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Discover takes Visa to court over debit card practices

The company has filed a suit claiming that Visa engages in anticompetitive behavior by requiring issuers to use its services for both PIN and signature debit.

December 4, 2014

Discover Financial Services Inc. has joined the ranks of companies suing Visa for alleged anticompetitive practices with its filing on Tuesday of a lawsuit in Federal Court. 

According a report in The Wall Street Journal, the suit contends that Visa is "undertaking illegal behavior to fend off competitive threats to its debit network services monopoly."

Discover, owner of the Pulse network, is challenging a Visa requirement that issuers of its signature debit cards also use Visa for PIN services, preventing other networks from bidding for that business. Additionally, Discover claims that Visa is offering incentives to entice merchants to process all of their transactions on the Visa debit network.

Most Discover debit cards are PIN-based, while most Visa debit transactions are authorized by signature, WSJ said.