Jim Daly - Citing the business disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Visa Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will delay until next April most of the interchange rate changes it had planned for July. The network also publicly confirmed the six-month postponement of its EMV liability shift for fuel pumps, and further said it will be waiving Covid-related dispute fees.
A package of interchange rate changes, the first major adjustments in Visa’s interchange schedule in years, originally had been set to take effect last month. The package included increases for e-commerce transactions and decreases for supermarkets. In late March, Visa said it would delay implementation by three months because of the distress many merchants are experiencing from the pandemic. Mastercard Inc., American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services followed suit with postponements of their own planned April pricing changes.
“We will further delay previously announced U.S. interchange and fee changes for a year to April 2021,” Visa said in a blog post. “The exception is the planned interchange reductions in the supermarket segment will go forward. We believe this is the right decision to ensure the long-term stability of the digital payments ecosystem.”