MyCardBlog

You may have many credit cards and they all have different credit card numbers. How do our credit card companies define the credit card numbers?
Specifications for credit card numbering have been drawn up by the International Standards Organization (ISO/IEC 7812-1:1993) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI X4.13).

The first digit of your credit card number is the Major Industry Identifier (MII), which represents the category of entity which issued your credit card. Different MII digits represent the following issuer categories:

For example, American Express, Diner’s Club, and Carte Blanche are in the travel and entertainment category, VISA, MasterCard, and Discover are in the banking and financial category, and SUN Oil and Exxon are in the petroleum category.

The first 6 digits of your credit card number (including the initial MII digit) form the issuer identifier. This means that the total number of possible issuers is a million.
Some of the better known issuer identifiers are listed in the following table:

The final digit of your credit card number is a check digit, akin to a checksum. The algorithm used to arrive at the proper check digit is called the Luhn algorithm, after IBM scientist Hans Peter Luhn (1896-1964), who was awarded US Patent 2950048 (“Computer for Verifying Numbers”) for the technique in 1960. The most succint description of the Luhn algorithm is: “For a card with an even number of digits, double every odd numbered digit and subtract 9 if the product is greater than 9. Add up all the even digits as well as the doubled-odd digits, and the result must be a multiple of 10 or it’s not a valid card. If the card has an odd number of digits, perform the same addition doubling the even numbered digits instead.”

For American Express, digits three and four are type and currency, digits five through 11 are the account number, digits 12 through 14 are the card number within the account and digit 15 is a check digit.
For Visa, digits two through six are the bank number, digits seven through 12 or seven through 15 are the account number and digit 13 or 16 is a check digit.

For MasterCard, digits two and three, two through four, two through five or two through six are the bank number (depending on whether digit two is a 1, 2, 3 or other). The digits after the bank number up through digit 15 are the account number, and digit 16 is a check digit.

Let’s analyze a sample number of 4408 0012 3456 7890 to see whether it is a valid credit card number.
The Major Industry Identifier (MII) is 4 (banking and financial), the issuer identifier is 440800 (a VISA partner), the account number is 123456789, and the check digit is 0. Let’s apply the Luhn check to 4408 0012 3456 7890. (4*2)+4+(0*2)+8+(0*2)+0+(1*2)+2+(3*2)+4+(5*2-9)+6+(7*2-9)+8+(9*2-9)+0 = 8+4+0+8+0+0+2+2+6+4+1+6+5+8+9+0 = 63, which is not a multiple of 10. Therefore we conclude that the number 4408 0012 3456 7890 is an invalid credit card number.

Try to use a valid credit card to verify the numbering, and you will see that the first 6 digits match the card issuer and the final digit always makes the result from Luhn algorithm to be a multiple of 10.

I received an email from American Express today indicating that if I set up automatic bill pay for my cable bills, I would get 2,500 bonus points. I think this is a great deal to jump in!

According to the fine print, this is a targeted offer for those solicited card members only. This offer is good from March1 to march 31, 2008. Cable providers include: Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Direct TV, Dish network and Time Warner Cable.

The enrollment process is very simple: You first have to have your American Express online ID and password, and your cable provider’s account information including online ID and password (If you don’t have one, they will set up for you.).

Of course, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards Program which will provide the bonus points for you. This rewards program is available to some basic personal American Express Cards like: Blue Cash, Blue, Preferred Rewards Gold Card, Preferred Rewards Green Card and so on. Enroll this promotion here.

Steve sent me an email during last weekend talking about his earnings from some banks in the past 6 months. He said he was not aware of so many opportunities of sign-up bonuses. He just jumped some popular deals and really enjoy his earning:

BOA MyAccess Checking plus “Keep the Change” program: $100+$180 (accumulated via playing paypal and paying small bills)

Chase Free Checking: $125 (using ING to make direct deposit);

ING: $25+$10 ($25 is sign-up bonus and $10 for 1 referral.);

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card: 10,000 bonus points ($100 Amazon gift card);

Chase Freedom Card: $50;

Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network: 15,000 ThankYou Points ($150 Shell gift card)

Citi CashReturns Card: ~$200 cash back in 3 months;

Total amount is $740+$200

Thanks Steve!

The famous TCF “Cash is King” Event has come back! You can get $100 cash bonus if you open a free checking account with direct deposit and make 5 debit card transactions within 30 days of account opening. This promotion expires on April 30, 2008.

To receive the offer, you have to:

1. Open a TCF free checking account;

2. Set up your direct deposit to TCF checking accout before May 31, 2008;

3. Make 5 debit card purchases within 30 days of account opening;

The Totally Free Checking Account has no monthly service charges and no minimum balance requirements. Plus you will get free online bill payments!

According to the fine print, the offer is only available in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota.

©2008 TCF National Bank. Member FDIC. *New accounts must be opened between March 1 – April 30, 2008. To qualify for the $100 Cash Offer, a direct deposit of $25 or more from a third party source must post to the new account by May 31, 2008, and account owner must make five purchases using their new TCF Check Card within 30 days of account opening. Offer is available to individuals and small businesses without a TCF Checking account in the past 90 days. TCF reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at any time. Customer is responsible for all applicable taxes. $100 Cash Offer will be automatically deposited directly into the customer’s new checking account within 6-8 weeks of account opening, assuming all conditions are met. Offer not available in IL, IN, WI, or AZ. Visit your neighborhood branch for local promotions in your area

The details can be found here.

Here is another $100 bonus from Nationl City:
According to a National City employee, National City Bank is also offering $100 cash bonus for a new Work Perks checking account with direct deposit. This offer is valid from 3/3/2008 through 3/21/2008. An ACH direct deposit of your paycheck for at least $250 must be received in 60 days with account opening. Offer is limited to new customers without a personal checking account at National City. At last, you have to open the Work Perks checking in branch.

The Blue Cash from American Express is rated as the best cash rebate card by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. A few friends have asked why this card would be so popular. Here’s my personal review for this card:

Actually the big name of Blue Cash from American Express comes from the “UP to 5% cash back”. However, at the bottom of the application page, you can find the cash rewards details:

^”Everyday Purchases” are Eligible Purchases made at U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and drugstores, in each case that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs.

Until you spend at least $6,500 total on the card, you receive 1% at grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores, and 0.5% on everything else. After you reach the $6,500 point, you can start earning the full 5% on grocery/gas/drugs and 1.5% on everything else.

In order to get that $6,500 point, you have to spend at least $6500/12=$542 per month. It’s quite understandable to hear the complains about this card. It’s just because they can charge more than $500 per month one a single credit card. So it’s quite straightforward that this Blue Cash from American Express is only suitable for those who spend a lot on credit card and can easily reach the $6,500 threshold.

Other thoughts:

If you can pay your rent online with your credit card, I think this is a right card for you. Because you can easily spend $6,500 on this card.

If you prefer simplicity and only want to use one card for all your expense, then this might be a right card for you.

In a word, you have to make a lot of purchases on gas/drugstores/groceries and can easily pass the $6,500 point early in a year.

If you are a college student, I suggest the Citi mtvU card for college students (review).

Or you can also think of the Chase Freedom Card.

Right now, we can find the official promotion page for the previously mentioned (this post) banking promotion from CitiBank.

If you are a new customer to Citi, you have to do the following steps to get the 40,000 ThankYou points.

1. Open a regular checking account with $1,000 deposit and then make one direct deposit or 2 bill payments for 3 consecutive months.

2. Open a Citi Ultimate Savings Account an deposit $25,000 in this account.

3. Enroll in ThankYou Network and wait for the 40,000 ThankYou Points appear in your account.

You can apply for the new account online or by phone at 866-458-9212 and mention the promotion code: CSZL.

If you are already a Citi Bank customer, you can still qualify for this promotion.

If you currently have the Ultimate Savings Account, you should open a checking account and finish the necessary activities as mentioned above. And fund this Ultimate Savings Account $25,000.

If you currently have a checking account, you should open a new Ultimate Savings Account and finish the necessary activities as mentioned above.

Read this post and then you can figure out how easily you can earn a free ticket to Asia or Europe by combining this promotion and getting extra bonus points by applying for new credit cards. Details of the promotion can be found here.

Suggested post: A Proposal—Earn ThankYou Points for A Free Trip to Europe or Asia.

PNC bank has a check card promotion in which you can earn 5% rebate on check card purchases made through July 31, 2008. You can find the promotion page is at pnc.com/offers. It seems the only requirement is that you should open a personal checking account with a PNC Bank Visa Check Card by March 31st. You’ll earn a 5% rebate on your qualifying Check Card purchases through July 31, 2008. But the rebate is capped at $100. Following is the terms and conditions:

5% rebate will be credited on a monthly basis to your checking account and will appear on your statement as Check Card Rebate. Rebate is paid at the account level, regardless of cardholder making the purchase. 5% rebate is only paid for Qualifying Purchases posting to the account through 7/31/2008 and is capped at $100 in total rebates. A Qualifying Purchase is any signature based purchase, Internet purchase, phone or mail-order purchase, bill payment, or small dollar purchase for which you are not required to sign, made with an enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card, which is processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system. A Qualifying Purchase does not include a purchase made using a Personal Identification Number (PIN) or purchase you initiate through identification technology that substitutes for a PIN. Offer not available for Foundation Checking.

This promotion is available to any state. And the most existing news it that there’s no hard pull during the application process. This is like the 5% Citi CashReturns Card which will give you 5% cash back on everything for the first 3 months (only 1% now).

I have a post about the promotion from Sony Rewards. (here) I was not very sure about the promotion at that time, so I added “Possible” at the beginning of the title. Today I called sony rewards customer service (866-556-7669) today and verified the promotion.

In order to receive the 10,000 bonus points, you have to: 1). You must have a Sony Card in good standing and an active Sony Rewards account. If you don’t have the rewards account, you can create one to become eligible. 2). You must sign on to Sony Rewards at least once during the promotion period (2/15/2008 – 3/31/2008). 3). You must charge a total of at least $500 in purchases on the Sony Card during the promotion period. The purchases do not have to be Sony product.

The link sony.com/sonycard/flyfree is not to assure you that you are enrolled in the program. However, it’s to tell you that there’s a such promotion. This promotion applies to Sony Card Accounts automatically. You won’t get any confirmation information from sony rewards. I was also told by the customer representative that the free companion ticket was also a part of the promotion starting from April 1st and you only have to spend $300 on that card to get a companion ticket.

If you can’t spend more than $500 on this card, I suggest you buy some gift cards from Wal-mart, Target, bestBuy or Amazon.Com. The 10,000 points will be your reward for spending $500 on Chase Sony Card.

What Can We Do with 10,000 Points?

The Sony NWZS615FRED/PNK 2GB Walkman Video MP3 Player is the best bet. This video player will cost you $92 at Amazon.Com. At Sony Rewards, you can redeem this video player with only 9,995 points. Or you can consider the 815 version which will cost you 2,000 points more.

You can also consider the Sony CMTBX1 CMT Micro Component System with MP3 Playback which will cost you $99 at Amazon.Com. You can redeem it for only 9,995 points at sony rewards.

You can also redeem 5,000 points for a $50 Blockbuster gift card.

If you don’t have a sony card yet, you can apply a new sony card through this link and receive 10,000 bonus points.