All codesProfessional ServicesMedium Risk

8398Charitable & Social Service Organizations

Charitable organizations and donation processing. Medium risk due to donation fraud schemes, stolen card donations, and scam charity operations.

Networks:VisaMastercardAmexDiscover

Merchants Using MCC 8398

Well-known businesses assigned this code

Red CrossGoFundMeUnited WayCharity Navigator-listed orgs

Risk Assessment

May require additional documentation or slightly higher processing fees. Some processors apply enhanced monitoring.

Common Use Cases

  • Donations
  • Charitable giving
  • Fundraising
  • Disaster relief

Category Details

Category
Professional Services
MCC Range
8000–8999
Description
Medical, legal, educational, and membership organizations.

Why MCC Codes Matter for Your Business

Your MCC code directly affects how card networks and processors treat your transactions.

Approval Rate Impact

Processors have different acceptance rates per MCC. A misclassified code can silently tank your approval rate by 5-15%, costing revenue on every declined transaction.

Interchange Fees

The interchange fee you pay on every transaction is directly tied to your MCC code. Some categories pay 0.5% less per transaction — at scale, that compounds into significant savings or hidden costs.

Chargeback Thresholds

Visa and Mastercard set different chargeback monitoring thresholds per MCC category. High-risk MCCs face stricter limits — exceeding them triggers fines, reserve requirements, or account termination.

Wrong MCC = Serious Risk

An incorrect MCC assignment means you could be paying inflated fees, hitting the wrong chargeback program, or worse — facing account termination for "MCC mismatch" during a processor audit.

Tagada Optimizes Routing by MCC Code

Tagada's payment orchestration engine analyzes your MCC code to route each transaction to the processor with the highest approval rate and lowest fees for that specific merchant category. For MCC 8398, this means your charitable & social service organizations transactions are automatically sent through the optimal path in your processor stack.

Related Payment Terms

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MCC 8398?

MCC 8398 is for charitable and social service organizations processing donations and service payments.

Why is MCC 8398 medium risk?

Charity fraud (fake charities), stolen card donations, and tax deduction disputes create moderate risk. Legitimate charities still face these issues.

Does GoFundMe use MCC 8398?

Crowdfunding platforms may use MCC 8398 or other codes depending on whether donations qualify as charitable contributions.

Tagada Platform

Optimize MCC 8398 payments with Tagada

Tagada's intelligent routing engine optimizes MCC 8398 transactions for the best approval rate, lowest fees, and fastest settlement across your processor stack.