How to change MCCs to earn more credit card rewards

The entire credit card rewards game revolves around the all-important Merchant Category Code (MCC), a four-digit number that banks use to classify transactions. The right MCC means big rewards, the wrong MCC means you could go home empty-handed.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you could change the MCC at will?

I can think of two scenarios where this would come in useful:

1. The MCC is excluded from earning rewards (e.g. education, insurance, charitable donations)
2. The MCC is not excluded, but does not feature on your whitelist cards

In this article, I’m going to cover some ways you can change a transaction’s MCC into something more rewards-friendly. The overall idea is to:

• Turn a rewards-ineligible MCC into a rewards-eligible MCC
• Turn a non-whitelisted MCC into a whitelisted MCC, helping conserve the caps on your blacklist cards

Precursor: Find the MCC!

The first step is to find out what MCC you’re dealing with, and there’s three ways of doing it before making a purchase.

My preferred method is the Instarem app, which strikes a good balance between reliability and convenience.

If the MCC isn’t favourable to your situation, you can convert it to something else through the methods below.

Atome

Atome is a BNPL service which partners with a wide range of online and offline merchants in Singapore. All Atome transactions code as MCC 5999 Misc. & Speciality Stores.

MCC 5999 is on the whitelist of the HSBC Revolution and KrisFlyer UOB Cards, so to the extent that the merchant would have coded as a non-whitelisted MCC, using Atome can help conserve the more flexible caps on the Citi Rewards and DBS Woman’s World Card.

But what’s even more exciting is the opportunity to earn credit card rewards on education. Atome has a wide variety of education and enrichment providers.

If you made direct payment to these merchants, these transactions would very likely fall under the education MCC range, which most cards exclude from earning rewards. Paying via Atome is a simple way to circumvent this restriction.

Here’s a summary of the best cards to use for Atome.

💳 Best Cards for Atome (MCC 5999)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa* Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.1K per c. month
KrisFlyer UOB Apply	3 mpd	Min S$800 spend on SIA Group in a membership year required
*While MCC 5999 is on the whitelist, actual reports say that Atome does not earn 4 mpd so proceed at your own risk

Wogi

Wogi is a gift card retailer where purchases code as MCC 5947 Card, Gift Novelty or Souvenir Shops.

Like MCC 5999, MCC 5947 is on the whitelist of the HSBC Revolution, UOB Preferred Platinum Visa and KrisFlyer UOB Cards, so again it’s an opportunity to conserve the more flexible caps on the Citi Rewards and DBS Woman’s World Card.

Wogi’s other USP is that it allows you to make donations to various charities such as Children’s Aid Society, Singapore Cancer Society and Food from the Heart. 

Were you to make these donations via Giving.sg or the respective organisations’ websites, they’d code as MCC 8398 Charities and be ineligible for rewards with almost all cards. Donating via Wogi solves this problem, and you can still claim tax deductions with Giving.sg!

Wogi also sells eCapitaVouchers, which would code as the rewards-ineligible MCC 6540 POI Funding Transactions if purchased directly via the CapitaStar app.

Here’s a summary of the best cards to use for Wogi (it’s basically the same as Atome):

💳 Best Cards for Wogi (MCC 5947)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.1K per c. month
KrisFlyer UOB Apply	3 mpd	Min S$800 spend on SIA Group in a membership year required

HeyMax

MCC lookup tool HeyMax sells a selection of gift cards, all of which code as MCC 5311 Department Stores. Many of the merchants here have rewards-eligible, whitelisted MCCs anyway, but there’s still an (admittedly niche) use case for furniture.

Courts and IKEA code as MCC 5712 Furniture, Home Furnishings, which surprisingly isn’t a whitelisted MCC for any specialised spending card. Instead of “wasting” your flexible caps here, either in-store with the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa/UOB Visa Signature or online with the Citi Rewards Card/DBS Woman’s World Card, you could buy a gift card under MCC 5311, which is much easier to work with.

HeyMax gift card purchases are processed through FavePay, so here’s a summary of the best cards to use (don’t use the DBS Woman’s World Card, as it excludes FavePay transactions).

💳 Best Cards for HeyMax gift cards (MCC 5311)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month, must choose Fashion as bonus category
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$2K per c. month, must choose Fashion as bonus category
Citi Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.1K per c. month
OCBC Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.1K per c. month
KrisFlyer UOB Apply	3 mpd	Min S$800 spend on SIA Group in a membership year required

XNAP

Merchants using XNAP tend to be smaller mom-and-pop outfits that don’t take credit cards in the first place, but in any case, all XNAP payments code as MCC 5814 Fast Food Restaurants, regardless of the merchant’s actual business activity.

XNAP only supports payments via Apple or Google Pay, and you can pair cards which earn dining bonuses (e.g. HSBC Revolution, UOB Preferred Platinum Visa) to earn 4 mpd. 

💳 Best Cards for XNAP (MCC 5814)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month, must choose Dining as bonus category
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$2K per c. month, must choose Dining as bonus category
Citi Rewards + Amaze  Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.1K per c. month
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Klook

Klook Protect

Travel insurance bought directly from insurers codes as MCC 6300 Insurance Sales, which is generally ineligible for rewards.

But if you buy Klook Protect, it codes under MCC 4722 Travel Agencies and Tour Operators instead.

💳 Best Cards for Klook (MCC 4722)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month, must choose Travel as bonus category
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$2K per c. month, must choose Travel as bonus category
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Conclusion

If you’re facing an MCC that’s ineligible for rewards, or that would max out the precious caps on your blacklist cards, don’t give up. 

In certain circumstances, it may be possible to change the MCC to something else more favourable to rewards. This way, you can either turn a non-rewards earning MCC into a rewards-earning MCC, or an MCC that’s only eligible for 1.2-1.6 mpd with general spending cards into an MCC that earns 4-6 mpd with specialised spending cards. 

Any other ways of changing MCCs?