FAQ
Q. What is a BIN ?
A. A BIN (Bank Identification Number), also known as an IIN (Issuer Identification Number), is the first six digits of a credit card number.
This series of numbers is used to identify the bank that issued the card.
Q. What are BINs like ?
A. Visa cards always begin with 4 and have 13 or 16 digits.
MasterCard cards begin with 5.
American Express cards begin with 34 or 37 etc.
More information about BIN ranges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_number#IIN_ranges_allocated_to_issuing_networks
Q. What can the BIN database be used for ?
A. One common use of the BIN database by merchants is to learn more about the credit card that is submitted to them, and detect possible fraud. This can be especially useful in card not present situations.
Q. Where does the BIN data come from ?
A. We have compiled information from different sources, including banking and merchant sources. We have also recouped data using our own sources.
Q. Is the BIN database legal ?
A. Yes, it is. In spite of generally not being available to the public at large, it is a legitimate tool that assists merchants in screening credit card payments.
Q. How accurate is the database ?
A. We believe that the data should be at least 95% accurate. However, the data is only useful as long as it's kept up to date. Therefore we strive to maintain the data as accurate as possible.
In spite of our best efforts it is possible that some records are incorrect or outdated.
Q. I cannot find my BIN using the lookup tool. How come ?
A. Unfortunately our data is not 100% complete, therefore we cannot guarantee that every lookup will return a match.
If you are willing to contribute information, feel free to use our submission form.
Q. What types of credit cards does your database support?
A. At this time we support: Visa, MasterCard and American Express. For each credit card brand we typically provide additional information about the type of credit card: classic, platinum, gold, debit, prepaid, gift etc.
Q. How many queries can I perform ?
A. In order to avoid abuse like automated, remote queries, the number of lookup queries is limited to 20 per IP address per 24 hours.
Q. How big is the database?
A. The database currently contains a total of over 50,000 BIN records for more than 160 countries.