Walmart, Capital One end consumer credit card agreement

Walmart has ended its agreement with Capital One, which was the exclusive issuer of Walmart consumer credit cards, the companies said on Friday.

The world’s largest retailer had previously accused Capital One of being too slow to post many transactions to cardholders’ accounts, and failing to promptly replace many lost cards.

Walmart had tied up with Capital One in 2018 after ending its two-decade long partnership with Synchrony Financial. Capital One started issuing the store-branded credit cards from 2019.

The problems were uncovered in late 2022 and early 2023, while a lawsuit began in April 2023.

A federal judge had ruled in March 2024 that Walmart can end its credit card partnership with Capital One early because the bank failed to provide the required level of customer service.

Capital One, at the time, had said it disagreed with the decision and was evaluating its right to appeal.

While Capital One and Walmart have ended their partnership, cardholders can continue to earn and redeem rewards, and previously accrued rewards will retain their value, the companies said on Friday.

Separately, Capital One had agreed earlier in the year to buy credit card issuer Discover Financial Services in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal to create a global payments giant.