Costco Wholesale Corp., the largest US warehouse-club chain, will stop accepting all American Express cards in Canada on 1 January.
“The credit card relationship between American Express and Costco Wholesale Canada will not be renewed when it expires” on 31 December, the company said yesterday in an e-mail to Canadian customers. The message was attributed to Lorelle Gilpin, vice president of marketing and membership for Costco Wholesale Canada.
AmEx, the biggest US credit card issuer by purchases, was the only credit card accepted at Costco stores, and has worked with the warehouse-club chain to issue co-branded cards. US stores will continue to accept AmEx, with the exception of TrueEarnings and American Express Platinum Cash Rebate cards issued in Canada, according to the note.
Costco and New York-based AmEx announced in 2010 that they were teaming up to introduce a rewards card for Canadian customers. Costco has 88 stores in Canada, compared with 468 in the US and Puerto Rico, according to its website. It has 107 stores in seven other countries, including the UK.
Costco said in the message that it would have information on new payment options soon. Molly Faust, a spokeswoman for AmEx, didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail after regular business hours. Jeff Elliott, a spokesman for Issaquah, Washington-based Costco, also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
