BIN Lookup
Identify card issuer, brand, country & type from the first 6–8 digits
Enter the first 6–8 digits of any payment card. Data from binlist.net.
Enter the first 6–8 digits of a card and click Lookup.
About
A Bank Identification Number (BIN), also called an Issuer Identification Number (IIN), is the first 6–8 digits of a payment card number. Each BIN uniquely identifies the card scheme (Visa, Mastercard, etc.), the issuing bank, the country of issuance, the card type (credit, debit, prepaid), and whether the card passes Luhn validation. This tool queries the binlist.net open database to return this information given any partial card number.
How to use
- 1 Enter the first 6 to 8 digits of a payment card number into the input field.
- 2 Click "Lookup" or press Enter — the tool queries the binlist.net open BIN database.
- 3 View the card scheme, brand, type (credit/debit/prepaid), issuing bank name and city, and country of issuance.
- 4 Use results to debug payment routing issues, validate expected card properties in test environments, or understand why a card was declined.
- 5 If a BIN returns "not found," the card may be newly issued or the BIN range may not be in the public database.
- 6 Note: the free binlist.net API is rate-limited — if you hit a 429 error, wait a moment before retrying.
- Is it safe to enter a partial card number?
- Yes. The first 6–8 digits of a card number (the BIN/IIN) are not sensitive — they identify the issuer but contain no account-specific information. Real card security comes from the full 16-digit number combined with CVV and expiry date. The BIN is the same for all cards from the same issuer batch, so looking it up reveals nothing about any individual account.
- Why might a BIN return "not found"?
- Several reasons: (1) The BIN range was allocated recently and has not been added to the public database yet. (2) Some issuers do not publish their BIN ranges publicly. (3) The digits entered do not form a valid BIN prefix. (4) Newer 8-digit BIN formats (introduced by ISO/IEC 7812 in 2017) may not be fully indexed. For authoritative BIN data, financial institutions use proprietary databases from Visa, Mastercard, or specialized data vendors.
- What is the difference between a BIN and an IIN?
- BIN (Bank Identification Number) and IIN (Issuer Identification Number) refer to the same concept — the first 6 digits of a payment card that identify the issuing institution. "IIN" is the newer, official ISO 7812 term, while "BIN" is the older industry term that is still widely used. In 2017, the standard expanded to support 8-digit IINs to accommodate the growing number of card issuers, though many databases still use 6-digit lookups.