On Friday, Walmart and Capital One announced the end of the partnership that made the credit card giant the exclusive issuer of Walmart’s consumer credit cards.
In a joint statement, the companies announced that existing cardholders will be able to continue using their Capital One Walmart Rewards cards, which will continue to act as intended and earn them rewards unless a change occurs, of which customers will be informed, and Capital One will continue owning and servicing existing accounts.
“The parties determined that the best path forward for our customers is to end the current partnership and convert existing eligible Walmart Card customers to one of Capital One’s flagship branded rewards products,” Capital One told USA Today.
Capital One will contact customers “in advance of any upcoming changes to customer account features or functionality,” the company said. “Customers can continue to shop with their current products and make payments in the same manner as they always have.”
Walmart partnered with Capital One in 2019 after breaking off its existing relationship with Synchrony Financial.
However, only a few years later, their relationship had soured to the point where Walmart filed a lawsuit against Capital One in 2023. The superstore corporation said it was seeking to terminate the agreement because Capital One took too long to process payments and mail replacement cards to customers.
A federal judge ruled with Walmart in March, stating that Walmart could opt out of the partnership early because Capital One had committed “repeated customer service failures,” per Reuters.
It is unclear when Walmart will announce a new banking partner.
This comes following a Friday filing with the government, in which Capital One announced that there are approximately $8.5 billion in loans in the Walmart credit card portfolio, according to the Associated Press.
Walmart, too, has been in the news recently, after it announced last week that it would be cutting hundreds of corporate jobs and asking remote workers to return to office, per USA Today
Changes in “some parts of our business … will result in a reduction of several hundred campus roles,” read a memo from the company’s chief people officer Donna Morris.
Employees who work in Walmart’s smaller offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Toronto are also being asked to relocate to the company’s bigger hubs.
“Most relocations will be to our Home Office in Bentonville, but some will be to our offices in the San Francisco Bay Area or Hoboken/New York,” Morris said in the memo.
The memo said that workers will be able to work from home on occasion, but will be expected to be in office the majority of the time.
“We believe that being together, in person, makes us better and helps us to collaborate, innovate and move even faster,” Morris said. “We also believe it helps strengthen our culture as well as grow and develop our associates.”
Morris added that while the number of layoffs “are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.”
“We have had discussions with associates who were directly impacted by these decisions. We will work closely with them in the coming days and months to navigate the best path forward,” she added.
