Walmart, Capital One End Consumer Credit Card Agreement By Reuters

(Reuters) – Capital One Financial will no longer be the exclusive issuer of Walmart-branded credit cards, the two companies said on Friday, breaking their agreement after a dispute.

The world’s largest retailer accused Capital One of being too slow to update cardholders’ account transactions and failing to promptly replace lost cards.

Walmart (NYSE:) partnered with Capital One in 2018 after ending a 20-year partnership with Synchrony Financial (NYSE:). Capital One began issuing store-branded credit cards in 2019.

The problem came to light in late 2022 and early 2023, and litigation began in April 2023.

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

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

Capital One and Walmart have ended their partnership, but cardholders will continue to be able to earn and redeem rewards, and previously earned rewards will retain their value, the companies said Friday.

“The parties have decided that the best path forward for our customers is to terminate the current partnership and transition existing eligible Walmart Card customers to one of Capital One’s flagship branded rewards products,” a Capital One spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Capital One will retain ownership and servicing of its existing credit card portfolio of approximately $8.5 billion in loans.

Separately, Capital One agreed earlier this year to acquire credit card issuer Discover Financial Services (NYSE:) in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal to create a global payments giant.