Online tool extended to help customers check payment options
25 Mar 2010
The Payments Council has today (25 March 2010) relaunched its Sort Code Checker online tool, extending it beyond Faster Payments to cover Bacs, CHAPS, cheques and paper credits. By inputting the sort code of the account a payment is being sent to, a customer can see whether the account can receive a Faster Payment, Bacs Credit or CHAPS payment. Customers will also be able to see if an account allows a Direct Debit instruction to be set up and if a cheque or paper credit can be paid into the account through the clearings. The Checker, which stores all the UK’s 20,000 sort codes, can be found on the UK Payments website.
The sort code checker was developed to coincide with the launch of the Faster Payments Service in May 2008 to help customers see whether the account they wanted to send a payment to was linked into the new Faster Payments service. It has proved extremely popular with over 4,000 hits a day. The sort code checker is updated regularly to ensure data is current. The checker will particularly benefit businesses who want to prevent any possible delays to a payment or the registration of new customers’ Direct Debit details.
Gary Cook, Payments Integrity Executive, Payments Council, said:
“This improved checker provides a very simple way for someone to check whether an account is set up to accept a Faster Payment, CHAPS payment or BACS payment. As more of us are making payments online or on the phone it provides a very easy way of avoiding unnecessary delays. The Sort Code Checker strips out the element of chance because it quickly confirms to users what forms of payment are at their disposal.
ENDS
For further information, contact the press office on 020 7711 6316 or press@ukpayments.org.uk.
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Payments Council is the organisation that sets strategy for UK payments. It has been established to ensure that UK payment systems and services meet the need of users, payment service providers and the wider economy.
The Payments Council has three core objectives: to have a strategic vision for payments and lead the future development of co-operative payment services in the UK; to ensure payment systems are open, accountable and transparent; and to ensure the operational efficiency, effectiveness and integrity of payment services in the UK.
The Payments Council is a membership organisation funded by its members, with an independent chairman. It was set up in March 2007 and currently has 28 members; on the Board sit 11 banking representatives and four independent Directors as well as the chairman. Those four Directors can collectively exercise a veto over Board decisions. The principal UK payment schemes – Bacs, CHAPS and Cheque & Credit Clearing Companies, LINK Scheme as well as the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme, the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company Limited and the Currency Clearings – have entered into a contract with the Payments Council which sets out their respective rights and duties towards each other. Under the contract, schemes are required to report regularly to the Payments Council Board: the Board is able to make decisions that are binding on scheme members in order to implement its strategy. Payments Council also has 11 associate members.
The Sort Code Checker includes data from Member Banks of the Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Company.