Harness the power of BIN data for optimized payment strategies and deeper customer insights.
Every payment card your customers use to make purchases from your business includes a bank identification number (BIN). These BINs are far more than just the first chunk of digits on those cards: they’re invaluable pockets of data about the cards in question and the customers they belong to.
In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the significance of BIN data, why it matters to businesses like yours, and how incorporating it into your payment strategies can get you one big step closer to true payments optimization.
Understanding BINs: The Backbone of Payment Cards
Every payment card carries a unique primary account number (PAN), the first 6-10 digits of which is known as the BIN (though it’s increasingly common for BINs to be eight digits…more on this later). Every BIN holds vital information about the card itself, including the card issuer, card type, and so much more. Think of BINs as the DNA of payment cards—they provide essential insights that businesses can leverage to optimize their payment processes and enhance customer experiences.
Here’s just a taste of the wealth of data contained within a single BIN:
Learn about your customer:
Issuing bank name
Issuing country
Card segment type (consumer vs. commercial)
Learn more about the card itself:
Card brand
Card product name and ID
Prepaid or reloadable card functionality
Learn how to best process associated translations:
Details about customer authentication requirements
Indicator of whether the card can be used for online gambling
Indicator of whether the card supports tokenization or is eligible for Level II or Level III data
A Clarification on BIN Ranges
Card brands issue BINs in ranges, and all BINs within a particular range will have the same characteristics. As such, when you use a BIN lookup service to pull the data for a BIN, you’ll return two important fields—bin_min and bin_max—identifying the associated BIN range.
Why BIN Data Matters: Unlocking Strategic Insights
BIN data isn't just a string of numbers—it’s valuable information for optimizing payments. By analyzing BINs, businesses can:
Tailor Payment Processing Strategies in Real Time
Route BINs issued in particular regions or countries to the most favorable payment service provider (PSP) to ensure higher approval rates
Restrict non-reloadable prepaid cards from purchasing subscription services/products to avoid non-sufficient fund (NSF) declines
Reduce Costs
Routing transactions through lower-cost networks when possible
Identify when customer cards qualify for Level II and Level III data, so you can provide this data and face lower interchange costs
Perform complex cost analyses of your historical payments data
Block the cards you don't process (e.g. healthcare cards, fleet cards, cards for debt-paying services) from even being sent to the processor
Enhance Customer Experiences
Personalize checkout experiences to individual card types
Help customer troubleshoot payment issues associated with their specific card type/brand/issuer
Cater to customer payment preferences with precision
Navigating the Shift to Eight-Digit BINs
For a long time, the standard length of BINs was consistently six digits. In response to industry advancements and demand, however, payment networks have transitioned to generating BINs with eight digits. This started in 2017 with a revision to the ISO/IEC 7812 standard for assigning BINs, which outlined a timeline for card brands moving towards longer BIN issuance to simply meet increasing BIN demand. By April of 2022, Visa and Mastercard stopped issuing six-digit BINs altogether.
Since then, eight-digit BIN ranges have swept the industry at an increasing rate. Here at Pagos, we performed a meta-analysis of BIN files provided by Visa in recent years and witnessed an explosive growth in eight-digit BINs, with the summer of 2023 boasting an astonishing 10-fold increase compared to the summer of 2022. This growth in eight-digit BIN ranges means any business who builds payments processes around BINs will need to adjust their logic to accommodate the full eight or more digits of modern BINs.
That might sound stressful, but the shift to eight-digit BIN ranges is actually an exciting opportunity. With the extra digits, these longer BINs provide businesses with additional card detail granularity and enable more informed decision-making. By adapting to the new eight-digit BIN standard, businesses can better manage fraud, streamline operations, and optimize their payment strategies for long-term success.
Harnessing the Power of BIN Data with Parrot
Enter Pagos' Parrot—a comprehensive platform designed to unlock the full potential of BIN data. With Parrot, businesses gain access to accurate and up-to-date BIN information, empowering them to make informed decisions and drive growth. Whether you're a small startup or a multinational corporation, Parrot equips you with the tools to navigate the complexities of modern payment analytics with ease.
At this point, we offer two versions of Parrot: Parrot API and Parrot Batch. Parrot API allows you to retrieve detailed bank and market information for a particular BIN in real time via a simple API call. Parrot Batch is a file-based product that allows for bulk BIN requests and information retrieval. If your BIN data needs exceed the limits of an API, you can use Parrot Batch to efficiently retrieve BIN bank and market details via a file you add into your local database
Conclusion: Transforming Payments with BIN Data
As the payment landscape continues to evolve, understanding and leveraging BIN data is essential for businesses looking to thrive in a digital-first world. With insights gleaned from BINs, businesses can optimize their payment processes, reduce costs, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Join the forefront of modern payment analytics with Pagos' Parrot and unlock the true potential of BIN data for your business.
Ready to take your payment strategies to new heights? Explore the possibilities with Parrot and revolutionize the way you do business today.