Choosing a BIN range for ads: approval gaps mostly come from balance

When choosing a BIN range for a virtual card for ads, check 3D Secure and per-transaction fees first, and leave approval rate for last: choose 5378HK if you need verification, and 5378US for Meta if you don’t. In the RDVCC ledger from 2026-08-11 to 2026-11-08, most of the approval gap between ranges came from balance or limit: with those declines removed, the ad ranges below are all at about 98% or higher. Below are the rules, the data and the fee math.

The answer: choose by what you need

Your situation	What to choose	Why
The platform shows a 3D Secure check when you add the card, and your current card doesn’t support it	5378HK	The only one of these ranges that supports it, at $0.20 per verification; only Meta has more records in our ledger
Running Meta ads, no 3D Secure needed	5378US	Meta charges tend to be small and frequent, and at standard pricing its transaction and declined transaction fees are $0
Running Google Ads	5378US, assigned to that scenario on the card-opening page	Neither 5378US nor 5556US had issuer-side declines, and both have $0 per-transaction fees at standard pricing, so the scenario default is fine
Running TikTok Ads	5556US, assigned to that scenario on the card-opening page	The sample is very small; observation only

The Facebook Ads scenario on the card-opening page is currently assigned 5378HK. To use 5378US, choose “All BINs” on that page. Fees above are standard pricing; your actual price is in “Fees for this card” on that page.

Why approval rate alone misleads

This table covers ad authorizations in our ledger, per transaction. The second column counts every authorization, the third removes declines for not enough balance or limit, and the fourth shows only issuer-side declines (risk control, merchant category, country, unknown reason) as a share of all that range’s authorizations.

Platform and range	Approved, all authorizations	Approved, balance or limit declines removed	Issuer-side declines (share of all authorizations)
Meta: 5378US	About 86%	About 98%	None in this period
Meta: 5378HK	About 90%	About 99%	Under 1%
Google Ads: 5378US	About 83%	About 99.9%	None in this period
Google Ads: 5556US	About 97%	Close to 100%	None in this period

On Google Ads the two ranges differ by about 14 percentage points per transaction, which looks large; remove declines for not enough balance or limit and the gap is about 0.1 points. On Meta the gap is about 4 points, and under 2 after the same step; what remains on 5378US is mostly wrong card details or card status. So most of the gap comes from balance or limit, which doesn’t show that one range is easier to approve, and our ledger has no comparison of the same people switching ranges. Google Ads transactions are concentrated in a few large customers (the top three people made about 88% from 2026-08-10 to 2026-11-07), so these figures mostly reflect those few customers, not a typical user.

Per person the direction is the same. Among people with a decline, the share with at least one balance or limit decline was about 77% on 5378US and 100% on 5378HK for Meta, and about 92% on 5378US and 100% on 5556US for Google Ads. That only shows these declines are common; it isn’t a per-person approval rate. The TikTok sample is too small to compare here.

The fee math

BIN range (standard pricing)	Opening fee	Transaction fee	Declined transaction fee	3D Secure
5378US	$1	$0	$0	Not supported
5556US	$1	$0	$0	Not supported
5378HK	$1	$0.60	$0.60	Supported, $0.20 each

Read per-transaction fees against the size of each charge. At standard pricing, 5378HK’s $0.60 transaction fee is about 30% of a $2 charge (its median successful Meta charge per person in our ledger). The same fee is 12% of a $5 charge and 6% of a $10 charge. Advertiser group and individual pricing can differ; go by the card-opening page.

Declined transaction fees apply each time. If a card keeps retrying while short of balance, a range with this fee charges for every decline, taken from the card balance first and from your account balance if the card is short.

Accounts used mainly for ads can join the advertiser group through dedicated support: zero card top-up fee on the ad BIN ranges and a starting allowance of 50 cards, after identity verification. Opening and other per-transaction fees are shown in “Fees for this card” on the card-opening page.

Four steps to choose a BIN range for ads

Start with the platform: your payment setting decides whether prepaid cards work; Google’s postpay and TikTok’s automatic payment don’t accept them. RDVCC cards need a top-up before use and can’t go into overdraft. These three ranges are registered with the card network as credit, which is only a card classification, and whether a platform accepts one is known only when you add it
Then 3D Secure: if the platform asks for verification when you add the card or get charged, pick a range that supports it; if not, there’s no need to. The 3D Secure fee applies only when a verification happens, so the main difference is the per-transaction fees
Work out fees against your charge size: for small, frequent charges choose low per-transaction fees
Finally keep enough balance: in our ledger most declines are for balance or limit, so deal with that first

Seen a very high approval rate? Ask these 4 questions

What’s the denominator: people or transactions, and do $0 card checks count?
Are balance declines counted: leaving them out raises the number a lot
How big is the sample: a few people or hundreds, and are transactions concentrated in a few large customers?
What’s the window and merchant scope: which period and which merchants?

Limits of the data

Scope: authorizations on RDVCC cards with a Meta, Google Ads or TikTok merchant name and merchant category 7311 (TikTok also 7333), 2026-08-11 to 2026-11-08
Approval rates are per transaction and the samples aren’t large, so treat the shares as a guide. Ranges with too few people aren’t listed
Approved includes authorizations later refunded or reversed, and $0 checks
This is RDVCC’s own ledger, so it only compares RDVCC’s ranges and can’t show other providers’ data
Balance or limit declines include declines for exceeding a per-transaction range or a limit, so the card wasn’t necessarily empty

FAQ

Which BIN range should I use for Facebook ads?

Choose 5378HK if you need 3D Secure; otherwise 5378US has lower per-transaction fees. The Facebook Ads scenario on the card-opening page is currently assigned 5378HK. To use 5378US, choose “All BINs” on that page.

How big are the approval gaps between ranges?

Per transaction, about 83% on 5378US and about 97% on 5556US for Google Ads; with declines for not enough balance or limit removed, both are close to 100%. Most of the gap comes from balance or limit.

Which BIN range is least likely to be declined?

In our ledger, 5378US on Meta, and 5378US and 5556US on Google Ads, had no issuer-side declines in this period, while 5378HK was under 1%. Most declines are for balance or limit, so deal with that first.

Do I have to use a range with 3D Secure?

Not necessarily. None of the three platforms requires it on every card, but Meta says it is mandatory in some countries when you add a new card. In our ledger about 0.1% of Meta authorizations carried a 3D Secure fee (about 0.3% on 5378HK), and Google Ads and TikTok had none; this share depends on the mix of BIN ranges.

What do the ad BIN ranges cost?

At standard pricing, 5378US and 5556US cost $1 to open with $0 transaction and declined transaction fees; 5378HK costs $1 to open, $0.60 for transaction and declined transaction fees, and $0.20 per 3D Secure verification. Your actual price is in “Fees for this card” on the card-opening page.

Official sources

Need a card that works?

Choose a scenario or BIN range as above when you open the card. After identity verification and a top-up, cards are usually ready in seconds.