5
percent, after complaints about their fees almost resulted in
government intervention.
Unlike American Express Co (NYSE:AXP), which typically negotiates a
flat fee with every merchant, Visa and MasterCard have variable
fees based on the status of their different cards.
Small retailers, which usually have less power to negotiate
transaction terms, have said that hurts them as they are never
sure of the exact rate they will be billed between 1 percent and
3 percent on any given transaction.
Walmart Canada said stores in Thunder Bay in the
northwestern part of the Ontario province will be the first to
stop accepting Visa cards, and the change will then be rolled
out "in phases" to the rest of the more than 370 Canadian
Walmart stores.
($1 = 1.2777 Canadian dollars)