Target To Shed Visa Label, Issue Store-Branded Credit Cards

Minneapolis, MN, United States (AHN) – Target announced Tuesday that going forward it will issue the Target Credit Card to qualified applicants, replacing the Target Visa Credit Card.

The nation’s second largest retail chain has been testing the change over the past few months and found that customers tend to spend more when using a Target branded credit card, as opposed to the Target Visa card.

“Our financial products are designed to deepen relationships with our retail guests and drive profitable sales for Target,” said Terry Scully, president, Target Financial Services. “Recent product testing and guest research underscores the tremendous value enjoyed by Target Credit Card guests.”

Unlike the Target Visa Card, which can be used anywhere Visa is accepted, the new Target Credit Card will only be available for use at Target stores and Target.com. Existing Target Visa cardholders will not be affected by the change, the company said.

The news is just the latest blow to Visa, which recently saw department store giant Macy’s Inc. switch to America Express as their credit card processor.

Target is the third largest issuer of Visa credit cards, with more than 23 million cards outstanding. However, Target credit cards only accounted for roughly 1 percent of payments processed by Visa last year.

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