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Kroger's California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute

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gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Kroger's California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute

Perhaps they have never heard of outrageous fees charged by American Express, even as they accept the card..

 

 

  • Kroger says it will no longer accept Visa credit cards at Foods Co. stores in Central and Northern California as the two companies clash over rates and fees.
  • The ban on Visa credit cards will take effect starting Aug. 14 and affect stores in major cities like San Francisco and Sacramento.
  • Visa told CNBC it is "disappointed" at Kroger's decision and will continue to work with Kroger to reach a solution.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/30/kroger-california-subsidiary-to-bar-visa-credit-cards-amid-fee-dispu...

Message 1 of 19
18 REPLIES 18
Shadowfactor
Valued Contributor

Certain Kroger Grocery stores with possible nationwide expansion to no longer accept Visa Cards

Food Co in California will no longer be taking Visa cards.

Kroger is considering a nationwide ban of all Visa cards due to interchange fees.


https://www.foxbusiness.com/financials/kroger-grocery-unit-to-ban-visa-credit-cards








Total Revolving Limits $254,800

Message 2 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Certain Kroger Grocery stores with possible nationwide expansion to no longer accept Visa Cards


@Shadowfactor wrote:
Food Co in California will no longer be taking Visa cards.

Kroger is considering a nationwide ban of all Visa cards due to interchange fees.


https://www.foxbusiness.com/financials/kroger-grocery-unit-to-ban-visa-credit-cards





More merchant complaining I see. They don't want to pay decent wages. They don't want to pay credit card interchange fees. They don't want to pay for benefits.... What a surprise. 

 

Have fun putting the Visa sticker back up in a few months when the company decides to grow up and stop being immature. 

 

Here's my favorite line: 

“Visa's rates and fees are among the highest of any credit card brand," Foods Co. said in a statement. "The savings will be passed along to Foods Co. customers in the form of low everyday prices on the items shoppers purchase most."

 

Yeah, okay. Just like how the Durbin Amendment to Dodd-Frank helped lower prices for customers, oh wait... They didn't. 

Message 3 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Certain Kroger Grocery stores with possible nationwide expansion to no longer accept Visa Cards

Meh, good luck with that.

 

(Though really, I think the days of merchants paying 3% will inevitably end. I don't think we'll ever end up at the 0.2% or whatever that Europe mandates, but they will be lower.)

Message 4 of 19
RicHowe
Valued Contributor

Re: Certain Kroger Grocery stores with possible nationwide expansion to no longer accept Visa Cards

Will this stop the endless echo chamber of AMEX having outrageous rates? No, probably not. #TheMythContinues

Message 5 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Kroger's California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute

Interesting, I wonder if it has anything to do with why they switched from Visa to MC on their Rewards card a few months back?

Message 6 of 19
SweetCreditObsession
Valued Contributor

Re: Kroger's California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute

They will continue to accept Visa debit cards...


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Message 7 of 19
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Kroger's California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute

Different tiers of Visa pricing, and California probably has a preponderence of Siggy and higher cards which have a higher transactional fee.

 

Admittedly it's all negotiable but the grocery industry is still reeling a bit from the Amazon WF aquisition and if there's an obvious place to cut a percent out of your expenses (interchange fees being an obvious one, see Costco dumping Amex for just this reason) why wouldn't you do it unless you expect a massive backlash?

 

Not sure that will be the case, but guess we'll see... it's one of the first big public names to do so and I agree the interchage fees are absurd.  On the flipside those are what fund our rewards as consumers to some extent too, so...




        
Message 8 of 19
Streetervillelady
Frequent Contributor

Kroger Bans Visa Cards At 250 Additional Stores

Message 9 of 19
pipeguy
Senior Contributor

Re: Kroger Bans Visa Cards At 250 Additional Stores

I saw this earlier this evening and my first thought was GOOD finally a merchant with weight is pushing back to the greed of credit card swipe fees. MC/V/AE make a lot of money off merchants/issuers and while most consumers don't even think about this money being added back in higher retail prices, we all pay those inflated prices. I understand very well the game and how you can make it work to your advantage (cash back and other rarely used so-called perks), but I also understand at some point the fees just become too greedy.

 

As some of you know, I owned and ran a small business for 18 years and swipe fees were at that time our second biggest expense. I am a bit surprised that it was Visa and not AmEx that got the pushback from a major retailer for their excessive fees.  

Message 10 of 19
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