Where to look for a bank card number and why does the holder need it at all?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Who today does not know where the bank card number is located? Of course, on its front side. In the event that someone doubts, let's clarify: the raised numbers on the front side, divided into four groups of four - this is it. By the way, they can be either embossed (embossed, as experts say) or simply printed.

It should be noted that the sixteen-digit number of a Visa bank card is typical not only for it, but also for the plastic of the MasterCard system. But American Express has a 15-digit marking. If someone has been using banking IPCs (international payment cards) for a long time, then he probably remembers that earlier the Visa was equipped with a thirteen-digit number. But today, such instances are rare. Regardless of the number of positions in which this attribute is represented, it is unique.

We figured out the location. Now let's talk about what do bank card numbers mean? We will consider the classic version, when on the front of the IPCa sequence of numbers is applied in the form XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX:

• The first X shows which payment system the plastic belongs to (three - American Express, four and five - Visa and MasterCard, respectively);

• Second, third and the fourth X is the identifier of the issuer (the organization that issued the card). It is generated in accordance with a special algorithm;

• The fifth and sixth X specify the type of IPC, as well as the bank by which it was issued;

• The seventh and eighth X reflect the belonging of the plastic to a specific program, within which it was issued;

• From the ninth to the fifteenth X - this is the bank card number. But it is not formed in order, but again according to a special algorithm. Often, it encodes the number of the branch or department that issued the IPC, the presence or absence of a chip, the account currency. As for the sixteenth X, it is a verification number that should result from all sorts of manipulations (mathematical actions) featuring the first fifteen.

By the way, the set of X's from the first to the sixth is BIN. In simple terms, BIN is the identifier of the issuer, that is, the bank. It is deciphered accordingly: bank identification number.

Sometimes a bank manager forgets to inform a client that a bank card number and a card account are two big differences. First, the difference is in the number of characters. In the first case, there are sixteen, and in the second, twenty. What is typical, if the plastic is lost, the client receivesa new one, on which, of course, a new bank card number is applied. As for the card account, not only can it not be lost, it also remains unchanged as long as there is a need for it. Do I need to remember or write down the sequence of numbers that we have been talking about all this time? It is best to write down the combination in your organizer, but do not specify what exactly it is. In general, try not to get it to third parties, because one day you can find that it was paid off, for example, on the Internet. You may need sixteen digits to pass identification during dialing to the call center of your bank.