After being in this industry for more than 16+ years, it is very common to see an incorrect Merchant Category Code (aka MCC) being listed on a business' merchant account. There is a link on Visa's website where you can actually search your business and see if you are listed correctly. The link is here https://www.visa.com/supplierlocator-app/app/#/home/supplier-locator
Why does this matter? Well, if you have an incorrect MCC, you could be paying much more in fees to Visa/MC/Discover/Amex for one. Secondly, you could be missing out on certain card types that you can accept. For example, you might be a laser hair removal clinic but you may also do Botox injections and acne treatments. Since you offer some "medical" treatments and you carry medical malpractice insurance, your clients can use their FSA and HSA debit cards for these services. These debit cards have a tax free balance on them that have to be used towards FSA/HSA expenses. If you are setup with the wrong MCC, your credit card machine/software will not be able to accept these types of debit cards.
Another industry that can be caught off guard by this is a school that also does daycare services. If the school is setup as only a "school" and not a "childcare services" business, the owner of this business will be unable to accept Dependent Care FSA debit cards. A Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA) is a pre-tax benefit account used to pay for eligible dependent care services, such as preschool, summer day camp, before or after school programs, and child or adult daycare.
There are many other examples of why having the wrong MCC can harm your business. If you aren't sure how your processor has you registered with Visa/MC/Discover/Amex, please reach out to us at Ark. We are happy to help!
At Ark Payment Solutions, we have access to multiple processors so that we can get you the best pricing, service and technology for your credit card processing needs! If you are looking for a detailed analysis and proposal, feel free to email us at info@arkpaymentsolutions.com or call us at 702-257-8295. We would love for you to join the Ark Payment Solutions family!