Walmart Continues to Drop Visa at More of Their Stores
As you already know, I love saving money, so Walmart is definitely one of the stores that I frequently go to. I know a group of people do not like supporting big box stores. But to win the miles and points game, you have to be attracted to the best deal. I just wished that Walmart.ca has shopping portals like Walmart.com.
Phase Out
The phase out of accepting Visa credit cards started with at 3 of its stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario on July 18, 2016 and will eventually role out to the rest of the country. Now it is affecting all 16 Walmart stores in the province of Manitoba.
One of the reasons mentioned for this phase out is that Visa offers high retailer fees. Oddly enough, Walmart is still accepting American Express, which I would think has higher retailer fees? With Costco exclusively accepting MasterCard, two of Canada’s biggest retailers are really locking Visa out of a larger market share. I am curious to see how this progresses.
Credit Card
Personally I think it has more to do with their co-branded credit card: Walmart Rewards MasterCard, which has the following highlights:
- No annual fee
- Earn $25 sign up bonus ($15 after your first purchase at Walmart and $10 for going paperless)
- Earn 1.25% cash back on Walmart purchases
- Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases
This credit card does have some potential, but it would be much better if they increased to at least 2.5% cash back on Walmart purchases.
Tangerine 2% cashback on category or even AMEX simply cash would offer a better value I think
Yes! Granted AMEX SimplyCash with $79. Any of the 2% fixed rewards cards would be better.
In the US, Walmart has partnered with Amex for Serve and Bluebird prepaid cards and Amex is accepted at Sam’s Club, so it isn’t too strange they are keeping Amex. I’m sure they have a deal where they pay a lot less to accept Amex than a small business. But I bet this is a pilot. however, I really cannot see Walmart stop accepting Visa all together in the US stores without causing a serious hit to revenue and major consumer complaints.
We can only dream here…