Mastercard InControl and Visa's Consumer Transaction Controls - coolest perks you've never heard of

[Anonymous]

Greetings forum-goers, I need your assistance!  I want to set credit card spending thresholds for different merchant/MCC categories to match my budget.

example: a $150/month cap for restaurants.  Ideally text messages would be sent as the maximum is approached. Upon reaching the limit for restaurants additional spending in the category would be denied for the desired period on the card.  Blocking transactions would be based on MCC codes.

These features are not a wishlist, they're actually part of the InControl service offered by Mastercard since at least 2010 (see below).  Earlier this year Visa announced a similar capacity for roll-out with interested developers, though I'm unaware of any implementation to date.  

Disappointingly none of my Mastercard-branded credit cards seem eligible for enrollment in this service (see hyperlink below).  What I want to know: is anyone here utilziing this functionality now or aware of a US credit card that is eligible for enrollment with the InControl features described above?  I'm not talking about virtual credit card numbers or any other part of InControl--just the functionality described above.

Research shows credit cards typically lead individuals to spend more than they would with cash.  I believe the InControl service (or something akin to it) would justify using a credit card regularly, even over debit, and would actually take my budgeting to the next level.  I care about this enough that it will guide my next credit card application, but I need your help to get there.

Cheers,

DayPlannerMan

Resources:

"Your Credit Card Has Been Declined, Just Like You Wanted"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/14money.html

Mastercard InControl Enrollment
https://www.mastercardincontrol.com/us

Citi to Implement Mastercard InControl
http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/citi-to-implement-mastercard-incontrol/

Mastercard Cards:  Huntington Voice, Citi Prestige

[Anonymous]

I see what you're saying OP I just think this will open a can of worms and cause more harm than good.

1. MCC codes are often times incorrect.
2. Imagine if you put a cap of $150 on food for the month and it's late out, you're starving, and your card gets declined at all food places. Imagine how much backlash banks will get for this.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I see what you're saying OP I just think this will open a can of worms and cause more harm than good.

1. MCC codes are often times incorrect.
2. Imagine if you put a cap of $150 on food for the month and it's late out, you're starving, and your card gets declined at all food places. Imagine how much backlash banks will get for this.

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That sounds like our typical blame someone else, nothing is ever my fault society. These are limits YOU impose on YOUR OWN CARDS. How could you then blame the bank for allowing you to set it up? That's like me choosing to have a paper paycheck instead of direct deposit and blaming my employer that it is not available in my bank account at midnight.

OP, that sounds like a cool feature. I have limited exposure so I don't know of anyone offering it.

[9CLINE]

Thanks for question OP While I don't know of a program to do this, I think it would be cool to be able to cap individual and keep up closer with category spending...

[UncleB]

I'm not aware of any consumer cards that offer this, however some business cards have been offering this for quite some time. 

Years ago I had two company credit cards; a Corporate Amex which was unrestricted, and a procurement card (i.e. 'Pro card') that was a MasterCard with MCC level restrictions.  The pro card wasn't to be used for anything travel related (the Amex was for that) and the documentation that came with it stated that all the travel MCCs would be declined authorization (note that I took their word for it, and never tried personally). 

While I see how this might be useful on a personal card for someone who has self-control issues or who wants to restrict a card for others to use, personally I like to have the flexibility of using my cards anywhere.  Just because the feature isn't for me doesn't mean it's "bad", though... I'm sure there are many others who would appreciate it.

Thanks for starting a very interesting thread! 

[Anonymous]

Bring your mother along with you shopping or dining. It doesn't matter how old you are she will still run you right on overspending. Of course this isn't on Mother's Day or birthday

[Dalmus]

I think the main problem that you'd run into on personal cards is making sure things are codes correctly. For example, my Barclay Rewards counts purchases at Menard's as grocery, while Discover properly saw it as Home Improvement last quarter.

I'd be worried that my grocery allowance would be capped prematurely.

[Anonymous]

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@Dalmus wrote:
I think the main problem that you'd run into on personal cards is making sure things are codes correctly. For example, my Barclay Rewards counts purchases at Menard's as grocery, while Discover properly saw it as Home Improvement last quarter.

I'd be worried that my grocery allowance would be capped prematurely.

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It sounds like you can easily change if that happened, but it would make the feature less useful.    In general, just like all the other scenarios, you would carry another card if you really need to be groceries now and your preferred card is capped

But I agree, unless the MCCs are rock solid AND your REALLY care about MCC breakdown to budget, this will create more work and/or be so unhelpful that people won't bother with it.

[Anonymous]

It's a cool idea but it seems more like a budgeting situation.  I wouldn't want a card to be declined because I went over budget, though, because life happens sometimes.

You can have something like Mint email you if you break some cap on some category without blocking your cards if you use their budgeting tools.

[Anonymous]

Response from Mastercard:

"Thank you very much for reaching out to us and glad to know that you are a dedicated Mastercardcardholder.  I looked into your question regarding alerts.  All Mastercard credit and debit Issuers will be required to offer Alerts as of May 2017 so I suspect as you look at your card benefits, each of the issuers will be adding them in. These may not be branded via in-Control necessarily, but will be offered by the banks.

I hope this answers your question and please reach out directly if I can be of further assistance.

Best,

Jim Issokson

Senior Vice President

Communications, North America

Mastercard

2000 Purchase Street | Purchase, NY  10577-2509

tel 914-249-6286 | mobile 914-648-9971"

Response from Citibank:

We appreciate the opportunity to assist with your account.

On July 25, 2015, Citi discontinued participation in the In Control spend alert service. You can now receive specific account related information in the form of electronic email alerts through our website. You have several email notification options, including notice of statement availability, payment reminders and account balance. For additional information, choose Enroll In/Manage Citi Alerting Service from the Account Management tab.

If interested, be sure to check out other options available to you under the Account Management tab. Most accounts are able to order replacement cards, link additional Citi credit cards or even generate Virtual Account Numbers.

Your satisfaction is our top priority, and it matters to us that we satisfy all of your financial needs.

Thank you for using our website.

Upshot

Conflicting accounts of InControl roll-out and availability.  I hope a card issuer steps forward to champion this program, as I would take the inconvenience in an emergency (easily mitigated by carrying a different, backup card) for a credit card that works for me and my budget every day.  Likewise, MCC code deficiencies do not make a compelling case for forgoing this functionality.  With cash you spend less--isn't it time you could say the same about your credit card?