Discover Card to Begin Tracking Gun/Ammo Purchases in April

[Delkal]

Do discover is bad.........are any credit card s better?

[esh21167]

I already banned Discover from my household because they wanted me to send a copy of my ID to get their credit card. Fuck Discover.

Interesting...

I just applied online for a Wells Fargo VISA and was literally approved in seconds without submitting any documentation beyond the online application. There is obviously no reason for ID.

I'll admit I have had a Discover card for probably 20 years. There were times when you could get 5% cash back from many vendors if ordering online. I remodeled my entire basement, and ordered everything online from HD for pickup. After a few trips over the course of about two weeks they finally asked why I ordered online. Because I got 5% back on everything.

I have been using it less though because I have a couple 2% cash back on everything cards, while Discover is only 1%, except for certain rotating categories.

All the CC companies will be doing the gun/ammo thing soon though.

[TooBigToFit]

My Discover Card is my oldest and primary card. Received it in 1986. Make most of my credit card purchases on it and utilize the cash back. I don*t think I ever bought a firearm on a credit card because of the extra charges. I want to save money. Same with ammo. Always cash and carry. I guess it may affect those who buy off of the internet a lot, but I*ll be holding on to my Discover Card and doing business as usual. If anything I may be selling a couple guns off, rather than buying more.

What is going to be the alternative? And is Discover going to pass this info on to some agency or will they simply know a persons ammo/gun buying habits?

So as far as I understand this is a new MCC. When you buy something using a CC it shows up as a category via MCC. So for points cards, this is how they determine if you spent money on Restaurants or Gas Stations or etc.

This change is to add a category like above, which would be Gun Shops. It's not specific guns that are being tracked, but that you are buying something from a gun shop (whether it be a gun or ammo or a T-shirt).

Which, before the gun shop specific MCC, I think it would have been trivial anyways to write a program that cross referenced your transaction's merchant name, with a list of gun shops. It would have accomplished the same thing in terms of tracking whether or not you spend money at a gun shop on a CC.

[ShadeRabbit]

I already banned Discover from my household because they wanted me to send a copy of my ID to get their credit card. Fuck Discover.

I will say to their defense (not that I care for any credit card companies), that whenever you call for customer service, you get an American on the phone, who you can actually understand what they're saying, and not a turban. I can't say that about any of my other credit cards.

Obviously I despise this gun classification move, but unfortunately it seems to be no different than the other companies.

[MikeinPhilly]

What extra charges?
I've bought literally tons of ammo and guns on my Discover and never been charged anything extra, and I actually get cash back.
I've had a Discover card for many years. I almost dump d it over Kyle Rittenhouse when it was spread around that they wouldn't allow payments to his defense, that turned out to be a non thing, they never refused to honor my request to pay.
I won't drop them over the guns and ammo thing because they are just the first, the other cards will follow.
While I keep the card, and continue using it, I pay it off every month so they don't make any more money directly off me, and I'll use other cards for gun/ammo purchases, until they all start doing it.

Some merchants take on the processing fee they are charged to the purchaser

[Carson]

What extra charges?
I've bought literally tons of ammo and guns on my Discover and never been charged anything extra, and I actually get cash back.
I've had a Discover card for many years. I almost dump d it over Kyle Rittenhouse when it was spread around that they wouldn't allow payments to his defense, that turned out to be a non thing, they never refused to honor my request to pay.
I won't drop them over the guns and ammo thing because they are just the first, the other cards will follow.
While I keep the card, and continue using it, I pay it off every month so they don't make any more money directly off me, and I'll use other cards for gun/ammo purchases, until they all start doing it.

The last handful of guns I bought were at gun shows and all of the vendors had a sign saying an extra 3% or whatever on credit card charges. I assume they were passing on their charges. Same with my ammo guy. Cash was always cheaper. Maybe something to do with taxes. But I would just hit the ATM and go on my way.

[Carson]

So as far as I understand this is a new MCC. When you buy something using a CC it shows up as a category via MCC. So for points cards, this is how they determine if you spent money on Restaurants or Gas Stations or etc.

This change is to add a category like above, which would be Gun Shops. It's not specific guns that are being tracked, but that you are buying something from a gun shop (whether it be a gun or ammo or a T-shirt).

Which, before the gun shop specific MCC, I think it would have been trivial anyways to write a program that cross referenced your transaction's merchant name, with a list of gun shops. It would have accomplished the same thing in terms of tracking whether or not you spend money at a gun shop on a CC.

Thanks for the info

[John_Wick]

So as far as I understand this is a new MCC. When you buy something using a CC it shows up as a category via MCC. So for points cards, this is how they determine if you spent money on Restaurants or Gas Stations or etc.

This change is to add a category like above, which would be Gun Shops. It's not specific guns that are being tracked, but that you are buying something from a gun shop (whether it be a gun or ammo or a T-shirt).

Correct. However, I think this is setting the groundwork for other potential uses down the pike. Perhaps future legislation will set a certain dollar amount or volume that will trigger a notification to the feds for manual review, similar to the Form 8300 required for cash transactions over $10k. I think it also sets the stage for banks, processors, etc. to more easily blacklist gun/ammo dealers if they so choose (as PayPal did eons ago). And of course it also ensures that no one is getting cashback bonuses on purchases of guns/ammo. As of last year, US Bank started to reclassify a slew of gun/ammo dealers on their own and I didn't get the usual "Sporting Goods" cashback I used to get on virtually any of them. They moved them all into a "Misc" category that earns no bonuses. In short, I think this is all part of the current trend for businesses to steer political issues where they want them go when legislation cannot (or it can, but not as quickly as they'd like).

[Gunowner99]

Love the cashback. My pay everything in cash desire is extremely low.

[2dogs]

I have used discover as my main card for over 30 years, but this will prompt me to look elsewhere. Is there a pro2A card in existence?

I am checking with my credit union. I'll update if I receive positive news...