Home Depot files anti-trust suit against Visa, MasterCard

In a new federal lawsuit, The Home Depot Inc. is accusing Visa and MasterCard of not doing enough to ensure EMV-compliant, chip-based payment cards truly prevent fraud.



As reported by multiple media outlets, The Home Depot’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, alleges that using signature, rather than individual, consumer-selected PIN number, for verification weakens the effectiveness of chip-based card security. Furthermore, the suit accuses the two financial services giants of purposely using less-effective signature verification to maintain their dominance of the U.S. payment card industry.



“For years, Visa and MasterCard have been more concerned with protecting their own inflated profits and their dominant market positions than with the security of payment cards used by American consumers and the health of the United States economy,” states the lawsuit.



MasterCard and Visa have not officially responded to the suit yet. However, a MasterCard spokesperson told the Washington Post that chip-based cards offer substantial security improvements regardless of authentication method.



“Regardless of how the cardholder’s identity is confirmed, the chip makes data much more secure, rendering it almost useless to create fraudulent cards or transactions,” said MasterCard.



Walmart filed a similar lawsuit against Visa in May 2016.