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What Credit Card Numbers Mean

Have you ever looked at one of your credit cards and wondered what all those numbers mean? No? Okay maybe I'm just weird. But I'm going to explain the meaning of credit card numbers to you anyway.

According to industry standards the maximum number of digits a credit card may have is 19.

The first number indicates the industry of the card issuer. Airline-issued cards begin with either 1 or 2. Travel and Entertainment issuers like American Express and Diner's Club begin with a 3. Banks start with either a 4, 5, or 6. And gas station cards begin with a 7.

The remaining numbers are used slightly differently by each credit card company, but the last number is always the check digit. The check digit is the result of a complex mathematical formula called the Luhn algorithm.

The Luhn algorithm, also known as "mod 10", was developed in the 1960s by IBM scientist Hans Peter Luhn. It is used to quickly determine whether or not a credit card number is valid.

Now let's take a closer look at the big three credit card issuers:

American Express American Express credit card numbers always start with either a 34 or a 37. The third digit identifies the card as either a personal card or a business card. The fourth refers to the currency used in the cardholder's country. The fifth through eleventh numbers identify the individual cardholder's account, while the twelfth through fourteenth digits indicate the card number within the account. Last is the check digit.

Mastercard With Mastercard, the first digit is always a 5. Digits two through six refer to the bank holding the account. The remaining digits, excluding the check digit at the end, make up the cardholder's account number.

Visa Visa credit card numbers always begin with a 4. Digits two through six represent the bank number, and the rest of the numbers, excluding the check digit at the end, make up the cardholder's account number. Not all Visa cards have the same number of digits, but the majority of them are sixteen digits long.

Now that you know what credit card numbers mean, you may never look at them in the same way.

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