Overview

If you subscribe to Parrot, you can use our BIN Data service to request detailed bank and market data for the payment cards your customers transact with. Submit a 6-10 digit <<glossary:bank identification number (BIN)—also known as an Issuer Identification number (IIN)—for a customer's card and receive information about the card type and brand, the bank that issued it, and details of the market it was issued in, such as currency, country, and time zone.

BIN data can help you better understand both your customers and their preferred payment cards. With this added context, you can design and implement a payments strategy that benefits your bottom line and improves the checkout experience for your customers.

Generate an API Key

After you create an account, open the Pagos Service Panel to generate an API Key:

Click your profile icon at the bottom of the main navigation.
Under Developers, click API Keys.
Click the BIN Data API tab.
Click Create API Key to add a new key to your account. A side panel will open with the new key value.
Copy your new API key and store it somewhere secure. You can only view this value one time.
Click I’ve Copied My Key to confirm and exit out of the side panel.

You'll provide this API key when you make your first BIN request. Pagos BIN Data uses this value alone to authenticate your request to our servers; you don't need to provide a password.

Look Up a BIN

You're now ready to query for a BIN! We recommend using cURL on the command line to submit API requests to Pagos, but you can also use API query tools like Postman. Here’s a cURL example for details on BIN 55630400

curl -H "x-api-key:[your API key here]" "https://parrot.prod.pagosapi.com/bins?bin=55630400"

This will return the details for the BIN:

{
    "card": {
        "number": {
            "length": 16
        },
        "bin_min": "5563040000000000000",
        "bin_max": "5563049999999999999",
        "card_brand": "MASTERCARD",
        "type": "Credit",
        "prepaid": false,
        "product": {
            "product_id": "MCF",
            "product_name": "MasterCard Corporate Fleet Card"
        },
        "bank": {
            "name": "CITIBANK N.A."
        },
        "country": {
            "alpha2": "US",
            "numeric": "840",
            "name": "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
        },
        "correlation_id": "eyJGaWxlSWQiOjI3NiwiVmVyc2lvbiI6NX0=”
    }
}

Brands Covered

At this time, BIN Data includes data for the following card brands.

PayPal
Discover
Prop
JCB
Mastercard
Visa
Amex
Elo
Dankort
Diners Club
Unionpay
EFTPOS Australia
RuPay
Accel
NYCE
STAR
PULSE
Korean Local
MIR
Culiance
Bancontact
Carte Bancaire
Hipercard
ATM Card
UATP
Cirrus
Private Label
Maestro

Card Product ID and Name

When available, we will provide the details around the card product ID and the card product name – this will denote the type of card typically present on the BIN. More details are available in the BIN / IIN Product Code Guide.

Enhanced Data

With Pagos Batched BIN Data, you can request enhanced data. This provides you with up to 35 additional fields beyond the standard data fields. It includes additional card brand information, estimated interchange costs, SCA regulation requirements, and more. See the Batched BIN Data Dictionary for a detailed list of the enhanced data fields available and an example of how BIN data appears in a query response.

BIN Data FAQ

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.

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

Pagos receives 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, so we can't speak to the accuracy of their responses.

Why is BIN_length not always available in a BIN response?

bin_length is an attribute only shared by certain card brands. If a card brand's file doesn't contain this field, BIN Data will present a null response. That being said, bin_length is not a necessary field for determining the details of a particular BIN. Instead, we recommend focusing on the values returned for the bin_min and bin_max attributes. BIN min/max values identify the BIN range a customer's card sits within, and all cards within a set range share flags indicating important details about them (e.g. card currency, card type, etc). As a best practice, always submit up to 10 digits for a PAN when querying BIN Data to narrow down your results to a specific BIN range.