Max's Advanced Mode: How to use Max + VISA data to find Kris+ Merchant MCC (Bonus Read)

Use Max's advanced search ability to get insights into your past or future transactions

Introduction

Never Use the Wrong Credit Card for Any Purchase Again: Meet Max, the MCC Finder

In the last post, we discussed the basic use cases of Max’s MCC and Best Card to Use search capability. In this post, let’s see how Max’s advanced search capability allows you to deep dive into a given merchant’s data, understanding how different payment method with the same merchant might earn you different rewards.

Want a Donut?

Using Krispy Kreme as an example: Let’s see what the MCC would be if you tap your card directly in the store.

Using heymax.ai to search directly Krispy Kreme

Wahlah, we get MCC 5462 as a result. It’s address checks out, and the Bakery category makes sense. I’ll happily use my HSBC Revolution to earn 4 miles per dollar with contactless payment. Notice how it’s not part of the “dining” MCC? good thing I checked.

What if I use Kris+ as payment method in store?

Let’s search again, this time choose “VISA” from the search mode dropdown.

Choose “VISA” in the search mode

Scroll a bit and you’ll see this entry called “Krispy Kreme (Krispay)”. The business name is the actual merchant registration detail “Krispay_sgd_sgd_mcc5814” by the collaboration of Krispy Kreme and Kris+, and what do we see there? The MCC is actually 5814, Fast Food Restaurant!

Now with this knowledge, I can use my wife’s UOB Lady’s card to earn 4 miles per dollar and not worry about the $1k cap on the HSBC Revo card.

Conclusion

Krispay, Paypal may register different MCC compared to the underlying merchant themselves. Something you can’t be too assured without proper digging. Max allow you to search for any merchant that has registered with VISA by looking into their actual registered information, to help you better understand the charges before or after the transaction.

Happy exploring! What are you searching?