Wal-Mart Sues Visa For Resisting Use Of PIN-Based Transactions

Reuters

A Walmart store is seen in Clarkston, Washington, Jan. 16, 2016. Photo: Francis Dean/Corbis via Getty Images

Wal-Mart Stores Inc filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc, saying the payments network operator was resisting the use of personal identification numbers (PINs) by customers for purchases made on debit cards at its stores.

Wal-Mart and other U.S. retailers have pushed their payment partners to allow customers to use PINs instead of old-school signatures in a bid to prevent counterfeit card fraud.

However, banks and payment network operators are favoring the use of chip cards verified by signatures and see no need to invest further in the more expensive PIN technology.

Wal-Mart also said it pays Visa more for signature-based transactions rather than those made using PINs, according to the lawsuit.

"Walmart believes Visa's position creates unacceptable risk to customers and its actions and rules are inconsistent with federal law," Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove said in a statement.

Visa declined to comment.