Help & Support

Make payments with confidence

Confirmation of Payee helps keep your business and money safe.

When you make Faster Payments or CHAPS payments to a person or business for the first time, we check the account details with their bank. This helps:

  • ensure your money gets to the right place
  • protect you from fraud

This is called Confirmation of Payee.

The details we check with their bank are:

  • The name on the account
  • The account number
  • The sort code
  • Account type – to confirm if it’s a personal or business account
  • Reference – some accounts require a reference to identify who the account belongs to.  You’ll be asked to provide this if needed.

How does it work?

When you make a payment for the first time, we’ll check the name that you enter against the actual name on the account. You’ll see one of five messages:

Match – the name check has been successful. You can make the payment.

Partial match – the name you have entered doesn’t completely match. We’ll tell you the correct name held on that account. If you’re happy with this, you can make the payment, or edit the details.

No match – the name you have entered is not the same as the name held on that account. Please contact the person or business you’re paying to check. If you’re happy that the details are correct, you can make the payment but we may not be able to get the money back if it goes to the wrong account.

Reference not found – the reference that you entered has not been found.  Your payment may not go to the right account if you use this reference. And we may not be able to get your money back. So please check the reference on the bill or statement and change if needed. Only continue if you’re sure this reference is right.

Some accounts may not be able to be checked and you will be advised if we cannot check the account.

How does it affect people who are paying me?

It’s important that you give people who are paying you the business name as it appears on your account, as well as the sort code and account number. For example, check that you've put the correct name on invoices you send to your customers.  If they use a name that doesn’t match, they may have problems when trying to pay you.

How do I avoid a ‘No match’ or ‘Partial match’?

Use the full name of the person or business when you first make a payment to them. Check their invoice to make sure you’ve got all their account details right. 

Frequently asked questions

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