December 6,2006
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What Your Card Number Means
At the time you were issued your credit card, you were assigned a card number, You may be most familiar with the 16-digit strands favored by Visa and MasterCard, though not all cards have 16-digit numbers. That number, surprisingly, is not random – it reflects an internal structure and the numbering scheme of its issuer.
Credit card numbers consists of a prefix and an account number. The prefix is common to all cards distributed under the issuer, and determines the bank that owns the card. MasterCard and Visa's prefixes are the first six digits of the card number. The last 10 on these cards are the unique account number of the customer.
More numbers on your card reflect the issue and expiration dates of the card, as well as any security codes or issue numbers. Not all cards have all these features.