Walmart Stores Inc. will stop accepting Visa Inc. credit cards at all 16 of its stores in the Canadian province of Manitoba as of Oct. 24, extending a ban that began two months ago in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The retailer is informing customers of the change Thursday on its Canadian website and in stores. Walmart’s Canadian unit has threatened to expel Visa from all 406 of its stores nationwide unless the network agrees to lower the amount it charges for credit-card transactions. Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, stopped accepting Visa at its three Thunder Bay outlets on July 18.
Walmart, which pays more than C$100 million ($76 million) to accept credit cards annually in Canada, called the fees Visa charges “unacceptably high” in a June 11 statement on its website.
Walmart is “unfairly dragging millions of Canadian consumers into the middle of a business disagreement that can and should be resolved between our companies,” Visa said in a June statement about the dispute. “We are disappointed in their actions. And we are concerned about the negative impact their decision to stop accepting Visa will have on loyal shoppers across Canada.”
