Do credit card numbers change?

Stixalot

I have had a barclaycard platinum for the last few years but lost my card in a house move a month ago so requested a new one, the new one arrived and works fine but i just noticed something yesterday is that the 16 digit number on the card is completely different to my old one however in the app it has changed to this new number as well. Does this happen often?

DiamondLil

I lost my debit card recently and the number had changed on the replacement card.

400ixl

If you report a card lost or stolen then yes they will most likely issue a new number so that they can block the old one. For a replacement card due to the old one time expiring they don't tend to change the number.

The other time it will change is if the provider swaps supplier such as visa to mastercard.

oldagetraveller1

In my experience, and contrary to 400ixl, the number does change when a new card is issued on expiry date. If there is a p.i.n. set up, that remains the same.

EarthBoy

My experience is that debit and credit cards are treated differently.

With Visa debit cards the number always changes when you get a new card on renewal, - it's usually just the last few digits that change.  I don't know whether it's the same with Mastercard debit cards.

With credit cards, however, both Visa and Mastercard, the number always stays the same on renewed cards. You only get a new number if it's reported lost or stolen.

TadleyBaggie

EarthBoy said:

With Visa debit cards the number always changes when you get a new card on renewal, - it's usually just the last few digits that change. 

In my experience of Nationwide debit cards (and a little inside knowledge) the 15th digit is incremented on an issue of a new card. The 16th digit is a check digit and is calculated by using the preceding 15 digits, which makes it jumps around even though the preceding number has only been incremented.

blue.peter

Stixalot said:

I have had a barclaycard platinum for the last few years but lost my card in a house move a month ago so requested a new one, the new one arrived and works fine but i just noticed something yesterday is that the 16 digit number on the card is completely different to my old one however in the app it has changed to this new number as well. Does this happen often?

Yes. It's normal if a card is lost or stolen. They'll do this for security reasons. I'm sure that you wouldn't want someone to find your old card and then use it, would you? Your issuer will have cancelled that card. In effect, your account has been closed and you now have a new one.

Card issuers also sometimes do it for other reasons. From a user's perspective, it can appear random. I've lost track of the number of times that I've had cards issued with changed numbers over the last 40 years or so. (I can even remember when I had a Barclaycard with a 13-digit number, before they switched to 16 digits. Bizarrely, I still have that card number fixed in my brain.)

Marchitiello

blue.peter said:

…In effect, your account has been closed and you now have a new one.

This is quite incorrect as the accounts actually stays always the same, as a matter of fact Credit reference agencies’ reference number stays the same, Balance, Credit Limit, and PIN carry’s over to the newly issued card (unless one reports a compromised PIN at the same time).

Fingerbobs

EarthBoy said:

My experience is that debit and credit cards are treated differently.

With Visa debit cards the number always changes when you get a new card on renewal, - it's usually just the last few digits that change.  I don't know whether it's the same with Mastercard debit cards.

With credit cards, however, both Visa and Mastercard, the number always stays the same on renewed cards. You only get a new number if it's reported lost or stolen.

This chimes with my experience. Debit card numbers change on renewal, Credit card numbers don't. The only time I've had a credit card number change is when I received a new card following fraudulent transactions, and once when Barclaycard mysteriously sent me out a new card mid-term for no apparent reason.

Shakin_Steve

Received a new Barclaycard today as the old one was about to expire, same number.

400ixl

My Visa debit card is still the same number as when I first got it and I have had at least 5 renewals of the card in that time. Likewise my credit card.