Capital One and Walmart End Exclusive Credit Card Agreement

Capital One will no longer be the exclusive issuer of Walmart Consumer Credit Cards.

The two companies announced Friday (May 24) in a joint press release that they ended their agreement.

They introduced the Capital One Walmart Rewards Credit Card Program in 2019, according to the release.

“While Capital One and Walmart have ended their card partnership, nothing changes today for cardholders — cardholders can continue to earn and redeem rewards, and previously accrued rewards will retain their value,” the companies said in the release.

“Until informed otherwise, cardholders can also continue to use their Capital One Walmart Rewards Card wherever Mastercard is accepted and the Walmart Rewards Card for purchases at Walmart,” they added.

Capital One will retain ownership and servicing of the credit card accounts, per the release.

This announcement follows a federal judge’s ruling in March that Walmart could end its credit card partnership with Capital One early because the bank did not provide the level of service required by the companies’ 2018 agreement.

The judge ruled that “repeated customer service failures” allowed Walmart to end the partnership.

At the time of that ruling, a Capital One spokesperson provided PYMNTS with an emailed statement saying, “We disagree with the court’s ruling and we are evaluating our appeal rights.”

Walmart sued Capital One in April 2023, seeking to end the credit card partnership and alleging that the bank failed to live up to its customer care standards.

“Unfortunately, Capital One was consistently unable to meet the customer-service standards required by the contract,” Walmart’s attorneys said in the suit.

The suit said the bank missed the mark in a number of “critical” customer care categories, such as failing to promptly post transaction information to cardholders’ accounts, and not delivering replacement cards within five days.

Reached by PYMNTS at the time the suit was filed, a Capital One spokesperson called the suit an attempt by Walmart to renegotiate its existing partnership or end the deal prematurely.

“These immaterial servicing issues were cured by Capital One pursuant to the terms of the agreement, without harm to customers, the program or Walmart,” the spokesperson said.