what are bins used for 
bins have a variety of useful applications the primary purpose is to allow merchants to evaluate and assess payment card transactions they also allow merchants to identify originating banks along with their address and phone number and whether issuing banks are in the same country as the device used to make the transaction it also verifies the address provided by the customer but more importantly the numbering system helps identify identity theft or potential security breaches by comparing data such as the address of both the issuing institution and the cardholder bins are also used to increase the speed and efficiency of checkout when paying with a debit or credit card as a customer swipes their card the store s payment processor scans the bin on their card and validates their account with the card issuer this also determines if the transaction is authorized and compliant with any relevant national laws bank identification numbers are also commonly referred to as issuer identification numbers iins example of a bank identification number bin here s a hypothetical example to show how bins work let s say a customer uses their bank card at the gas pump when they fill up their tank once they swipe the card the system scans the bin to detect the specific institution that issued the card an authorization request is then put on the customer s account the request is authorized within a few seconds and the transaction is approved if the funds are available or declined if the customer doesn t have enough funds to cover the charge 