Wireless Credit Card Machines

The Meaning Of Credit Card Numbers
By Ron King

If you take a close look at your credit cards, you'll probably
wonder what all those numbers stand for. Every digit actually
stands for something specific. Let's have a look at each of
those numbers in sequence.

The First Digit

Gasoline cards, department store cards and phone cards have
their own programs.

The major credit card companies operate on a standardized
system for assigning credit card numbers. The first digit in
the series will always be a 3, 4, 5 or 6. This number
designates the type of card you have. For instance, a 3 means
it's a travel and entertainment card, such as American Express
or Diners Club. A 4 is Visa and Visa-branded debit cards, cash
cards; a 5 is MasterCard and MasterCard-branded debit cards,
cash cards; and 6 is Discover.

The Other Numbers

American Express and Diners Club use the second digit to
identify the company. That means that Diners Club cards will
start with either 36 or 38, and American Express cards will
lead off with 34 or 37.

The remaining numbers in the series are used for other
purposes, depending upon the card type and issuer. Generally,
the numbers grouped after the opening series is the routing
number of the bank and the next group is the user's account
number. The final digit is special -- a check digit. This is a
number calculated by applying a specific formula, and it is
used as a fraud check.

Look At Your Card

American Express uses digits 3 and 4 for business or personal
card type and the currency of the cardholder's country of
origin. Digits 5 through 11 are the account number. Digits 12
through 14 show the card number attached to that account. The
last digit is, of course, the check digit.

Visa uses digits 2 through 6 for the bank number. Beginning
with digit 7 and running through 12 or 15, they're the account
number, and the last number is the check digit. The number of
digits in a group may vary because Visa cards don't all have
the same number of digits.

With MasterCard, the second digit through digit 3 (to as high
as 6) is the bank number. All remaining digits, except the end
check digit, identifies the cardholder's account.

And that's it. A slightly complex system necessary to track
billions of credit cards across the globe.

About the Author: Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer,
and web developer. Visit http://www.new-credit-card-now.com to
learn more about this fascinating subject. Copyright 2005 Ron
King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left
intact.

Source: http://www.isnare.com