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When is the BIN file ready each week?

We officially update the BIN data at 00:00 UTC every Tuesday. That being said, we recommend waiting 12 hours (approximately 12:00 UTC) to account for potential network delays. Typically, issues are resolved within 6 hours, but waiting +12 hours ensures you have the most up-to-date information.

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How often do BIN database entries change?

BIN data changes regularly as the card networks update their BIN ranges, add new products, and modify existing ranges. Pagos updates our files weekly to account for these regular updates.

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Why are Pagos’ responses different from my current BIN list provider’s responses?

We receive BIN data directly from the card brands. As such, our response data is accurate and up to date according to the latest card brand records. Because other BIN providers may receive their data from third-party sources outside of the card brands, we can’t speak to the accuracy of their responses.

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What does a Null field response mean?

The data provided in an individual field response depends on what data appears in the files we receive from the card brands. If a field response is null, this means our card brand files don’t include any data for that field.

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What is the difference between the bin_length and pagos_bin_length fields?

The bin_length field is populated directly from the network when the data is available. pagos_bin_length is a Pagos-specific field. We populate this field for all cards using our own logic, taking into consideration the bin_min and bin_max ranges and calculating the actual bin length for the range from those values. pagos_bin_length is very helpful in determining whether more collecting digits would benefit your business. There are use cases (e.g. US pinless debit routing or network tokenization) where the networks have meaningful differences between issuers and supported features that vary at the 9th or 10th digit.

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What does the shared_bin indicator mean?

This field is set to true when there is more than 1 unique range available for a 6+ digit BIN query. This indicates you need to pass more BIN digits to get a more unique response. For example, if you have ranges 4444000-4555000 and 4444400-4444500, the shared_bin field will be set to true.

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Why do some BIN ranges show the same bin_min and bin_max values?

This can happen when networks provide overlapping ranges or when there are multiple network associations for the same BIN range. The responses in other fields, such as card_brand and product_name will be different. To create a unique identifier, you should concatenate the bin_min, bin_max, and network fields together. You can also use the card_brand_is_additional field to identify primary vs. secondary networks. You should see one primary (false) and one or more additional (true) networks. In our API response, we provide a helpful ranking based on our logic, which places the big global networks (Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, JCB, Unionpay) as primary and other network enablements as additional. In the BIN batch file, this preference is left in order to support as many use cases as possible.

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What does it mean when multiple ranges show the same bin_min and bin_max values AND don’t have the card_brand_additional_network flag set to true?

When cards are co-branded, they often have payment marks and each network will claim the range as an issuer product. In cases where networks have co-processing agreements, networks will add a network’s ranges to its table to allow those cards to be routed. Networks like American Express, Discover, UnionPay, and JCB enter into agreements not to co-brand or co-badge a card, but to co-process in mutual agreements that are not usually indicated in the BIN file. The priority of the overlapping records when additional_network is false is left to your use case.

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How do I handle overlapping BIN ranges?

It’s possible for a BIN to appear in two overlapping BIN ranges between two different networks. This typically indicates one of the following:
  • The provided BIN is too wide of a range and more digits are required to narrow the results (e.g. the six-digit BIN is in two BIN ranges, but the eight-digit BIN is only in one)
  • The given BIN has both a primary and secondary card brand associated with it. The primary card brand for the BIN will be one of the main card brands—Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover; the secondary is typically a pinless debit network or a regional brand (e.g. ETPOS, Dankort, Carte Bancaire).
If a BIN appears in two overlapping ranges—where one range is smaller and fully contained within a larger one—use the details from the more specific (smaller) range.
Larger Range (overlapping): 6229330000000000000 - 6237969999999999999, UNIONPAY, CN Smaller Range (single): 6233550000000000000 - 6233559999999999999, UNIONPAY, TH

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What does the funding_source field contain?

This enhanced field is currently available only for Visa and Mastercard. For Visa, it maps one-digit codes to full descriptions (C=Credit, D=Debit, H=Charge Card, P=Prepaid, R=Deferred Debit). For Mastercard, it uses the top-level funding source from their BIN file (DEBIT, CREDIT, PREPAID, NONE).