Visa Faces Justice Department Antitrust Case Over Debit Cards

The US Justice Department plans to allege that Visa Inc. illegally monopolized the US debit card market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The antitrust division is set to file a lawsuit as soon as Tuesday accusing the operator of the largest US payments network of a range of anticompetitive conduct, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the case. The government is expected to file the case in federal court.

Antitrust enforcers are preparing to accuse Visa of taking steps to keep rivals from challenging its dominance in the debit card market, said the people. The government’s allegations include that Visa made exclusive agreements to hinder the expansion of competing networks and thwarted efforts by technology companies to enter the market.

Visa and the Justice Department declined to comment.

The Justice Department lawsuit would be the culmination of years-long probes of Visa’s business practices. The investigation was born out of the firm’s failed acquisition of the financial-technology infrastructure firm Plaid Inc. in 2021.

Read more: Visa Faces DOJ Scrutiny for How It Prices ‘Token’ Technology

Over the course of the inquiry, the Justice Department also examined Visa’s pricing structure in what’s known in the industry as “tokenization” technology.

Payments network rival Mastercard Inc. settled a separate enforcement action last year targeting its tokenization technology practices brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, which also enforces antitrust laws.

--With assistance from Paige Smith.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Leah Nylen in Washington at lnylen2@bloomberg.net;
Kartikay Mehrotra in San Francisco at kmehrotra9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Ben Bain

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.