Why ATM Pins are of 4 digits only !

Automated Teller Machine(ATM) has been one of the greatest inventions that the world has ever seen, Invention of ATM has provided a very simple way of withdrawing money using Debit or Credit Cards anytime, anywhere.

As we all know that in order to make a transaction using our plastic cards mainly our Debit cards in an ATM machine, we need a pin to authenticate that the account from which we are withdrawing money belongs to us only. Have you ever wondered why ATM pins are of 4 digits only and not of 6 or 8 digits as most of our passwords are?

In this article of mine, I am going to tell you the reason behind this ATM pin and believe me, you guys will really find the reason funny.

Well, Scottish inventor John Adrian Shepherd-Barron, the man who pioneered the development of the ATM machine, had also proposed a 6-digit PIN. Barron, born in Shillong, son to a Wimbledon ladies doubles champion Dorothy Barron, was very creative and innovative since childhood. Let’s talk about the history of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) which is operational since 1967. ATM have been around for 5 decades now one of the most commodious inventions till date.

Shepperd Barron

ATMs are now installed across the globes and make it very convenient for the people who uses debit or credit cards for making transactions. Although, if our card gets into the hand of an unwanted person then our ATM pin is the only way by which our card and our account is secure, then why the ATM pin is of only 4-digits, why it isn't big so that it will get difficult for a hacker or a thief to guess it.

The reason for this is a funny one, the wife of Shepperd-Barron refused the idea of having 6-digits pin as she said that it is difficult for her to remember long strings of numbers and said that she could only remember up to 4 digits. That is the reason behind we see most of the banks provide ATM having pins of 4-digits only.

As the guy who invented this awesome Transaction Processing System dedicated the decision of pin to his wife only and said that it is the cause of his wife inability to remember long strings of numbers, he decided to go with only 4-digits ATM pin.

That's all in this article of mine, thanks for reading this fact about ATMs 4-digits pin.