Amazon Not To Ban Visa Credit Cards In UK

(RTTNews) - Amazon has dropped its earlier plan to stop accepting credit cards issued by Visa Inc. in the United Kingdom. The e-commerce giant said it is working on a potential solution with the payments processor to resolve a dispute over the payment fees.

In an email to customers, the company reportedly said, "The expected change regarding the use of Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk will no longer take place on January 19. We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk."

In November last year, the world's largest online retailer had stated that it would stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19, 2022 due to the high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions. The company then revealed that Amazon.co.uk will continue accepting Visa debit cards, and any Visa credit card issued outside of the UK.

Amazon, which already has a partnership with Mastercard and American Express in the U.K., then had urged customers to find new payment methods instead of Visa credit cards.

Following Brexit, an EU-enforced cap on fees charged by card issuers is no longer in place in the country. Visa recently hiked the interchange fees on purchases using the Visa credit cards issued in the U.K. to 1.5 percent from the previous fees of 0.3 percent.

In the past few months, Amazon has begun to impose a surcharge on the use of a Visa credit card for purchases on their websites in Singapore and Australia in order to overcome the high fees charged by Visa.