Ways To Validate The Credit Card Number
Not everyone knows that credit card numbers are generated based on specific rules and regulations. This way, every card has a unique number that cannot be duplicated. There is a formula, known as the Luhn algorithm, based on which bank card numbers, or other identifying numbers, such as social security numbers, can be calculated as a sum.
The formula provides a way to validate a card number manually, but also there are online card validators that can be used to save time while performing the calculation. In this article, let’s look at both types of validation.
Steps for online validation
- There is a number of websites that let you fun free checks of bank identification numbers. Use one of such credit card validators to check the current status of your card. Also, using a Bin Checker can help identify the issuing bank – you may need to perform this step before running a check on the card.
- Before you can run a check, you will be prompted to provide certain information, such as credit card number, card type, dates that are listed on the card. Once you provide the details, press Enter to submit the information and begin the validation process.
- Once the system has run a check, you will get a message confirming whether the card is valid or not. Some BIN checker services may also give you some additional information about the card.
In some cases running a quiry can take up to a few minutes, but in most cases it would be just a few seconds.
Note, that researching a BIN checker website is a must. Learn more about the website you are about to use by reading other users’ reviews in order to know if its BIN checker can be trusted.
Steps for manual validation
- Write down the bank card number. Digits from the number will be used to perform the card validation based on the formula.
- Start from the rightmost digit, double the value of every second digit. If doubling of a number results in a number that is greater than 9, then add the digits of the product, to get a single digit number. For example, if 9 is a digit on the credit card, 9 x 2 = 18. Adding up these two digits (1+8) produces 9.
- Then add up all the digits that you got. If the total can be divided by 10, then the card number is considered valid. Otherwise it is invalid.
These are two most common ways to validate a credit or debit card by using the card number.
Whether you validate a card manually or using a validation service, if you get a message that the card is invalid, reach out to the customer service to get more information about the reason and what can be done.
