Basic Credit Card Information

A credit card number consists of anywhere between 12 and 19 digits (depending upon the credit card type). The first six digits of a credit card number are known as the Issuer Identification Number (IIN) or Bank Identification Number (BIN), which is used to identify which organization issued the card along with other information. The remaining digits make up the account identifier/number with the exception of the last digit, which is the checksum digit used to validate the card number via the LUHN formula.

With the IIN/BIN, one can identify the card type (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, etc.), card level (i.e. business or purchasing card), along with issuer details (such as bank and country). The only type of card information able to be obtained by directly viewing the card number is the card type, as card brands are all assigned the same starting digits (i.e. all Visa cards start with a 4). Therefore the CardValidator component is only able to determine the CardType (along with validating the card number via the LUHN formula and verifying the Expiration Date). The remaining digits of the IIN/BIN are not specifically assigned (based on a formula) for a card issuer or level. Thus we cannot determine this information. However all this information is stored within IIN/BIN databases. There are multiple databases available but often require some sort of subscription to access the data. These are very helpful resources in the case that you need to determine if the card is a commercial card and sending Level2 and Level3 data (which is often associated with lower interchange fees).