Costco May Finally Start Accepting Something Other Than American Express

(photographybynatalia)

Costco may be very generous with the free food samples and might have a very forgiving return policy, but when it comes to paying with a credit card at the warehouse club, customers have only one option: American Express. But a new report claims that we could be seeing the end of Costco customers being forced to use their AmEx when buying 872 lbs. of steak and enough toilet paper to keep a small nation clean.

This is according to Bloomberg, which reports that Costco is considering an end to its exclusivity deal with AmEx, and has talked to both Capital One and MasterCard about replacing its longstanding credit card buddy.

If so, it would be a repeat of what Costco announced for its Canadian stores earlier this year. Starting in 2015, AmEx will no longer be accepted north of the border and the Canadian Costco’s co-branded credit card will become a Cap One MasterCard.

But Bloomberg says that Costco is taking bids for both a card issuer and a payment network. It’s possible that AmEx could ultimately maintain its gigs offering both these services to the wholesaler.

Costco stores have long accepted only one brand of card. Before AmEx, shoppers could only pay with Discover cards. However, the company does accept other card networks for online purchases.

A switch to MasterCard or Visa as the payment network would significantly increase the number of consumers who could pay with plastic at Costco. This may be important if the company wants to expand its customer base.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist