"Anyone who has bought something online, or checked out at a store, knows there is an ever-expanding universe of companies offering new ways to pay for goods and services," Visa General Counsel Julie Rottenberg said in a statement.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa. The lawsuit alleges that the financial firm holds a monopoly over debit network markets allowing it to charge banks and markets with exorbitant fees that get passed onto consumers and keep rival companies like PayPal and Square from competing on their level.

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday sued Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, saying it propped up an illegal monopoly over debit payments by imposing “exclusionary” agreements on partners and smothering upstart firms.

Slapped with a lawsuit. The post This Is How Visa Raises ‘The Price of Nearly Everything,’ DOJ Says appeared first on Mandatory.

Interchange fees and financial incentives for merchants, banks and mobile wallets could come under pressure if the government forces the card brand to alter its policies.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to file a lawsuit against Visa , the world's largest payments network operator, alleging that the company illegally monopolized the country's debit card market, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

Visa’s heft in the market has allowed it to pressure merchants into accepting its cards to avoid steep costs on billions of dollars of transactions, the DOJ says.