Reference API

This API provides methods to look up both the definitions of U.S. Bank common product definitions and industry standard Merchant Category Codes. [API documentation]

• Features
• Use Cases
• FAQs

Features

• Provides complete details of Merchant Category Codes (MCC).
• Ability to look up MCC definition by code.
• Ability to find all related MCC values by searching with a key word (e.g. “Restaurant”).
• Retrieve the complete list of all MCC value.
• Provides a list of U.S. Bank products.
• Contains common product abbreviations.

Use Cases

• Classify customer purchases (using MCC codes) for budgeting purposes.
• Propose opportunities for customers to save money.
• Create card controls to restrict user purchases for only approved categories (based on MCC).
• Create fraud alerts by analyzing transaction history to find abnormal spending behaviors.

Note: A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit code assigned to every business that applies to accept credit cards. This code indicates the nature of the merchant’s business (e.g., Airlines, Veterinary Sciences, Hardware Store, etc.) They have become the standard for categorizing card purchases based on industry.

FAQs

Q. How do I look up a specific MCC code?

The /code/{mcc} method will return the description for a specific merchant code.

This method is very useful for categorizing a specific purchase.

Q. What if I don’t know the MCC code? How can I find the appropriate MCC code?

The Reference API also has a search function for you to look up MCC codes based on their description. Specifically, the /codes/search/desc={search_string} method allows you to query for a given string. For example, you can search for all the MCC codes associated with a general industry, such as “Food” or “Legal”