How to determine the bank by card number: what fraught with 16 digits

Is it possible to determine the issuing bank by the card number , where to quickly go through this identification, and what else can be learned using the bank card number - an approximate plan for this article. Let's start with the “secrets” that the number is fraught with.

Is it always 16?

Before deciding to determine which bank the card belongs to by number, the reader must have paid attention to the latter. All card holders are accustomed to being usually sixteen-digit - four groups of four characters. However, the earliest issues contained a 13-digit number - the first group stood out with four digits, and the rest included three.

Cards with a number of 19 characters are also issued. Usually they duplicate 16-digit ones to some extent, since they are output as part of a specific subprogram.

What is “hidden” in the card number?

By bank card number, identifying a bank is not the limit. All 16 digits carry certain information.

The first digit indicates belonging to a specific global payment system:

• 4 - "Visa";
• 5 - "Master Card", "Maestro";
• 3 - American Express.

The second or fourth digits are the number of the credit organization that issued the product (issue - issue of bank cards).

Fifth-sixth - an additional identifier of a banking institution.

These six characters are the BIN that tells you how to determine which bank the card is by number.

Seventh-eighth - the number of the program under which this product was released for the bank.

Ninth and fifteenth - the immediate number of this card.

The sixteenth digit is very curious. It is the total number of mathematical manipulations over the seven-digit number from the previous paragraph. By what formula or algorithm they are carried out, it is known only to specialists directly involved in this stage of production.

What is a bin?

Before you determine the bank by card number, you need to familiarize yourself with the concept of "BIN". As already mentioned, this is the first six characters.

BIN is a Bank Identification Number. It is used to identify a bank or other credit institution in processing, clearing or authorization. It determines the type of payment system - a service for the transfer of electronic money, which has a set of technical, hardware and software rules for transferring funds from one side to another. The most famous international systems are: "Master Card", "American Express", "Visa".

The format of the number is governed by standards issued by the Community of World Financial Telecommunications between Banking Organizations (SWIFT) and Russian GOST. However, the principle by which BINs are distributed is closed to mass familiarization; it is available only to direct members of this banking system.

How to identify a bank by BIN

Most often they try to find out the name of the issuing bank in those cases when only the addressee's card number is known, and for the transfer of funds he needed these additional information. Sometimes this is necessary in order to find out whether a given product belongs to a domestic or foreign bank.

How to determine the bank by card number? Find the Binlist or BIN Database site through the search engine and enter the first six digits. Information will appear on the payment system, the country where the product was released, the issuing bank and its contact information (website, hotline), type of card - debit or credit, as well as its status - regular (classic), gold or platinum.

Before the BIN Database will identify the BIN, you need to "collect" a simple mosaic to the right of the number entry window - confirm that you are not a robot. By the way, even though both sites are in English, their interface is quite understandable and accessible to those who do not speak this language.

Common BINs in the Russian Federation

How to determine the bank by card number via the Internet, we have already figured out. This can also be done using this table, which contains the identification numbers of most well-known banks in the Russian Federation.

Classic, Gold and Platinum

During the process devoted to how to determine the bank by card number, information about the status of the card should have appeared - classic, gold or platinum. You should also deal with these categories.

Most users select or already receive classic cards by default. Their functionality is very wide:

• international service - service abroad on the so-called slip - without a request to the "native" bank;
• the ability to make financial transactions in the network;
• "equipment" with a chip - for secure payments in terminals, and a code - for purchases over the Internet;
• a free report is provided on the card;
• You can enter into a partnership program with Aeroflot Airlines.

Gold and platinum cards, in the first place, differ in the value of the annual service price. For example, for Master Card owners, it can reach up to seven thousand rubles (in some banks, however, free annual service is also provided). For owners of "Visa" - from 1,500 rubles for gold and up to 7,000 rubles for platinum. Service "Visas Infinity" reaches 30 000 rubles per year.

However, these cards, in addition to emphasizing the status of the holder, also have a number of other advantages, for example, for the "Visa":

• gold - emergency support in case of loss (blocking, urgent reissue), legal and medical support, bonus bonuses when paying, concierge system - reserve free tables in restaurants, newsletter about new privileges;
• platinum - in addition to the advantages of Gold, there is a free provision of "Purchase Protection" and "Extension of the guarantee", concierge - call a taxi or arrange car rental;
• infinity - free travel insurance for the owner and his family, concierge - selection of domestic staff, assistance in purchases, organization of repair work.