subject: How To Do The Bank Bin Lookup With Ease? [print this page] BIN or Bank Identification Number which constitutes the first six digits of the card serves as an essential tool to prevent financial fraud and to facilitate the bank bin lookup.
The tool
Selection of a good bank bin lookup tool is absolutely essential for a fine and accurate bank bin lookup. The tool should be updated regularly, technically compatible with other system security software and easy to use. The number and contents of fields in a bank bin lookup tool may vary but generally most bank bin lookup tools provide results in an eleven field format with common details such as issuing bank, name of the country, name of the bank, website or contact details of the bank, nature of transaction permissible etc. Some bin databases contain a huge number of records and some others are limited in nature.
Source of data
The bin database should be accurate. For maintaining accuracy the source is the most important factor. Generally free bank bin lookup databases rely on computer generated data with no in depth details. But there are certain bin databases which get the details from merchants who process card payments, banks and financial institutions issuing the cards etc. Such results might be more accurate even to 99% since the data is from reliable sources.
Automatic filtering
The ability to automatically filter out the possible results in case of a doubtful entry is an added advantage to any bank bin lookup tool. This will prevent from returning a lot of junk pages from which the user has to filter out manually the possible solutions. The records should be uniform throughout the database. If the spelling of country or issuing bank varies widely the filtering feature cannot be of use. Uniformity of data is therefore a must for the bin database. Also obsolete details should be removes as soon as possible. Since new cards are being issued worldwide on a daily basis, updates also need to be regular. Such features make the bank bin lookup tool more professional and authentic.
Cancelling transactions
Some bin databases can be linked to the accounting software so that when in case of a discrepancy, the transaction can be stopped. Upon clarification, the transaction can either be cancelled or allowed to proceed based on the results of bank bin lookup. This allows the merchants to feel confident about managing their finances well since the system does the role of a good firewall preventing fraudulent transactions.
Any fraudulent transaction can result in a chargeback and a high chargeback ratio is undesirable for the growth of the business. An effective bank bin lookup tool protects the business from falling into unexpected charge backs and hence can efficiently allow the smooth run of the business.
Lastly if you happen to come across any card which has been found out to be a case of identity theft or fraudulent transactions, do not forget to update in the current bin database since this can be of valuable information. Such identity thefts can indeed be the tip of iceberg for major crimes and your contribution can really make a difference.
