Well yesterday after my wife went to work I took my son out and got some gas.  Well then I decided to go to the gun shop and see what they had.  After a few minutes I decided on a Kel-Tec sub 2000 9mm for $279.00.  I also picked up some Q3131a and an a new "assault rifle" case for my AR.  After my background check comes through I try to pay with my Citibank card (shared with my wife).  Well the purchase was denied for some reason so I used my check card instead.  Now here's the funny part, this morning my wife calls me and says "is there something you'd like to tell me"?  I say, "I bought a new gun yesterday."  She then tells me Citibank called her and warned her that her husband bought gas and a "large purchase" at a gun shop and thought she sould know.  My wife laughed at the lady on the phone and said, "yep, that sounds like my husband."

This is the last time I will ever use a credit card for a gun purchase, which I shouldn't do anyway.[peep]

Weird and creepy - but probably something they do for liability reasons to avoid being sued if you HAD gone home and killed her.  I think this is a function of the overly litigious society of ours, not a big brother thing.
 

Next time, try to go to the liquor store and spend lots of money right before you buy a new gun!  [:D]

No friggin way. The purchase did'nt even go through on the Citibank card.

If I even go as far to believe this........Your OK with what happened?

Thanks for the info. As soon as I finish using CitiBank's credit card for a place to stash my (rediculously high) credit card debt with zero interest for a year, I'm going to shitcan it.

Assholes... [pissed]

Wait...

How does the CC company know you bought something? As far as they knew you didnt buy anything because your card was denied...

You sure it wasnt the gun shop that called your wife?

Call the card company and rip their asses then cancel the card.
Find you another credit card company. If they will do that to you then they will do that to everyone, and by the way ask them why they declined your purchase they sure as hell knew it was you trying to make the purchase.[;)]

I never use a card to buy guns. Always cash. I agree with Zaph, no more citibank for me.

Excellent point M-4 call the Gun Shop.
If they were the ones that called your wife, I would look for a new Gun Shop.

My dad hardly used his credit card, but when he won a big bid, he raised his line of credit and went to town buying computers, office equipment and office space.  He too got calls from the bank wondering why he was suddenly borrowing so much.

But $280 is not exactly a "large purchase".  Kind of disturbing they think they're your mother or something.

if your card is denied, they will still have a full record of the attempted transaction as they would for a completed transaction.

I bought $500 worth of ammo last month on a CC and nobody warned my wife [BD]

Now look guys, I'm not stupid.  The Credit Card company called my wife, not the gun store, I've bough a few guns there and they know me.  The part I'm trying to figure out is the whole denial part.  The machine didn't say "denied" it gave a funky message that the gun store employee's have never seen nor I.  So I paid with something else.  This is what's pissing me off, they wouldn't let the payment go through, but they took it upon themselves to call my wife and let her know I tried to buy something at a gun shop.  I've known for a while that CC companies will call you if a payment seems "odd" and "out of your normal spending", but who the hell are they to tell me what my normal spending habits are?  Just thought I'd share the story, to me it's funny and it pisses me off.  

seems like a problem some where, the CC company denied the transaction or did not allow it to go through for some reason, which if you have the credit available to cover the purchase they can not do.... NE one else smell somthing fishy? write, the company aske them why it was denied and send it registered mail, Ive dropped over $1500 at a gun shop and used my CC and never gotten a call. it ain't right man. i'd get an official explination in writing from the CC company, than rip them a new one NE way

I would be so pisssssed.

What these companies attempt to do is catch the obvious fraud.  My father in law's card was stolen shortly after his death and used to buy clothing halfway across the US in Missouri.

I don't see how they can deny a charge in your local area that is not tapping out your line of credit.  I can't help but think they are extending their anti gun stance.

Something similar happened to me with my cell phone.  They wouldn't connect me once when we were travelling out of the area saying something about fraud.  I called to complain and it didn't happen again but it still was a pisser.

I made a $3,500 purchase a month ago and never got a phone call. Of well I guess I should be mad that they care so less about me.

Sounds to me like you are due an explanation.

Who? Lost lol

[b]I bought $500 worth of ammo last month on a CC and nobody warned my wife[/b]

either you give me half or i'm dropping a dime on her!!!

I don't know about this.  It doesn't make sense, since AFAIK, the CC company only sees the total purchase and the seller.

How did they know that you hadn't bought $20 worth of Snickers bars and $300 worth of cleaning patches.  What is the name of your gunshop?  "Wife-Killas-R-Us"???  I ask because most gunshop names that I can think of sound like sporting good stores to the uniformed.

But if it is true, I'd be mighty pissed!  First off the invasion of your privacy.  It's none of their friggen business, they should take their blood money (interest fees) and STFU about what you buy.  Secondly, what's next, calling your wife if you run up a tab at the 'Gentleman's club', or the 'exotic massage parlor?'  Who made them the watchguard of your behavior or the judge of your morals?

Hell, what if you are one of those guys who likes to buy some guns on the side, and 'forget' to tell your wife about it.  Now you would have your cover blown because of the nosey CC company.
I'd be royally pissed.  

Did the "odd" message state to call a number or verify with bank?  I've had the CC company call twice.  

Once for a $1 charge that I never made or knew about.  They call out of the blue asking about a few thousand in purchases a week after I've made them, and I confirm I made them and I figure that was the reason for the call.  They then informed me that a $1 charge at some online store was made and refunded immediately and they wanted to know if I had verified an account there.  I hadn't and they then let me know that some fraud was occurring and that $1 issue was common before fraudulent purchases were made and I should double check my bills for the next few months.

The other time I was making a purchase and it came up and said to call some number when they ran the card through the machine.  They called and handed me the phone, and the company just noted that it was the first time I was shopping at a store selling a particular type of goods, and wanted to confirm it was legit.

Did the CC get your wife and ask if she knew her husband's card has been used for purchasing gas and attempting a large purchase at a gun store, worrying if it had been stolen?  Or, did they ask your wife if she was worried because her husband just bought gas and guns?

Remember, computers are continually crunching your purchases and comparing them to fraud patterns in order to prevent credit card fraud.  If you find fraudulent use on your credit card, you are out $50 bucks, but the bank is out the whole rest of the amount.  So, they are protecting themselves, and in the end saving you money by not having to raise rates to counter for more fraud.

I've also had verizon call me to ask if I was really the one making all of the calls from another state on my mobile phone.  A lot of companies have to fight fraud and it is all automated.  I doubt the computer has a dislike of firearms.

Talk to an attorney, see if you can do [i]anything[/i] about it.

I got a call once or twice when buying gas with a seldomly used CC.  They were nice, just wanted to make sure I was the one using it.  It seems whenever someone gets robbed the first thing the thief does is buy gas and eat out.  Unfortunately in NYC, this is a common occurance.  It sounds like this call was just a nosey intrusive biotch.

cancel the account

Citibank had a policy about 5 years ago that was very anti-gun. I can't remember the details, but maybe it was something like they wouldn't process transactions with gun-related business (I think they only had the names to go on). Seems like a range was getting the word out about it, and I read it on the net, too long ago to remember. I just remember always chucking their card apps for that reason, and writing them about it.

I had the impression they had reversed their policy because of the complaints from gun owners, but perhaps the same old policy or a close variant all this time.

Hunted up some links to better substantiate my memory (turns out I'm kinda far off, but bottom line is Citi doesn't deserve your business).

[url=vkus.freeyellow.com/toCitibank02232000.html]Has a letter from Citibank with the policy[/url]

[url=www.saf.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/CitibankBoycott.html]SAF article, without much extra info[/url]

Most everything I found refers to that first letter.

†/

The business name and type of business is all "categorized" in their database.  The first person to have an account with that company will end up defining the "group" that store falls in.  They have the ability to query the line description.  If the gun store's comp transmits "gun/misc" well there you have your catergorization......

We get statements here at work that we research this way. [:D]