

American Express credit card numbersĪmerican Express credit cards are a bit different. Banks can have more than one BIN.įor Visa and Mastercard, the remaining digits of your credit card number, except for the last one, are the a. This shows what financial institution issued the card. When it comes to Visa and Mastercard, the first six digits of your credit card number are the bank identification number, or BIN.

If a card starts with 4 then it’s a Visa credit card.If a card starts with 3 it’s likely an American Express (although some other cards use three as the first digit).The first digit in a credit card number can also be a clue about which financial institution issued it. If it’s a three then it’s likely a travel or entertainment credit card. The individual numbers also represent different characteristics of your credit card.įor example, the first number sometimes tells you what industry the credit card belongs to. The number on your credit card isn’t just your account number. They are written out as one set of four numbers, one set of six numbers and one set of five numbers.Īmerican Express example: 1234 567891 23456

Most credit card numbers are 16 digits long, written out in four sets of four digits.Īmerican Express credit card numbers are a bit different and only have 15 digits. Your credit card number is the longest number you will find on your credit card. Have you ever wondered why your credit card number is so long? It’s not by accident (or because there are so many credit cards in circulation).Įach number or set of numbers on Canadian credit cards have an important role to play in keeping transactions organized and secure.
