Originally Posted by
rasheed
I am not privy to enough of the Chase and Visa relationship except from a few anecdotes mentioned in various disclosure documents and investor calls. You seem to imply that a Chase Visa credit charge is the same as other Visa credit charges. Well, it is possible it is processed the same way, but Kroger is not concerned about the processing, they don't like the discount rate assigned by Visa. I firmly believe that Chase can and does negotiate a different rate for certain merchants because it can also flatten/eliminate many of Visa's own network fees.
I don't think card issuers can negotiate fees for their cardholders. The amount Kroger pays to accept cards would be negotiated between Kroger, Visa, and whatever merchant processing bank they are using. The processing bank assigns a discount rate and pays Visa a portion of it (interchange). The cardholder's bank is not a party to that negotiation, from what I'm aware.
Originally Posted by
rasheed
I also still claim that Chase could get Kroger to accept only Chase-branded Visa credit cards without Visa forcing some honor all cards rule legal response. The best way to do that is through the distinctive QR code method (which I think does list different on those Kroger receipts where it is live). The real question here is why is Chase able to act differently than other Visa issuers, and I've addressed before that Visa faced a tough dilemma as its largest issuer in the US is very powerful.
I highly doubt that would work. When Smith's officially stops accepting Visa, their acquiring bank will no longer process Visa transactions at all.
Originally Posted by
rasheed
Lastly, Kroger's gift card mall does accept Visa credit. One can buy Kroger branded gift cards to use at blocked Visa credit chains with minimal shipping fees. I do not know if Kroger gift card mall codes as groceries though. We have mentioned that one can also buy Kroger gift cards at other grocery chains (except Fred Meyer which does not code as grocery). Is this hassle worth it? Just depends on how useful Kroger grocery prices are to a given family.
One can also buy Kroger gift cards at various reselling websites (I use Cardcash) for a 2-3% discount off face value and free shipping. I used to do this anyway, even before Foods Co stopped accepting Visa.