Which Banks Supply The Merchant Category Code (MCC) in Online Transaction History?

Related Stores

Hiver Bank

• 

  MS Paint on 10/02/2025 - 19:40

  -1

  Genuine non smartarse question (yes I know that's odd coming from me) but why would one want/need this info?

  • 

    DOGGYWOWWOW on 10/02/2025 - 19:50

    +5

    I suspect an upcoming ADAGCHS from purchasing category gift cards.

    • 

      MS Paint on 10/02/2025 - 19:52

      That makes sense. Cheers

    • 

      brisdaz on 10/02/2025 - 21:01

      +1

      What is that (ADAGCHS)? Internet searching doesnt reveal an answer but does link to a big ozbargain forum/deal.

      UPDATE: Actually clicked through and found out.

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13810456/redir

  • 

    Craze on 10/02/2025 - 20:00

    Or it could be a genuine question just for curiosity/educational purposes? WookieMonster is passionate enough to go the extra mile to test GC's out.

  • 

    WookieMonster on 10/02/2025 - 20:36

    +5

    For me, three reasons come to mind (and I know one you will roll your eyes for at least one of them lol):

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    1. Being able to better guess where a category-restricted gift card will work

    A lot of gift cards sold in Australia only work at a specific merchant (or specific group of merchants), but some (e.g. TCN Pub & Bar gift card, Restaurant Choice gift card, 7-Eleven digital gift card) only work at a defined list of MCCs. Knowing the MCC of a given merchant gives you more certainty as to whether the gift card will work at that merchant.

    For example, the TCN Pub & Bar gift card works at MCC 5812 (Eating Places, Restaurants), MCC 5813 (Drinking Places) and MCC 7997 (Country Clubs), but it does not work at MCC 5814 (Fast Food Restaurants). The MCC is assigned by the merchant's payment provider, but some restaurants that should be assigned MCC 5812 are actually assigned MCC 5814, and vice versa. There is not a lot that differentiates MCC 5812 and MCC 5814, so knowing beforehand that a TCN Pub & Bar gift card works at Grill'd but not Nando's (as examples) can save some hassle. I know what you would suggest to save hassle in this situation though lol

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    2. Being able to maximise a bonus offer you get on your debit / credit card when spending at specific types of merchants

    Sometimes, a debit / credit card provider will make an offer available to some cardholders to earn cashback when making purchased at selected types of merchants (e.g. 10% cashback on purchases at supermarkets and service stations, 5% cashback on purchases across many retail MCCs). Knowing beforehand which retailers should be eligible and should not be eligible can save some hassle.

    For example, I received an offer a few months ago on one of my credit cards where I would receive 10% cashback offer on purchases at supermarkets (MCC 5411) and service stations (MCC 5499). If I had no idea about Woolworths Metro's MCCs, it would be fair to assume those are assigned MCC 5499 (Miscellaneous Food Stores - Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores), as those tend to function more like larger-scale convenience stores than smaller-scale supermarkets. However, Woolworths Metro is assigned MCC 5411 and was therefore eligible.

    A probably more important example was the Hiver cashback offer from 2022 (which the OP was indirectly referencing), where they briefly offered 5% cashback on utilities bills, telecommunications bills, public transport and groceries. However, as OzBargainers found out:

    • Not all public transport providers used MCCs deemed to be eligible by Hiver. For example, if I topped up a Metro Tasmania Greencard on the Metro Tasmania website, it would have used MCC 4789 (Transportation Services - Not Elsewhere Classified), which was not eligible for the Hiver offer. However, topping up an Opal card or myki card was eligible.

    • A lot of telecommunications providers (e.g. Aussie Broadband, Coles Mobile, iiNet) used MCC 4816 (Computer Network/Information Services) instead of MCC 4814 (Telecommunication Services), meaning those were ineligible for cashback.

    • Costco used an ineligible MCC for this offer (5300 - Wholesale Clubs), even though you could argue that Costco is sort of like a supermarket…

    • 7-Eleven convenience stores attached to a service station used MCC 5541 (which was ineligible), but 7-Eleven convenience stores not attached to any service station used MCC 5499 (Miscellaneous Food Stores - Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores), even though you could try to argue they are both examples of convenience stores.

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    3. Potentially avoiding transactions that count as cash advances or government spend

    There are a lot of merchants that use a government-related MCC, which would most probably not count towards meeting a minimum spend criteria for earning a credit card bonus or for earning credit card points. For example:

    • If you make a transaction on Transport Canberra's MyWay+ website (e.g. purchasing a public transport ticket, topping up a MyWay+ card), that is classified as MCC 9399 (Government Services - Not Elsewhere Classified). However, if you instead tap your credit card on a MyWay+ validator directly, that uses MCC 4131 (Bus Lines), which should be a regular purchase.

    • If you pay your Momentum Energy electricity bill on the Momentum Energy website, it should come up as MCC 9399, even though Momentum Energy is an energy retailer.¹ However a lot of electricity retailers (e.g. Red Energy, AGL) use a more sensible MCC (4900 - Utilities - Electric, Gas, Heating Oil, Sanitary, Water).

    An MCC can also indicate to a credit card provider whether the transaction should be considered a cash advance, so knowing the MCC beforehand can save you from a world of hurt. For example, if you make a purchase directly on card.gift (a gift card portal may different types of TCN gift cards), that should use MCC 5947 (Card, Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Shops), which should appear as a regular transaction to a credit card provider. However, if you go to goodfood.gift (a gift card portal only selling TCN Good Food gift cards), that appears to use MCC 6540 (Funding Transactions), which is most likely going to be counted as a cash advance.

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    I have no idea whether any of this really matters to you at the end of the day, but if it does not, at least you can see some of the reason(s) someone would want that information.

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    1. I can see the logic in it being assigned MCC 9399, because Momentum Energy is owned by Hydro Tasmania, which itself is a Tasmanian Government Business Enterprise. However, an MCC is supposed to describe the business the merchant conducts, not who owns the merchant. ↩

    • 

      brisdaz on 10/02/2025 - 21:10

      Thanks for the leg work @WookieMonster. Are you associated with the gift card database or know who is?

      But can anyone actually answer the question?

      • 

        WookieMonster on 10/02/2025 - 21:25

        +1

        GCDB is operated by @VantageXL, the same person who runs FreePoints.

        ---

        I do not have an answer for your original question. The only way I have been able to see MCCs is through the Android version of the TCN app for transactions on TCN Mastercard / Visa digital gift cards.

        In terms of banks:

        • I once contacted Westpac live chat to get the MCC for a transaction, but the rep kept on asking me the reason I needed it. (They never gave me the MCC.)

        • Citibank live chat appears to be willing to give you the MCC for a transaction. Examples of this are here and many comments on the last Citibank 5% cashback offer (e.g. this one).

        • 

          brisdaz on 10/02/2025 - 21:39

          +1

          @WookieMonster: Ah so Hiver account still has it's uses. I think I'll keep it then.

        • 

          brisdaz on 10/02/2025 - 22:19

          @WookieMonster: I've updated the post with your headers from your encyclopedic comments and linked to it. I think that's fair use. I hope you don't mind.

          • 

            WookieMonster on 10/02/2025 - 22:20

            @brisdaz: I am not really bothered, it is your post after all!

            I am sure there are also other reasons out there, but I was not able to think of them when I wrote my main comment…

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  brisdaz on 10/02/2025 - 22:30

  Have x/posted it to Choice.community since this isn't bearing fruit.

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  capslock janitor on 10/02/2025 - 23:22

  ya so i can use this category on the upbank coffee promo