Confirmation of Payee

Here are some tips to help make sure that your personal and business contacts can make payments to you.  Remember that someone may not pay you if they don’t receive a confirmation that they’re making a payment to the right account.

Personal Customers

Make sure that anyone who wants to pay you is provided with your:

• Full first name – for example, ‘Jonathan’ not ‘Jon’
• Last name
• Sort code
• Account number
• Account type – personal
• And knows not to create their own shortened versions of your name, such as just using initials.

For joint accounts, they only need to use the full name of one of the account holders.

Business Customers

• Make sure you include your full registered name or ‘trading as’ name on invoices
• If the name you’ve registered with us is a shortened version of your business name, make sure you tell your customers. Remember, we’ll only recognise the business name we have on record
• Remind customers and partners not to create their own shortened versions of your business name, such as just using initials
• Ask customers and partners to only include your full registered name or ‘trading as’ name in the ‘account name’ section
• Tell customers not to add any other information such as what the payment is for or the name of the bank to the payee’s name
• Make sure your customers and partners know that they’re making a payment to a business account and not a personal account.

Confirmation of Payee is being introduced to improve payments between UK banks and reduce cases of fraud, as well as payments going to the wrong account.

You can request to opt out of your details being checked when other people are trying to pay you however, if you opt out of Confirmation of Payee, when a person or business tries to pay you, they’ll get a message that your details can’t be checked which may prevent them from making the payment.

If you still want to opt out of the Confirmation of Payee service, please contact your local store, relationship manager, or call us and we’ll consider your request.

If your request to opt out is successful:

• We’ll mark some or all your accounts, as requested by you. This may include any joint accounts you hold (but not any accounts held by joint parties in their sole name)
• If you open new accounts with us, you’ll need to let us know if you also wish to opt them out
• If you switch your account to another financial institution, you’ll need to contact your new provider if you still wish to opt out of your details being confirmed when payments are made into your account.

If you want to opt back in to the Confirmation of Payee service for incoming payments, please contact your local store, relationship manager, or call us and we’ll consider your request.

When you set up a new payee, Confirmation of Payee will automatically check the account details of the person or business you’re paying and will let you know whether the details are a match, a partial match or no match.

What these responses mean

Match – the details you’ve entered match the person or business you’re trying to pay. If all the details you enter are correct, we'll let you know that they match and you can continue with the payment

• the account is registered to someone with a similar, but not exactly the same name. We’ll show you their actual name for you to check
• you’ve confirmed that you’re paying a personal account, but this is a business account or the other way round. We’ll tell you if the account is personal or business.

You can update the details and try again or check them with the person or business you’re trying to pay.

• the name you’ve entered doesn’t match the account, and isn’t similar or
• the payment reference is required, but is incorrect (eg, when paying household bills)
• If you enter the wrong name or reference, we’ll let you know that the details don’t match, so you can check with the person or business you’re trying to pay.

If you make a payment using the wrong details, it might not reach the correct account and you may not be able to recover the money. Always be cautious of making payments when the details don’t match.

You may also see other responses, such as a system problem or the account holder’s bank not supporting the Confirmation of Payee scheme. If this happens, please double check the payment details with the person or business you’re paying.

You’ll need to ensure that you have the correct payee details, including:

• account type – personal or business
• sort code
• account number
• account reference if it’s required (eg, when paying household bills).

For personal accounts you’ll also need the payee’s:

• full first name – for example, ‘Thomas’ not ‘Tom’
• last name.

For joint accounts, you only need to use the full name of one of the account holders.

For business accounts:

• use the full business or organisation name.

Confirmation of Payee checks aren’t available for payees created as part of BACS payments, including Direct Debits.

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