Walmart & Visa go to court - would you credit it

Visa want to be everywhere you want to be - and along with other credit organisations, they are doing a pretty good job. Too good maybe.
Just last week, Lord Wolfson at Next observed the recent rise in UK consumer spending was due to an "unsustainable pick up in consumer borrowing"....much of this one supposes is the victory of our "flexible friends" over "fat wallet".

What then should we make of today's news that Walmart is suing Visa for up to $5bn accusing them and colluding with major banks to "illegally fix the interchange fees and inflate the network fees that Walmart and other merchants pay on Visa charge card transactions"?

Well $5bn is about one years total net profit for Visa and while victory for Walmart may see more price cuts delivered to shoppers; likely as not  it will all be recouped from shoppers through higher credit card charges. Raise the cost of credit and you'll dampen consumer demand and that will hurt Walmart too.

There is no easy fix here. Consumer wallets aren't as fat as they used to be and our flexible friends may get less flexible and much less friendly. Visa: Everywhere you want to be - everywhere that is , except Walmart.