• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

Just closed my Citi credit card

Just closed my Citi card now. This was the wrong month for them to send me a bill for the annual account fee.

They asked why I was closing, I told them why, and they didn't even try the "send you over to our customer retention department" routine.
 
Mark from MA said:
Just bought a gun with mine..... 2% cash back....I always pay the bill in full. Those f***ers don't get a dime of interest off me, but they give me money back.
Click to expand...
A lot of local shops will give more than a 2% discount if you pay cash!
 
I was in a gun store yesterday and heard that several people during the day had attempted to buy firearms with Citibank credit cards, but the transactions would not go through because they were denied by Citibank.

I'm curious if this is becoming widespread. If you've recently (preferably 5/13/19 or later) been successful buying a gun using a Citibank credit card (or if you were denied by ANY credit card company for a "non-legit, 'cause guns" reason), please post some details about it here.
 
I got the Bass Pro Club Card which is thru Capital One... I get rewards credit to BPS/Cabelas. We put practically everything on the card and pay one big bill every month... in 6 months we have enough credit for a nice new revolver.
 
Citibank has long been allied with the fascist party. Remember Robert Rubin, who was BJ Clinton's Sec. of Treasury? The biggest banks in the US have long been hand-in-glove with one political party, and that party's "leaders" make a great show of decrying "big money in politics" while they cozy up to the biggest.
 
I know you asked as of May but I used it for a firearm purchase in Jan and my most recent ammo order was last month. So far there have been no problems.

Greg
 
No issues buying parts from Brownells or Midway USA as of the past couple weeks. Not guns, but would fall under the "cuz gunz!" doctrine, I'm sure.
 
Citigroup is America's largest card issuer, about 17% of credit cards are Citi cards.


kingfisher said:
I was in a gun store yesterday and heard that several people during the day had attempted to buy firearms with Citibank credit cards, but the transactions would not go through because they were denied by Citibank
Click to expand...
Citibank does not see that their cardholding consumer had "attempted to buy firearms"; the card-issuing bank only sees the transaction details forwarded by the store's chosen card processor (amount, store name, merchant category code, etc.).

Gun stores generally fall under MCC 5941 (Sporting Goods) or 5999 ("Miscellaneous and Specialty Retail Stores" sort of a catch-all). With no specific code for "gun stores", returning a "declined by issuer" code for these entire broad merchant classes for Citi card holders (overall, or just large purchases) would not go well for Citigroup.
 
kingfisher said:
I was in a gun store yesterday and heard that several people during the day had attempted to buy firearms with Citibank credit cards, but the transactions would not go through because they were denied by Citibank.

I'm curious if this is becoming widespread. If you've recently (preferably 5/13/19 or later) been successful buying a gun using a Citibank credit card (or if you were denied by ANY credit card company for a "non-legit, 'cause guns" reason), please post some details about it here.
Click to expand...

My couple transactions from "Grabagun" this year went thru fine. If they aren't blocking transactions from an obvious source like that I call BS.

I have also bought with my air card from Capital One. No issues as well.

My Cabela Rewards card that I barely use has gone Cap One, I think it was a Citibank before and they must have fxcked with Cabelas or something. Citi's loss.

At some point I may get a Cap One 2% cash back card and just idle the Shitibank, unfortunately i cant get rid of it because its my oldest card and would hit my rating.
 
Last edited:
What I'm suggesting is that what I described in my first post could possibly have started happening YESTERDAY, or maybe they were running a test.

The article linked in the OP was published in March 2018, and it states:
Citigroup said it did not have the technology nor the legal ability to monitor gun purchases at the payment-processing level, but said that the industry was discussing the possibility.
Click to expand...

Maybe it was a coincidence that several Citibank cards were rejected for gun purchases yesterday, or maybe I misunderstood what I thought I heard (but it seemed pretty clear), and that's why I'm trying to determine if Citibank, and possibly others, could have started doing what's in the quoted statement above.

We have a fairly big community here with members who buy quite a few guns, and that's why I'm asking if anyone else has seen this happening.
 
Last edited:
I use my Citi card to buy firearms and ammo. Never a problem. My last 2 firearm purchases were on that card. Not only did it go through fine, but they also paid me back 2% of the purchase price...... So they paid me to buy guns on their card..

You guys need to pay your bills on time man... :p:p
 
Whenever I make a purchase at my LGS, I always ask the owner if he can offer a cash discount. I'll pay cash if it beats the 2% I get back on the card (assuming I've planned ahead and have that much on me).

FiremanBob said:
It's possible that they have an algorithm based on the store name.
Click to expand...
Gven that greater than 1 in 6 credit cards are Citi cards, if this were the case, we'd be hearing about more than one anecdote,

Even if this only started yesterday, it'd be on gun twitter and the usual tinfoil hat websites by now.

kingfisher said:
Maybe it was a coincidence that several Citibank cards were rejected for gun purchases yesterday, or maybe I misunderstood what I thought I heard (but it seemed pretty clear), and that's why I'm trying to determine if Citibank, and possibly others, could have started doing what's in the quoted statement above.

We have a fairly big community here with members who buy quite a few guns, and that's why I'm asking if anyone else has seen this.
Click to expand...
When Citi went anti-gun for their commercial accounts, they blogged about it and sent out press releases.

So now Citigroup suddenly backs down on the claim "It doesn't impact the ability of consumers to use their Citi cards at merchants of their choice" silently, rejecting cardholders' purchases based some hacked-together business rule using the store name to guess that it is a gun store?

Sure, anything's possible, but I'll believe it when I see it on TTAG or NRA-ILA.
 
I have a million miles on my American Airlines Citicard. I am NOT closing my account until they are put to good use!
 
JoseyWales said:
I kept my MasterCard open and now only purchase gun related stuff with it:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA MEMBERSHIP $20
BROWNELLS $116.85
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Little do they know that I bought from Brownells a ten pack of PMAGs for ARs.

They're not going to know if you bought an AR from your local gun shop. Nobody's sitting there reading it purchase for purchase but I hope they are and get upset when they see "guns".
Click to expand...
If you're paying almost $12 for a Pmag, you're not paying attention.
 
smokey-seven said:
Open a new card with good numbers and just stop using the Citi.
Click to expand...

Doing that WILL hurt his credit rating.

If you don't use the card at all it will eventually be closed out and that will hurt your credit score then. Close it yourself now and THAT will hurt your credit score.

KEEP the older cards but if you disagree with their business practices use them ANYWAY but use them minimally and require paper bills.

Charge a couple of Dunkin's visits a month on the card you don't like, pay it off each month.

Force them into the position of paying more to maintain your ACTIVE account than they earn from it.

If they ever do close the card by force, then start war dialing the AG and your Rep and complain about unfair practices against consumers.
 
I haven't had a Citibank for a long time but I always laugh when I use my Best Buy visa for guns, got it to save $100 on a gift for someone, paid with a different card at the time, and about the only thing I do with it is guns, ammo, and accessories online.

On an aside at any small business that I trust I strictly pay cash if Im in person - costs me no more to pay cash and potentially saves them. One LGS here gives 10% off all cash sales, even > $1000 guns.
 
I have a Citi Simplicity. I purchased a Sig P320 and a used Walther PPS M1 and $200 worth of ammo along with holsters online within 2 weeks and there was zero issue.

I've had the card for 2 years and my credit limit went from $6500 to $18500 in that time.
 

Similar threads

Credit card companies track gun purchases
Replies
21
Views
648
Mark from MA
M
Credit card purchases
2 3
Replies
88
Views
3K
EJFudd
EJFudd
Expiring medical marijuana card and obtaining LTC
2 3
Replies
82
Views
1K
cams
cams
Governors Sign Bills Barring Credit Cards From Tracking Gun Sales in Utah and Indiana
Replies
0
Views
63
Reptile
Reptile
Four seasons credit card
2
Replies
54
Views
2K
Randy Lahey
Randy Lahey
Back
Top Bottom