how are digits in credit card decided?
2006-09-14 05:01:21 · 4 answers · asked by aditya s 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
the first number tells what kind of card it is. for example, all Visa cards start with 4, all MasterCards start with 5.
after that is the Bank ID number, which tells which bank issued the card
the next block of numbers is decided by the card issuer, for example Visa may tell Bank X "you get all card numbers in block 1234", the bank can then decide which numbers to issue in this block based on their own standards.
2006-09-14 05:13:43 · answer #1 · answered by Kutekymmee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a previous poster identified, the first 4 digits are BIN, and are determined by who is the card issuer (Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Discover, etc....)
The next digits depend on the card Issuer. For MC, I believe they indicate the region of the bank that issued the card. I cant say the other payment providers do the same for sure.
And as you might have expected, the rest are 'randomly generated' by an algorithm, which tries to not give combinations which my be easily guessed (ex. youll never find a card # that ends in 1234 5678)
2006-09-14 05:20:54 · answer #2 · answered by Lostpupp 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
After the initial few nos. for the Bank Identification of region, area, etc. the other nos. are Random Computer picked nos.
2006-09-14 05:29:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i know the first few digits are known as the BIN (bank identification number). other than that...i don't know.
2006-09-14 05:09:52 · answer #4 · answered by practicalwizard 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋