Standing Order payment reference query

Fair_Play_2

I'm setting up a standing order to reimburse a friend for some theatre tickets he bought me. (I don't have internet banking and my account is not set up to make payments by telephone, so I'm completing a paper form from my bank, which I will hand into a branch this week.) Now I've done SOs to pay companies before - with those you simply quote your invoice or customer number as the payment reference, and they identify you from that. But obviously that's not possible when paying an individual... So, what I want to know is this: do I need to include my name in the payment reference, or will my bank account name (i.e. MY name) be automatically generated by the system and appear on the line above the payment reference on the beneficiary's statement? I've never received a standing order payment, so I've no idea how they appear to the recipient.

I was thinking of putting "TICKET REFUND" as the reference. However, if I need to include my name as well, that will need to be heavily abbreviated in order to accommodate my name, as I understand that there is always a pesky limit of 18 characters with these references (including spaces) - in which case, I would need to put something like "J BLOGGS TCKT REF". Still identifiable, but a lot less attractive!

I've tried asking my bank this (in 3 separate branches and on the phone!), but can't get a definitive answer out of them. Hmm, no wonder the banks got us into this financial mess... most of the people working in them are simply not up to the job, even on basic matters such as this! The staff I spoke to didn't even seem to be aware of the 18-character limit!!! :shocked:

Hazzanet

Your name usually appears anyway (if the account is yours).

For example, if I put "Ticket Refund" in the reference, providing the reference is printed on their statement (it isn't always; Nationwide are one example) it shows as:

30 Jul   HAZZANET
         TICKET REFUND

If the receiving bank doesn't show a reference, just your name will show.

Lansdowne

A standing order is of course a regular payment of the same amount each month/year etc. It seems as if your payment will be just a one-off direct bank transfer.

In my experience as treasurer of an account with many standing orders coming in, they nearly all have the account name shown. But it does seem to depend on both how the paying bank has entered the details and how the receiving bank displays them.

In your case why not assume your name will be shown -but just in case, enter something that will immediately make sense to your friend, maybe the name and/or date of the show?

zerog

Based on experience, standing orders from Santander show the name, although if it is a joint account, only the first account holder's name is shown regardless of who set it up (this is different to an FP)

SuperHan

Does it REALLY matter? When I've made payment to a friend, I ring them up and say "I've put that money in your account" and they say "Oh yeh, I've got that, thanks".

None of this reference malarky.

Chrisblue1962

SuperHan wrote: »

Does it REALLY matter? When I've made payment to a friend, I ring them up and say "I've put that money in your account" and they say "Oh yeh, I've got that, thanks".

None of this reference malarky.

Their payment, their choice...