Credit cards have become an important source of identification and in many cases credit cards are more widely accepted than cash, like if you want to rent a car, book a hotel room or buy an air ticket on telephone or on the internet you need to have a credit card. According to experts majority of U.S. citizens have at least one credit card and usually two or three, not only in U.S. alone but the scenario is probably same all over the world. More and more people are now using credit cards for variety of purposes but on the internet almost every kind of business transaction is performed using a credit card and even though many online businesses, stores etc might accept other modes of payments still credit cards are considered primary mode.



Many entrepreneurs have taken this route on the road to riches simply by accepting credit cards on their websites. If you are one of them you might want to explore some possibilities that can make your business more efficient and smooth in several ways. Have you ever wondered how when you swipe your card through a credit card processor it identifies if your card is a Visa, MasterCard, Discover or any other type of credit card? Well this is possible because the numbers on your card signifies different parameters. For example the first digit of the card number which is known as system number or MII (Major Industry Identifier) represents the category of entity which issued your credit card. Like number 3 is for travel/entertainment cards (such as American Express and Diners Club), 4 and 5 are for banking and financial institution (Such as Visa and MasterCard).

The first six digits of your credit card are called BIN (Bank Identification Number) or IIN (Issuer Identification Number), this six digit number identify the bank or issuer of your card. Not only for credit cards but many other industries are using bank identification number to classify the consumers in a better way. Now if you are wondering how this might help you conduct business on the internet more efficiently, let me explain you how. Due to the wide implementation of this system it has a great value for online businesses. Online merchants are using bank identification number database to prevent fraud and identify their customer and clients.

When a merchant accept credit card physically and swipe it through a credit card processor, the merchant will get paid even if the card is stolen and is being used as fraud. But when a merchant accepts credit card by telephone or on the internet where the card has not been presented at sale, the merchant is usually liable for credit card charge backs, even if the bank has authorized the transaction. Since credit card fraud are more frequent on the internet, it makes it inevitable for e-merchants to ignore managing this issue on their own by implementing proper safeguard to prevent fraud while not causing inconvenience for the customer when they want to buy something and perform a transaction by providing their credit card number. This is where bank identification number database comes in. Using a BIN database you can manage and reduce credit card fraud very effectively without causing any inconvenience for your customer.