What it is:
A bank identification number (BIN) identifies and verifies parts of a bank transaction.
How it works/Example:
For example, when you purchase something with your Visa card, the vendor and the payment processor receive a six- to nine-digit ID number. The first six digits identify the type of credit card (i.e., whether it's a MasterCard, Discover, Visa card or one from a department store) and the bank that issued the card.
When an electronic system validates a card transaction, part of the process is checking a database of BINs. (The American Bankers Association assigns and distributes BINs.) It keeps these BINs in a secure, nonpublic database. The configuration and data in the database can vary by country (for instance, BINs are only four digits in some countries).
Posts
Comment Policy : We invite you to comment on our posts, as long as they are respectful, to the point and approving. We do not perform pre-moderation of comments. However, in order to keep this site clean and useful, we reserve the right to remove any comment that is not in accordance with our Comment Policy.