Free Credit Card Number Lookup Service in Canada 🇨🇦

What are the must-have attributes of each credit card? This is a corporate design, the payment system logo, a unique number displayed directly on the card, the cardholder’s name, and the expiration date. But have you ever wondered what stands behind the credit card number? Let's try to decipher this code.

What is a Credit Card Number?

A credit card number is a unique combination of numbers that stores vital information to ensure accurate transactions and fraud prevention. Certain digits or groups of digits in your card number reflect its specific characteristics. Let's look at the main building blocks of your credit card number.

1. First Digit. The first digit of the credit card number, also known as the Major Industry Identifier (MII), is the payment system identifier assigned by the American Banking Association. This way, each credit card network has its own initial MII digit: an American Express credit card number typically begins with 3, a Visa credit card number — with 4, a Mastercard credit card number — with 5, and a Discover card number — with 6.
   Sometimes, the number of your credit card identifier starts with can indicate the industry the card belongs to. For example, credit card numbers starting with 1 can belong to the airline industry, while credit card numbers starting with 3 can identify the entertainment or travel industry. Other numbers may indicate banking and financial cards, healthcare cards, and gas cards.
2. First Six Digits. The first six digits of your credit card number constitute the Issuer Identification Number (IIN) or Bank Identification Number (BIN). This set of digits identifies the card-issuing financial institution and serves to speed up the information exchange when processing the transactions. In some circumstances, an IIN or BIN can consist of eight digits.
   Made of the initial MII digit and the next five to seven digits, IIN or BIN differs across credit card networks. In Visa Cards, the IIN/BIN part coming after the MII contains numbers 2 through 6. In Mastercard, IIN/BIN may contain numbers 0 through 5. In Amex cards, IIN/BIN has numbers 3 and 4 that identify the specific brand, like the Delta card or American Express Platinum card.
3. Rest of the Number. The remaining digits of your credit card number following IIN or BIN (except the last digit) represent the account identification number allocated by the card issuer. The account number can be up to 12 digits long, although the common length is six digits. Banks and other financial institutions assign this number to each cardholder individually, and the number of possible account number variations easily reaches a trillion.
4. Last Digit. Finally, the last digit of your credit card number is the validator, also known as the Luhn code. With the Luhn algorithm in place, credit card networks verify the validity of credit cards to ensure protection against fraud and keep transactions secure.
   Along with a credit card number, you can see the expiration date on the front of your card and the CVV number on its back.
5. Expiration Date. Located below the credit card number, an expiration date serves as an additional security layer in transaction processing. In case of a lost or stolen card number, using just its 15 or 16 digits won’t be enough to make an unauthorized purchase without knowing the month and year when the credit card expires.
6. CVV Number. The Card Verification Value (CVV), also referred to as the Card Verification Code (CVC), is the security code on the back of your card. Depending on the credit card network, a CVV may consist of three or four digits. For example, Mastercard and Visa cards typically have a 3-digit CVV, while Amex cards have a four-digit CVV. By asking for the CVV code, the Point-Of-Sale systems validate your authorized access to the credit card. This code aims to reduce the risk of data breaches and protect you from fraudulent purchases, which is especially relevant for those shopping online frequently.

How Long is a Credit Card Number?

Assigned in accordance with ISO/IEC 7812, credit card numbers may consist of 8 to 19 digits. Still, most credit cards have a unique 16-digit number stamped on the front. There are exceptions though: for example, some American Express cards have a 15-digit card number on the back.

1. Virtual Credit Card Numbers. Along with physical credit cards, there are virtual credit cards used for online shopping primarily. Available for use right after issuing, a virtual credit card can have a temporary number associated with its account to use online. The use of such credit card numbers for online purchases makes transactions more secure since a virtual number allows you not to disclose the details of the main card. Using one-time virtual credit card numbers strengthens the protection against data breaches, identity theft, and online scams like phishing emails when shopping online from a desktop or mobile device.
2. PIN on Credit Card. All credit cards have a Personal Identification Number or PIN. The purpose of this four-digit code is to verify your cardholder identity when making a transaction with your card. A PIN works as an electronic analog of your signature as long as you need it to get cash from an ATM or approve a purchase. So, be sure to protect your credit card information from being stolen — don't disclose your PIN to third parties or note it down on paper if you are afraid to forget it.
3. Meaning of Credit Card Numbers. By the number of the card, you can determine its origin. The first digit in credit card numbers indicates which payment system they belong to. For cards issued by non-credit institutions, the first digit may identify the organization’s industry. The first six digits in card numbers constitute the so-called Issuer Identification Number (IIN) or Bank Identification Number (BIN). The remaining digits, except for the last one, represent an individual credit card account number. The last digit is the so-called check digit used in the Luhn algorithm to verify the validity of the credit card.

How do you know who is the issuer using the credit card number?

There are times in life when you need to define the issuing bank by the card number. Say you need to transfer money to another person; knowing which bank the card belongs to, you can find out the size of the commission in advance.

Once you know the credit card number, it is quite easy to identify the issuing bank. Just enter the first six digits of your credit card number (IIN/BIN) in the field below and click the "Find" button.

With so many types of credit cards available in Canada, their numbers may differ significantly based on the payment network used and issuing bank. Let’s look through the common credit card number types.

What is a Payment Card Network?

A payment card network also referred to as a credit card network, is an organization that authorizes, processes, and regulates credit card transactions. Whenever you are making a purchase in-store or through an e-commerce website, you are requesting your bank to pay a merchant. The payment, in turn, goes through the payment network. Most globally accepted credit cards use such payment networks as MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.

1. Mastercard. Spaced in four groups of four digits each, the unique 16-digit numbers of Mastercard credit cards always begin with the number 5. For the next five digits, Mastercard uses numbers from the range of 0 to 5.
2. Visa. Just like the numbers of Mastercard credit cards, Visa card numbers also contain 16 digits in most cases, written out in four sets of four digits. The number of a Visa card starts with 4.
3. American Express. Unlike Mastercard and Visa cards, American Express credit cards typically have a 15-digit card number. Another distinction is writing out an Amex card number as one set of four digits, one set of six digits, and one set of five digits. American Express credit card numbers begin with the number 3 followed by 4 or 7.

What is an Issuing Bank?

An issuing bank is a financial institution and a member of the payment system that issues and services credit cards. Credit cards of the same type issued by the same bank for the same region commonly have the same IINs/BINs. Let’s see how credit card numbers differ across issuing banks in Canada. 

TD credit card number 

TD Canada Trust offers a range of credit cards that process payments using the Visa card network. The IINs/BINs or the first six digits that you can find in TD credit cards are 452034 and 452071.

RBC credit card number 

Royal Bank of Canada, or RBC, offers both Visa and Mastercard credit cards. RBC Visa credit card numbers may include the following IINs/BINs: 451013, 451015, 451223, 451401, and 451407. The common IIN/BIN for RBC Mastercard credit cards is 541590.

BMO credit card number 

At BMO, you can find a wide range of Mastercard credit cards and a couple of Visa credit cards. BMO Mastercard credit card numbers may have IINs/BINs like 519123 and 519133. 

CIBC credit card number 

CIBC provides both Mastercard and Visa credit cards. Here are the IINs/BINs that you can find in CIBC credit cards: 450003, 450065, 450220, 450228, 450231, 450330, 450440, 450551, and 450553. For CIBC Mastercard credit cards, the common IINs/BINs are 517759 and 526801.

Canadian tire credit card number 

Canadian Tire Corporation specializes in credit cards using the Mastercard payment network. The common IIN/BINs for Canadian Tire Mastercard credit cards are 544612 and 544614.