Why Do I Need A Bank BRANCH?

luxor4t

I really miss my local branch: it was so handy to pay in cheques, pay bills, change big notes etc & much more friendly than impersonal phone banking or the clinical on-line accounts. They knew me, so none of this soul-destroying 'press-3,000,000-different-buttons-before-we-will-notice-you're-there' routine....yes, I know it makes me sound ancient!

fooboo

To do away with Sort Codes would require the whole business of numbering accounts in the whole UK banking industry to be reworked.... and we'd end up with something not dissimilar anyway.

Perhaps there were issues surrounding sales in the past, but certainly for the last 5 years its been irrelevant - its who does the sale that matters rather than which branch the customer's account is domiciled at that counts.

If you really don't want a specific branch address on your Cheques you can (advise writing a letter in rather than visiting a branch) have your account transfered to one of HSBC's national sort codes, 400100, 400200, 400300, 400400, 400500 or 400900. You'll then get a bizarre short address for one of the processing sites.... Means new account numbers, altering all your Standing Orders and Direct Debits, new Debit Cards, re arranging salary payments and such....

RichyRich

Most banks arrange sort codes by branch but some (notably A&L and Abbey) have a central sort code for all accounts.When I worked at Abbey it was 090126 but I think they also have 090127 now. Which you get has nothing to do with "your" branch.

The ones that do have "branch" sort codes aren't necessarily "held" at the branch itself. For instance my branch of NatWest is Bradford City Centre - 560036. But when I do a sort code search here the address isn't the same as my cheque book (7 Hustergate, Bradford BD1 1PP) but shows up as Bradford Network, LS11 5AN - a post code in Holbeck.

Similarly, Bradford's Market Street branch of Barclays is 201181, but the address that shows is LE87 2BB - a location in Leicester.

EarthBoy

When sort codes were first invented, it was necessary to have a branch for your account because at that time you couldn't just any old branch, except for basic transactions. These days things have moved on, and having a home branch isn't necessary, but the sort code/account number system still works perfectly well. As fooboo says, to change it would be a massive upheaval for no benefit whatsoever. If it aint broke, why fix it?

Building societies only introduced current accounts in relatively recent years, when technology had moved on and there was no longer a need for a home branch. Nationwide have national sort codes that are not linked to a branch (070116, 074456, 070246) although their internal account numbering system still uses 4-digit branch identifiers. Abbey also used a single sort code, 090126, but I don't know if they have kept this arrangement now that they have become Santander. Halifax, on the other hand, opted for the branch sort code system, so they have hundreds of different sort codes.

anna42hmr

Paul_Herring wrote: »

The sort code for my LTSB bank account is currently about 350 miles away from where I live.

Even before I moved, the sort code still resolved to 15 miles away, while the actual branch I opened it in was about 20 yards down the street from where I lived.

Does it really matter which sort code you get? Is it really an issue?

lol that is so true, there are three lloyds branches closer to my home than the branch that my account is "based" and i have never moved and 2 of the branches have been there all along (and lloyds branches at that, so its not as if i had an old lloyds account and they were old tsb branches) dont think i have stepped foot into the branch they based my account at! not even to open it, was opened at the one i live closest too

Tigsteroonie

I still bank with NW in the original city where I opened the account. Since then I moved 500 miles up to Scotland, and now across to the other side of England - still without actually moving my account. I do everything online.

I tried to pay a cheque in recently via a local branch of RBS, as I thought they owned NW now - and found it the most awkward transaction as apparently the two are still separate.

pmduk

EarthBoy wrote: »

Halifax, on the other hand, opted for the branch sort code system, so they have hundreds of different sort codes.

When I worked for the Halifax, more than 30 years ago, the branches were identified internally by a 3 or 4 digit number. When they introduced banking accounts and needed sort codes the old branch code was tacked on to the prefix 11 to form the 6 digit sort code

bev309

RichyRich wrote: »

Most banks arrange sort codes by branch but some (notably A&L and Abbey) have a central sort code for all accounts.When I worked at Abbey it was 090126 but I think they also have 090127 now. Which you get has nothing to do with "your" branch.

The ones that do have "branch" sort codes aren't necessarily "held" at the branch itself. For instance my branch of NatWest is Bradford City Centre - 560036. But when I do a sort code search here the address isn't the same as my cheque book (7 Hustergate, Bradford BD1 1PP) but shows up as Bradford Network, LS11 5AN - a post code in Holbeck.

Similarly, Bradford's Market Street branch of Barclays is 201181, but the address that shows is LE87 2BB - a location in Leicester.

Just checked my sort code & It says Swansea City Centre Branch, but gives a postcode in Bristol!!!

RichyRich

I think it just goes to show that whilst your sort code is attached to a branch or group of branches they are administered centrally anyway. The sort code effectively is just part of your unique identifier.

pmduk

Lloyds TSB now uses a non-geographic postcode BX1 1LT, for all of it's inbound mail.