Empower More Teams With Easily Accessible BIN Data

Last month, we released an incredible new feature in our direct-to-network BIN database: no-code BIN lookups. Log into our Parrot Service Panel and simply enter an 8-10 digit BIN (notice we didn’t say 6 digits…) to view all the standard and enhanced data we have on record for the associated card. We don't typically use the word "simply" when referring to payments processes because processing payments well is hard. But knowing who is transacting (or attempting to transact) with you is often at the heart of any in-depth payments data analysis, so we wanted to make this identifying data easily accessible to everyone within your organization—not just those who know how to code!

In this post, we'll dig into the different roles within your business that may benefit from incorporating BIN data into their workflows, and the easy way they can find that information with no-code Parrot by Pagos.

Wait What's the Yes-Code Option?

Before we dig into the value of no-code Parrot, let's quickly review “yes-code” Parrot: the Parrot API. If you have some coding experience, you can submit HTTPS requests to the Parrot API for the BINs you're interested in and Parrot will return information about the cards themselves, including the type and brand, the issuing bank, and even details of the markets they were issued in, such as currency, country, and time zone.

The Parrot API was the first version of Parrot we launched back in 2021. In 2022, we introduce Parrot Batch, an in-house, file-based version of Parrot that allows for bulk BIN requests via a file downloaded to your local database. To ensure we're meeting all potential users where they are and providing the biggest BIN bang for your BIN buck, we now offer no-code Parrot for one-off lookups through the Parrot Service Panel. No matter which version of Parrot you use, you can always trust that this data is accurate, as we update our database of global and local card brands weekly.

No-Code Parrot

What we refer to as "no-code Parrot" is an interface available on the homepage of the Parrot Service Panel. All Parrot customers have access to this service panel; just log in and you're all set to begin your own BIN data research. Here's what it looks like:

We designed this experience to make it as simple as possible to get immediate answers about the cards your customers transact with. Now let's get into who might want to log in and look up some BINs!

BINs for Payments Operations Teams

The most obvious team to look at BIN data is, of course, your Payments Operations team. These people live and breathe payments and care deeply about payment KPIs around approvals, declines, conversions, chargebacks, and refunds. This is a team that greatly benefits from Peacock by Pagos, our payments data aggregation and visualization platform, as it shows them all relevant KPIs over time in a series of curated dashboards.

Using Peacock, your Payments Operations team can quickly identify the BINs associated with good or bad data trends, such as high approval rates (good) or high refund and chargeback volume (bad). In order to take direct action on these BINs, they will need to know more about the cards themselves. Enter Parrot! With our no-code Parrot option, they can quickly transition from identifying a BIN-of-interest to learning more about the card and customer in question. Here are just a few of the standard and enhanced data points available in Parrot:

• Issuing bank name and details

• Issuing country details

• Card brand and type

• Secondary card brand details

• Indication of PAN vs. token

• Funding source for the card (e.g. deferred debit)

BINs for Customer Service Teams

Customer Service teams work directly with the customers behind the cards your BIN data represents. In other words, they see an individual BIN not just as a number, but a source of information about the customer they’re supporting. With a no-code BIN lookup tool like Parrot, they have real-time access to data that can dictate how they proceed with the customer. For example, if a customer requests a refund on a credit card purchase, the customer service agent can use the BIN to identify that customer’s country, which in turn dictates which refund workflow they follow.

Similarly, BIN data can assist customer service agents in selecting what offers to present a customer with. Data points like card brand, card type, and card product type (e.g. Visa Signature, Gold MasterCard) can be affluence indicators for the underlying customer. With this information, they can cater offerings to customers, such as exploring upsell opportunities with a premium card user or suggesting lower tier offerings that might be more attractive to a debit or prepaid cardholder.

BINs for Risk Teams

The Risk Analysts at your company care about the risks that can threaten your business. In the world of payments, those risks are fraud, chargebacks, and refunds. Like Payments Operations teams, Risk professionals can benefit greatly from digging into your clean, harmonized payments data in Peacock; specifically, they may use our new Risks page to monitor and identify trends in chargeback volume, or regularly review the Chargebacks and Refunds pages to hone in on potentially fraudulent customer segments. This includes identifying any particular BINs that could be a cause of concern.

Transitioning from identifying concerning BINs to acting on them requires a bit more information—information available in Parrot, of course! In addition to the data points mentioned in the sections above, Parrot also provides card details that help Risk teams identify commonalities among BINs they’ve flagged for risky behavior. For example, are those BINs virtual cards? Are they prepaid or prepaid reloadable? Is the issuer country of the BIN different from where the customer completed their purchase? With this additional information, they can confidently tell their payments team which risky BINs they should build rules around moving forward.

BINs for Everyone!

Leveraging Parrot as your BIN service can empower teams across your organization to make informed, data-driven decisions. Instead of attempting to build your own BIN solution, which can be both time-consuming and limited in scope, Parrot offers an all-in-one platform that provides access to more BIN data fields than most companies could ever access independently. With our no-code Parrot feature, you can easily access critical BIN data to improve payment operations, enhance customer service processes, and mitigate risks—empowering your teams with the insights they need to drive your business forward.

This post only touches on the tip of the iceberg as far as BIN use cases go. Are you interested in designing a BIN-based routing strategy? Or using BINs to augment your network tokenization strategy? We can help with that, too! And make sure to check out our BIN Use Cases guide for more info on the basics of BIN data and how your company can benefit from incorporating BINs into your analyses and workflows.

Sign up for a free Parrot trial today!