CHAPS payment question.......

strawberrylane

I will soon be sending the deposit for my forthcoming house purchase to my solicitor using CHAPS.

I have been going through all of the details that I will need to provide when I initiate the transfer and I'm not sure what to put down for the 'bank address'.

I know the actual postal address of the branch which is just down the road, but when I look up the branch sort code using several online sort code checkers they all come up with a generic Customer Service Centre address with a PO Box number in a town many miles away.

Which address should I specify when I go into my own bank to request the chaps payment, the local branch address or the generic customer service centre address?

Why is the address needed at all (my bank says it is mandatory) and does it matter which one I specify?

I have tried calling NatWest/RBS to ask but the people I spoke to didn't seem to know themselves.

Any help greatfully received, especially from anyone who works for Natwest/RBS or who has experience of making chaps payments to Natwest/RBS accounts.

YorkshireBoy

strawberrylane wrote: »

...I'm not sure what to put down for the 'bank address'.

Why not ask your solicitor?

strawberrylane

Yep, did that! My solicitor (who is very good by the way) told me that when he makes chaps payments (which must be every week) he never has to enter the bank address on his chaps terminal, just sort code and account number, so I guess his bank-provided chaps software automatically provides the bank address details for him.

I'm inclined to specify the local branch address in my chaps payment request, but just want to make sure I'm not opening myself up for the payment to be rejected and bounced back by RBS/Natwest due to the sort code and bank address that I specify not matching correctly.........?

rb10

The bank that you're sending the payment from should be able to look this up.

But if they insist on you providing an address, then it doesn't matter which you use - it'll still get there from the sort code and account number.

Gromitt

I was told that you just need to put the rough bank address down, but not to go into detail. For example "First Direct, Leeds". It apparently is used for checking, but the address of any branch will do. Don't put the customer service address.

I don't know how much your transferring, but I found it easier and cheaper for my last house purchase to make multiple deposits of 25K to my solicitor using faster payments. I still had to pay the solicitor £35 for them to move it onto its destination, but at least I didn't have to pay £25 as well to get it to the solicitors!

jonesMUFCforever

If you give them the sort code the bank can check their inter bank directory and tell you which address to put down.

In theory the sending bank can just put the name of the bank on the form without a branch and it will work as long as account number and sort code is ok.

Agricolae

strawberrylane wrote: »

I will soon be sending the deposit for my forthcoming house purchase to my solicitor using CHAPS.

I have been going through all of the details that I will need to provide when I initiate the transfer and I'm not sure what to put down for the 'bank address'.

I know the actual postal address of the branch which is just down the road, but when I look up the branch sort code using several online sort code checkers they all come up with a generic Customer Service Centre address with a PO Box number in a town many miles away.

Which address should I specify when I go into my own bank to request the chaps payment, the local branch address or the generic customer service centre address?

Why is the address needed at all (my bank says it is mandatory) and does it matter which one I specify?

I have tried calling NatWest/RBS to ask but the people I spoke to didn't seem to know themselves.

Any help greatfully received, especially from anyone who works for Natwest/RBS or who has experience of making chaps payments to Natwest/RBS accounts.

Which branch of Natwest/RBS is it?

CG19a

My natwest branch is the Glasgow branch, however when I used to put my sortcode into the sortcode checkers it would come up with the RBS offices at Tay House in Glasgow rather than the Natwest branch in Blytheswood Sq.

Agricolae

CG19a wrote: »

My natwest branch is the Glasgow branch, however when I used to put my sortcode into the sortcode checkers it would come up with the RBS offices at Tay House in Glasgow rather than the Natwest branch in Blytheswood Sq.

Each branch of RBS and Natwest is connected to a service centre which performs various tasks for the branches so they don't have to do everything on site. There is a service centre in Glasgow at Tay House.

strawberrylane

Yes, I realise that each RBS/Natwest branch is associated with a particular service centre, which is why the service centre address is displayed when I enter the branch sort code into an online sort code checker.

For example, 163032 is the sort code for the RBS branch at Cheetham Hill in Manchester. The actual postal address for that branch is: 18 Bury Old Road, Cheetham Hill, M8 9JN.

However, the online sort code lookup for 163032 gives the following address:
MANCHESTER CHEETHAM HILL, Bolton Customer Service Centre, PO Box 2027 Parklands, De Havilland Way, Horwich, BL6 4YU.

So, which address should I specify as the 'bank address' when I initiate the chaps transfer?

I'm inclined to specify the actual postal address of the local branch rather than the service centre address when I initiate the chaps payment.

Does it matter which version of the address I use? Or might it cause a problem when the chaps payment is received and being checked by RBS if I have specified the 'wrong' version of the bank's address?

Miss_Havisham

strawberrylane wrote: »

Yes, I realise that each RBS/Natwest branch is associated with a particular service centre, which is why the service centre address is displayed when I enter the branch sort code into an online sort code checker.

For example, 163032 is the sort code for the RBS branch at Cheetham Hill in Manchester. The actual postal address for that branch is: 18 Bury Old Road, Cheetham Hill, M8 9JN.

However, the online sort code lookup for 163032 gives the following address:
MANCHESTER CHEETHAM HILL, Bolton Customer Service Centre, PO Box 2027 Parklands, De Havilland Way, Horwich, BL6 4YU.

So, which address should I specify as the 'bank address' when I initiate the chaps transfer?

I'm inclined to specify the actual postal address of the local branch rather than the service centre address when I initiate the chaps payment.

Does it matter which version of the address I use? Or might it cause a problem when the chaps payment is received and being checked by RBS if I have specified the 'wrong' version of the bank's address?

I think you would be correct to quote the branch's name and address. CHAPS payments are structured to pass through the CHAPS system from the sending bank to the receiving bank and on to the branch sort-code and account number without human intervention for checking. So it's particularly important to get the sort code and account number right. If your bank constructs the payment wrongly it will be bounced back to them for correction. (well that was the position a few years back before I retired from banking).

I don't know why your bank needs the address of the bank - their payments system should have that programmed in.