Sort codes, do banks still use them?

Paul_1977

Yeah a bit of a boring subject, :rotfl: but I have often wondered if sort codes are still used by banks.

I ask because certain banks no longer assign local sort codes and just give new accounts a generic head office sort code. (Santander, Barclays and Natwest) I know Barclays at least use to set the sort code to your local branch, but no longer with new accounts.

But at the same time some banks still assign local sort codes, TSB and Halifax being two examples.

Is there any point in having local sort codes these days, do you think they will be scrapped in the end?

I like having a local branch on my cheques and a local sort code call be sad lol.

knack92

You sure about NatWest? A relative opened a current account with Royal Bank of Scotland recently and got to choose branch.

Paul_1977

I know Natwest said they do not use sort codes for local branch's maybe they have reverted back to it.

Archi_Bald

Banks do still use sort codes. The whole UK banking system would collapse in a heap if they didn't.

System

I treat my sort code as the first 6 digits of my account number.
All my sort codes are linked to a branch other than my Nationwide one.

agrinnall

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Banks do still use sort codes. The whole UK banking system would collapse in a heap if they didn't.

Exactly. There have been sort codes that aren't associated with a physical branch for many years, but there are a lot more these days as banks change and the need to set foot in a branch diminishes. It's unlikely that sort codes will disappear any time soon.

DevCoder

Especially as UK IBAN's are made up using the sort code

stclair

Paul_1977 wrote: »

I know Natwest said they do not use sort codes for local branch's maybe they have reverted back to it.

They do use individual branch sort codes and always have done.

Its just they are centralised now so your not referred to your own branch with certain queries.

solentsusie

I have an RBS account and a NatWest account, when I opened both of them I got to choose which branch I banked with. Same with my Nationwide account.

Whenever you phone you go through to a central customer service centre, same with most banks these days isn't it?

If I want to see someone then I go to the branch that my account sort code is assigned to.

Although my SAVINGS accounts do not come under a local branch but are assigned a central sort code.

agrinnall

solentsusie wrote: »

I have an RBS account and a NatWest account, when I opened both of them I got to choose which branch I banked with. Same with my Nationwide account.

Whenever you phone you go through to a central customer service centre, same with most banks these days isn't it?

If I want to see someone then I go to the branch that my account sort code is assigned to.

Although my SAVINGS accounts do not come under a local branch but are assigned a central sort code.

It's fine to choose your sort code on that basis, but the staff at the branch with that sort code will know no more about your account than a member of staff in Orkney would (assuming your user name indicates your location).

Paul_1977

I have been looking it up, and apparently in the early days they were used to route cheques and payments etc via your local branch which processed it. By hand, and the branch would update head office records at set times although I am not sure how without computers, was it by post???? , when computers came in each branch had its own system which did the same and sent updates to the head office core system every night, which is why payments took a while to process. Reminds me of Catch me if you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK2LZarpNek

Not sure if thats just fiction or not but I find it interesting, even for a Friday.

Local sort codes are not required today as all banks use core systems at head office and that handles everything, nothing is routed through the local branch anymore.

So local sort codes in the modern world might allow easier managing of accounts but could be ditched for generic ones according to what I have seen on the net.