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.

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.

U.S. Justice Department Accuses Visa of Illegal Monopoly that Adds to the Price of ‘Nearly Everything’ The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Visa of illegally monopolizing the debit card market.

Visa has hired a pair of prominent Washington, D.C., antitrust lawyers to help it fight the U.S. Justice Department's new lawsuit accusing the payments giant of monopolizing debit card markets.