Determine credit card type by number?

e-commerce credit-card
Henry picture Henry · Aug 20, 2009 · Viewed 51.5k times · Source

Can credit card type be determined solely from the credit card number?

Is this recommended or should we always ask client for the type of credit card they're using?

I Googled about it and found this algorithm: http://cuinl.tripod.com/Tips/o-1.htm , is this reliable?

Answer

Alex picture Alex · Aug 20, 2009

Yes, the site you mentioned is correct. Many sites, incl. Google Checkout I believe, rely on automatic detection of the card type. It's convenient, makes the UI less cluttered (one less input box) and saves time. Go ahead!

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