Once she swipes the card, the system scans the BIN to detect the specific issuing institution that withdraws the funds. This process results in the charge being either approved or denied.įor example, a customer stands at a gas pump and swipes her bank card.

The BIN identifies which issuer receives the authorization request for the transaction to verify if the card or account is valid and whether the purchase amount is available on the card.

After submitting the first four to six digits of the card, the online retailer can detect which institution issued the customer’s card, the card brand (such as Visa or MasterCard), the card level (such as corporate or platinum), the card type (such as a debit card or a credit card), and the issuing bank country. When a customer makes an online purchase, the customer enters her card details on the payment page. The number allows merchants to accept multiple forms of payment and allows faster processing of transactions. The BIN quickly helps a merchant identify which bank the money is being transferred from, the address and phone number of the bank, if the issuing bank is in the same country as the device used to make the transaction, and verifies the address information provided by the customer. The BIN helps merchants evaluate and assess their payment card transactions. For example, the MII for a Visa credit card starts with a 4.

The first digit of the BIN specifies the Major Industry Identifier (MII), such as airline, banking or travel, and the next five digits specify the issuing institution or bank. The bank identification number is a numbering system developed by the American National Standards Institute and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to identify institutions that issue bank cards.

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