Kroger Sues Visa Over Pin Debit Transactions
June 27 2016 - 1:00PM
Dow Jones News
Kroger Co. filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc., saying the
payments network has threatened to raise fees and cut off the
grocer's acceptance of debit cards due to a dispute about the use
of personal identification numbers to verify debit-card
transactions.
Kroger said it has already been fined $7 million by Visa over
the dispute. This has been ongoing for several months and is tied
to the introduction of safer cards that have an embedded computer
chip instead of the traditional magnetic strip.
Kroger required customers to authorize their chip debit-card
transactions with a PIN and routed the transactions to networks
other than Visa. The grocery chain said that Visa said the
configuration of its payment terminals didn't comply with Visa's
rules and demanded that it route the transactions only through the
Visa network.
Kroger says it rang up $29 billion in Visa debit-card
transactions last year, noting in the lawsuit that cutting off its
ability to accept Visa debit cards "threatened catastrophic
consequences for Kroger's business."
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the southern
district of Ohio. A Visa spokeswoman declined to comment.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also sued Visa over PIN debit transactions
last month.
Write to Robin Sidel at robin.sidel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 27, 2016 13:45 ET (17:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Kroger (NYSE:KR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Kroger (NYSE:KR)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024