Find your merchant category code in 60 seconds.

MCCs are the four-digit classification card networks assign to every business. The right one determines your interchange rate, your risk tier, and whether your acquirer bank will even approve you. Answer two or three questions below — we'll narrow down your MCC, tell you what acquirers expect, and show you the typical MDR (IC++) and rolling reserve band.

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MCC classification is ultimately set by your acquiring bank and the card network. This tool gives you the most common assignment so you can have an informed conversation — it isn't a guarantee of how your acquirer will underwrite you.

What is a Merchant Category Code (MCC)?

A Merchant Category Code is a four-digit number assigned by Visa and Mastercard to classify every business that accepts card payments. It describes what you sell — not who you are — and sits on every transaction that leaves your terminal or checkout.

That four-digit code has outsized consequences. It drives your interchange (the fee the card network charges on each transaction), your risk classification (standard, elevated, or high-risk), your chargeback threshold tolerance, the 3D Secure requirements applied to your checkout, and — most importantly — whether an acquirer will underwrite you at all. Some MCCs are on the accepted list of every acquirer. Others are accepted by perhaps a dozen banks worldwide.

Getting the MCC right matters for a second reason too: miscoded merchants — businesses processing under an MCC that doesn't match what they actually sell — are routinely terminated mid-contract and placed on the MATCH list, which makes re-onboarding at any acquirer extraordinarily difficult.

Full MCC reference

The complete ISO 18245 catalogue, organised by category. The risk pill reflects how acquirers in our network typically tier the MCC — not a card-network official designation. Standard codes are widely accepted; elevated and high-risk codes usually require specialist acquirers.

Code	Description	Category	Risk

MCC FAQ

Your acquiring bank assigns your MCC during underwriting, based on your business description and — increasingly — site-crawl and checkout review. The card networks (Visa, Mastercard) define the list of MCCs and rules for each one.

No. Operating under an MCC that doesn't match your actual business — known as "miscoding" or "transaction laundering" — violates card-network rules, is detected by routine compliance reviews, and leads to termination plus MATCH-list placement. Your MCC must accurately reflect your business activity.

MATCH (Member Alert To Control High-risk Merchants) is Mastercard's database of terminated merchants. Acquirers check MATCH before onboarding. An entry typically stays for five years and makes re-onboarding extremely difficult — which is why MCC compliance matters upfront.

Acquirers assign the MCC of your primary revenue stream. If the business mixes (e.g., SaaS + marketplace, or casino + sportsbook), some acquirers will split the MID across multiple MCCs; others will pick the highest-risk MCC that applies to any part of the flow. BZNpay's role is often to structure the conversation so you land on the MCC that makes commercial sense for your volume.

If you believe your current MCC doesn't reflect your business accurately, we can introduce you to acquirers who will review and, where appropriate, re-code. We cannot re-code a merchant who is trying to escape a high-risk MCC that legitimately applies.