After carefully considering the categories each card rewards you cashback, air miles or rewards points for, you’ve probably decided on what you think is the best credit card for you.
For example, you decided to get the Citi Cash Back card for rebates on dining, groceries and petrol. These are stuff you spend on regularly, so it was a no-brainer, right? Easy as pie.
But have you ever wondered who decides what categories your expenditure falls in? Do the oompa loompas manually go through millions of transactions every day to make sure you’re really “dining”?
No oompa loompas are at work here. Instead, businesses are assigned four-digit codes assigned based on the products and services they offer. These codes are called Merchant Category Codes (MCC) and are determined by card networks like Visa, MasterCard and American Express, which use them to decide how much to charge businesses for accepting credit card payments (interchange fee).
That sounds like it should be none of our business, but it just so happens that banks use the MCCs to categorise our spending. These spending categories consequently affect our credit card rewards.
There is a specific code for all types of goods and services—you can refer to this list of MCCs, compiled by Citibank.
In this article, we go through the popular MCCs to know and also the ones that keep confusing us.
Guide To Popular Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) in Singapore
- What are merchant category codes (MCCs)?
- MCC case study #1 — RedMart and Lazada
- MCC case study #2 — Dining at hotels
– Dining MCCs - What is the MCC for online transactions?
– Travel MCCs - 15 Popular brands and their unexpected MCCs
But aren’t MCCs quite straightforward?
Yes, most of the time, it is. The same way roses are red and violets are blue, Esso is a petrol kiosk and NTUC Fairprice is a supermarket.
However, there are grey areas and it can get confusing for some merchants…like RedMart (or should we say, Lazada).
Confusing MCC case study #1: RedMart and Lazada
When RedMart was still RedMart.com, it was clearly categorised as a supermarket. But ever since it has been bought over by Lazada, will your RedMart-Lazada purchase still be considered as “groceries”?
Initially, I thought it would stamp-plus-chop be under Lazada’s MCC of 5311 (Department Stores). But if you check your statement, you’d realise that they actually separate the RedMart-Lazada and regular Lazada orders.
… and if we refer to Citibank’s terms and conditions for Lazada and Redmart as an example, the RedMart-only purchase will qualify as groceries (MCC 5411 Grocery Stores) instead of department stores (MCC 5311 Department Stores.
So although there’s no official answer, from what we know, you’re probably safe if you want your RedMart purchase to count as a grocery-type expenditure—even if you bought it on Lazada.
How do I check the MCC?
The RedMart-Lazada case isn’t the only one that’s confusing. And unfortunately, there is no “official” way to check MCCs.
While there is a list of MCCs, (sometimes available on certain banks’ websites), there is no one standardised list that matches them to the businesses in Singapore. The only way is to check directly with the business or bank, but chances are, they won’t be bothered to reply you.
Figuring out MCCs is quite tedious business—most people simply work backwards, guessing the MCC based on the number of rewards points they were awarded for the amount they spent.
Let’s say you spend $400 on a hotel buffet for your family, hoping that it’ll be classified as “local dining” so you can earn 5X rewards on your credit card.
1. If you get 2,000 rewards points, then the MCC falls under dining.
2. If you only got 400 rewards points, then the MCC is probably under the hotel/travel umbrella.
Confusing MCC case study #2: Dining within hotels
The latter isn’t that surprising: Hotel restaurants may not count as “dining” because they are located within a hotel, whose main business is lodging and may hence have a different MCC. Plus, the bank wouldn’t know anything about the nature of your expenditure i.e. wedding banquet or hotel stay or dining in one of the restaurants in a certain hotel — all they know is that a hotel (say, Shangri-La) charged you.
ALSO READ: Best Buffets Singapore: Carousel, Colony, Edge, Peppermint, The Line Buffet Prices
It’s also worthy to note that the certain card networks assign the MCCs in the same way, but others do them differently. Since there is no standardisation, these categorisation may differ or be the same for Stripe, Visa checkout, MasterCard, etc.
This will also affect the type of rewards you get out of your spending category. For instance, according to the example from Reddit, if your spending qualifies as a hotel or travel category, you may be entitled to miles that your credit card benefits offer, and if your spending is considered as dining, you may be able to earn cashback rewards which your credit card perks include.
Typically, for an expenditure to qualify as “dining”, it must be made at a merchant with the following MCCs:
Typical dining MCCs:
| Dining MCCs | Description |
| MCC 5811 | Caterers |
| MCC 5812 | Eating Places, Restaurants |
| MCC 5814 | Fast Food Restaurants |
What is the MCC for online transactions?
Thanks to the rise of e-commerce, more and more cards are rewarding customers for making online transactions nowadays. So you might be wondering what MCC to look out for if your card benefit is for online shopping.
However, “online” is not a business category per se—it’s not a good or service to be sold! So there is no MCC for it specifically. It’s just a type of transaction, and generally, it includes any transaction made online.
Sad to say, one common exclusion for this spending category is travel. Some credit cards exclude travel-related spending, so you might not be able to earn bonus rewards for swiping your expensive flights and hotel bookings.
These are the common travel MCCs:
| Travel MCCs | Description |
| MCC 3000 to 3299 | Airlines, air carriers |
| MCC 4511 | Airlines, air carriers (not elsewhere classified) |
| MCC 3300 to 3499 | Car rental |
| MCC 3615 | Travelodge motels |
| MCC 7011 | Lodging – hotels, motels, resorts (not elsewhere classified) |
| MCC 4112 | Passenger railways |
| MCC 4411 | Cruise lines |
| MCC 4722 | Travel agencies and tour operators |
| MCC 5960 | Direct marketing – travel-related arrangement services |
Top 15 popular merchants and their unexpected MCCs
I did some research online and surveyed the mile chasers around me to compile this list of merchants and their MCCs.
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| Lazada | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
| RedMart (via Lazada) | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
| Qoo10 | MCC 5699 | Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous |
| Shopee | MCC 5699 | Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous |
| Ez Buy | MCC 5691 | Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores |
| Taobao app | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
| Taobao website | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
| GrabPay | MCC 7399 | Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified |
| Grab rides | MCC 4121 | Taxicabs and Limousines |
| GrabFood | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
| FoodPanda | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
| Deliveroo | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
| iShopChangi | MCC 4582 | Airports, Airport Terminals, Flying Fields |
| Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport | MCC 5309 | Duty Free Stores |
| Don Don Donki | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
| Tokyu Hands | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
As mentioned above, there is no official confirmation on this, and the below MCCs are based on my research from banks, forums, as well as the newly launched community-driven site, www.WhatCard.sg.
In other words, they could also be wrong…But they’re most likely correct, lah. Feel free to ping us with any corrections to improve this list.
MCCs for online shopping & marketplaces (Qoo10, Lazada, EzBuy, Taobao and more)
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| Lazada | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
| RedMart (via Lazada) | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
| Qoo10 | MCC 5699 | Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous |
| Shopee | MCC 5699 | Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous |
| EzBuy | MCC 5691 | Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores |
| Taobao app | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
| Taobao website | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
There’s no MCC for online marketplace platforms, so they all kind of fall into different categories. Lazada is a department store, Qoo10 is an accessory and apparel store, while EzBuy is just “men’s and women’s clothing”.
These are mostly the same as retail shopping stores, so they’re likely to fall under online spending, shopping and online shopping.
The funny one is Taobao—according to WhatCard, there is a difference between the Taobao app and website. If you order on mobile, it’s considered a department store. But if you order on your computer, it’s actually…a supermarket.
Yup. If that’s true, your cart of $4 dresses and $0.50 knick-knacks will count as grocery shopping.
MCCs for Grab services (GrabPay, GrabFood and Grab rides)
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| GrabPay | MCC 7399 | Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified |
| Grab rides | MCC 4121 | Taxicabs and Limousines |
| GrabFood | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
Since they have so many services, you may be wondering what the MCCs are for Grab.
For Grab rides and GrabFood, it’s quite straightforward. However, there’s a lot of speculation about GrabPay.
Some people think it may be considered stored value or quasi cash, but WhatCard says it’s “business services not elsewhere classified”. I have no idea who is right—@Grab, what say you?
Personally, I don’t think it matters because GrabPay is in all likelihood big enough for banks to just consider it a stored value top-up to be excluded at their discretion. Most credit cards don’t earn you cashback on stored value top-ups, with some exceptions being the UOB Absolute Cashback Card and Amex True Cashback Card.
MCCs for food delivery apps (GrabFood, FoodPanda and Deliveroo)
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| GrabFood | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
| FoodPanda | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
| Deliveroo | MCC 5499 | Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines |
It would seem most food delivery apps have the same MCC. It’s considered a convenience store of sorts, so they may not be considered dining.
MCCs for duty-free shopping at Changi Airport (and iShopChangi)
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| iShopChangi | MCC 4582 | Airports, Airport Terminals, Flying Fields |
| Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport | MCC 5309 | Duty Free Stores |
Changi Airport is interesting too—although the physical duty-free shop in Changi Airport is considered a “duty free store”, carting out online via iShopChangi is not.
That one seems to be considered a transaction with the airport, and will not earn you any rewards.
MCCs for Japanese department stores (Don Don Donki and Tokyu Hands)
| Merchant | MCC | Description |
| Don Don Donki | MCC 5411 | Grocery Stores, Supermarkets |
| Tokyu Hands | MCC 5311 | Department Stores |
Lastly, I checked the MCCs for these 2 Japanese mega stores. They’re super popular, and I always wondered what they’d be classified as.
It seems that Don Don Donki is a supermarket, while Tokyu Hands is just a department store.
Share this article with your friends and family who are mapping out their credit card strategies. The game is on!
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