Biden DOJ slaps Visa with antitrust suit over debit card dominance
SUMMARY
The Biden administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a major antitrust lawsuit against Visa, accusing the payments giant of monopolizing the U.S. debit card market and unfairly inflating fees passed on to consumers. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that Visa has "unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market." The lawsuit alleges that Visa's dominance has stifled competition, particularly from emerging fintech firms like PayPal and Apple Pay, and resulted in billions of dollars in additional fees for American consumers and businesses. According to the DOJ, Visa has structured agreements with banks and fintech companies that prevent rivals from gaining market share. The company allegedly imposed "disloyalty penalties" on merchants, forcing them to stick with Visa's network. The DOJ claims Visa feared fintech competitors, seeing them as existential threats to its debit business.
