It’s a quite a turnaround. American Express has gone from being the only credit card accepted by Costco Wholesale in Canada to being totally not accepted, no thanks, get lost. The popular warehouse-club chain says it will stop accepting all American Express cards in Canada on January 1, 2015. Why? We’re not sure but the Canadian arrangement seems to have differed from the U.S, Costco-AmEx deal. It may be that the expiry of a 2010 plan in Canada has set the two companies at loggerheads. American Express is very popular for those who want it’s special offers but its reputation with retailers is more like notorious. The practice of holding funds due to retailers for several days has caused more than one company to cancel acceptance of the AmEx card. The release said: “The credit card relationship between American Express and Costco Wholesale Canada will not be renewed when it expires” on Dec. 31. The message was attributed to Lorelle Gilpin, vice president of marketing and membership for Costco Wholesale Canada. Costco has 88 stores in Canada, compared with 468 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to its website. In the U.S. the Walgreen drugstore chain stopped accepting AmEx and found that this was an effective way of getting the arrangement it wanted. It now accepts American Express.
