What is a BIN/IIN?
A BIN (Bank Identification Number), also called an IIN (Issuer Identification Number), is the first 6-8 digits of a payment card number. It identifies the institution that issued the card and card program metadata.
How are BINs structured?
BINs follow the ISO/IEC 7812 standard. Traditionally 6 digits, the industry is migrating to 8-digit BINs to accommodate growing card issuance. The first digit indicates the card network (e.g. 4 = Visa, 5 = Mastercard), and the remaining digits identify the issuing bank and card program.
Why compare multiple sources?
Open-source BIN datasets disagree. Showing multiple source rows makes conflicts visible instead of hiding them behind a single merged record.
Why are BIN lookups used in fraud prevention?
BIN verification helps detect mismatches between the card's issuing country and the customer's location, identify higher-risk card types such as prepaid or virtual cards, and confirm that a card number maps to a real issuer without using the full card number.
Is this tool free?
Yes. VerifyBINCode offers 10 free lookups per day with no signup. If you need higher-volume API access, for product updates.