Credit Card Numbering
Main article: Credit card numberThe numbers found on credit cards have a certain amount of internal structure, and share a common numbering scheme.
The card number's prefix, called the Bank Identification Number, is the sequence of digits at the beginning of the number that determine the bank to which a credit card number belongs. This is the first six digits for MasterCard and Visa cards. The next nine digits are the individual account number, and the final digit is a validity check code.
In addition to the main credit card number, credit cards also carry issue and expiration dates (given to the nearest month), as well as extra codes such as issue numbers and security codes. Not all credit cards have the same sets of extra codes nor do they use the same number of digits.
Read more about this topic: Credit Card
Famous quotes containing the words credit card, credit, card and/or numbering:
“The world is a puzzling place today. All these banks sending us credit cards, with our names on them. Well, we didn’t order any credit cards! We don’t spend what we don’t have. So we just cut them in half and throw them out, just as soon as we open them in the mail. Imagine a bank sending credit cards to two ladies over a hundred years old! What are those folks thinking?”
—Sarah Louise Delany (b. 1889)
“To act the part of a true friend requires more conscientious feeling than to fill with credit and complacency any other station or capacity in social life.”
—Sarah Ellis (1812–1872)
“The Card Catalogue: “See also” leads into the wilderness.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The task he undertakes
Is numbering sands and drinking oceans dry.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)