# Use Cases
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/index.md

This guide covers use cases for issuers implementing the Payment Account Management (PAM) API to maintain account lifecycle as well as generate/inquire for Payment Account Reference (PAR).

## Maintain Account Updates {#maintain-account-updates}

During the lifecycle of a PAN an issuer can send account updates to update the Account Billing Updater (ABU), MDES Token Vault, and the PAR Vault.

[**Add Account**](https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/add-account/index.md)  

Add newly issued active accounts to the ABU database.

[**Update Account**](https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/update-account/index.md)  

During the lifecycle of a PAN you can send account updates to update the Token Vault, ABU PAN Chain, and the PAR Vault.

[**Delete Account**](https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/delete-account/index.md)  

You can delete an account from the ABU database.

[**Maintain Account Closures**](https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/closures/index.md)  

You can close accounts and delete the associated tokens and PAR values.

## Generate/Inquire PAR {#generateinquire-par}

[**PAR Lookup and Generation**](https://developer.mastercard.com/payment-account-management/documentation/use-cases/generate-par/index.md)  

Payment Account Reference (PAR) can be used to link the Primary Account Number (PAN) and affiliated Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) tokens. The `getPaymentReference` call provides the ability to lookup a PAR value using a PAN or MDES token, and request a PAR value be generated for a PAN.