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In order to prevent card fraud, merchants and banks everywhere are being urged to consult so-called bin checkers or bin databases to ensure cards are not being used by unauthorized individuals. While banks, credit card companies and large companies typically know what a BIN actually is, most members of the public and many small e-businesses are a little less informed and, although they use credit card bin numbers regularly, are actually unaware of what they are, what they mean or how to use them to prevent being ripped off. The same also applies to debit card bin numbers and even gift card bin numbers, used on cards provided to customers by merchants, as is the case with prepaid card bin numbers. Once explained, it is actually quite simple to perform bin lookups, as professional services using bin databases are easily accessible. To start at the beginning, let's take a look at these BINs, by determining where to find them and what they mean. The term BIN simply stands for 'bank identification number'. Every bank on the planet has a number that uniquely identifies its name and country of origin. Usually, the number also identifies the type of card. This number is shown on all cards, no matter whether they are debit, credit, prepaid and/ or gift cards. It is shown as the six digits appearing first on the relevant card number. Bin checkers are consequently able to tell a merchant from their binlists what bank in which country has issued the card for which they wish to check bin information. A card number looking like this: 5430 34XX XXXX XXXX, for instance, will identify this card as an exclusive Stockmann Department Store Mastercard, which has been issued by Nordea, a bank located in Finland. Credit cards with this sequence of digits: 490841 at the beginning, on the other hand, are Gold Visa cards issued only by the Banco Espirito Santo situated in Portugal, while this bin reference: 473099 will identify a card as a Visa debit card issued only by the Wells Fargo Bank in Iowa, USA. Bin bases carry the latest available information for most bank identification numbers, although it is - for obvious reasons - not possible to be totally complete at all times. New cards, banks and card companies are continually springing up all over the place, and it may take a few weeks before every binchecker has been able to add the details to their binbase. As a rule, however, information within these databases will be not quite, but close to 100% correct and can be employed to determine whether it is likely that a card is actually being used by its rightful owner. A card issued by a bank in Finland used somewhere in France for a delivery destination somewhere in Australia, for example, would raise considerable doubt as to the authenticity of its use. Further checks would then be initiated before a purchase or order is authorized. Using these numbers subsequently prevents often substantial losses by both members of the public and merchants alike.
Now you are well informed about the importance of BIN numbers for your business. Why not trying BIN numbers database?.
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