A BIN, or Bank Identification Number, is the first 6 to 8 digits of a payment card number. It identifies the card network, the issuing bank, the card's country and its type, such as credit, debit or prepaid. The industry now prefers the term IIN (Issuer Identification Number), but BIN is still what most people say.
What a BIN tells you
From the BIN alone you can usually learn:
- Brand: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and so on
- Type: credit, debit or prepaid
- Level: for example classic, gold or business
- Commercial or consumer: whether it is a company card
- Issuing bank and its contact details
- Issuing country
Why merchants use BINs
- Routing. Send domestic cards to a local acquirer and foreign cards elsewhere, or route a specific bank's cards to the processor that approves them best.
- Cost. Debit and credit cards, and domestic and cross-border cards, carry different fees. Knowing the card type before you charge lets you route for cost.
- Fraud checks. A card issued in one country used from an IP in another, or a prepaid card on a high-value order, is a useful signal.
Six or eight digits?
Since 2022 the card networks have moved to 8-digit BINs. Many lookups still accept 6 digits, but 8 digits identify the card range more precisely.
Orchestrapay's BIN Lookup returns these attributes through an API and uses them in routing rules.