Making Payments

• You need to know someone’s name if you are going to pay them. For individuals this will be their first name and last name – for businesses, ask for the name registered to their bank account. This may or may not be the same as their trading name.
• When making a payment, the Confirmation of Payee name checking service will give one of the following four responses:

1. Match

• If you have used the correct account name, you will receive confirmation that the details match, and can proceed with the payment.

2. Close match

• If you have used a similar name to the account holder, you will be provided with the actual name of the account holder to check. You can update the details and try again, or contact the intended recipient to check the details.

3. No-match

• If you have entered the wrong name for the account holder, you will be told that the details do not match and advised to contact the person or organisation you are trying to pay.

4. Unavailable

• Sometimes Confirmation of Payee will not be able to match the account that you are trying to pay. This occurs when it is not possible to check the name, for example as a result of timeout, opt-out or if the account doesn’t exist. This may also be because the financial institution managing the account you are paying from or to has not yet enabled this functionality.

• Always be wary if you are told to ignore a “no match” response. For further advice on how to stay safe from fraud and scams, please see the advice on the Take Five to Stop Fraud site.

Receiving Payments

• To help ensure that you receive payments from others you need to give your full first name and last name to the person or business paying you. This could differ from how your name appears on your bank or credit card which might just show your initials.
• Your name will be used in communications that your account provider has with you (such as a bank statement) and through your online or mobile banking applications. If you think you need to change the name of your account, or you are unsure of the name to be used, you should discuss this with your account provider.
   

Further Information

• If your bank or building society does not offer Confirmation of Payee, then it’s especially important to make sure the details are correct with the person or business you are paying.
• For further advice on how to stay safe from fraud and scams, please see the advice on the Take Five to Stop Fraud site.
• If you are unsure about how Confirmation of Payee will affect you or have any further questions, please contact your account provider directly.
• You can also find further information on Confirmation of Payee on the Pay.UK website here. Pay.UK is the organisation which oversees Confirmation of Payee on behalf of the industry.