Confirmation of Payee (CoP): how do I find out what name my bank has registered me with?

kulath

All the discussion about CoP seems to be about how to use it to pay other people, but what about how to use it for other people to pay me?

What name have my bank registered for me? How do I find out?

Please don't tell me to look at some form I might or might not have filled in when I opened the account. That was years ago.

(Example questions which don't necessarily apply to me: Have they got my full name or the name I usually use, my birth registered name is an abbreviation but I always use the longer form, have they got my first name which I never use or my second name which I always use, my cheque book just shows my initials is that what should be used, does it relate to some form of identification like passport or driving licence or something else or neither etc. etc.)

mgdavid

Ask the bank?

mwarby

The rollout of this has been delayed till June(https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-8143271/Confirmation-Payee-deadline-delayed-June-coronavirus.html) due to Coronavirus.

I suggest that the banks will be busy dealing with those affect by coronavirus, so I would suggest waiting to find out if you can

mwarby

I imagine it would be the name they show on your bank statements, I'd guess that your name as shown on your debit card or cheque book would also work for confirmation of payee

jonesMUFCforever

What id did you use to open the account - the name on the account would have to match.
If you are only transferring funds between accounts in your own name - it does not matter because you can override a mismatch at your own risk of course.

Zanderman

As others have said, you should know! 
The name the bank has for you is the name they use on statements, cheque books etc.   
That may vary as John Smith or Mr J Smith etc depending on the context.

But you're over-thinking this.  The name match is meant to be an additional check, and doesn't have to be an exact match - it's not like the account number, which obviously has to be precise.  It's just an indication - and can be over-ridden at risk.

So if the bank gives your name is John Smith but your friends call you Jonah Smith and want to pay you, they'll see 'John Smith' as the name of the account holder when they set up payment and they'll think, yup, that's him (i'e that's close enough).

But if they call you Dave Jones they'll be warned off as they won't believe it's your account.  

hermante

The most accurate name I believe would be found on your credit reports.

Some of my statements have my name wrong. And when I pay other accounts, the name that shows up on the recipient's statement is sometimes not accurate either. But on my credit reports they are almost all correct.

colsten

hermante said:

The most accurate name I believe would be found on your credit reports.

Some of my statements have my name wrong. And when I pay other accounts, the name that shows up on the recipient's statement is sometimes not accurate either. But on my credit reports they are almost all correct.

The name on your credit report is unlikely to be a million miles from the name on your bank accounts, and it might even be exactly the same. But your bank will be using the name you gave them when you opened the account, or the name you subsequently told them you have changed to,

in my case, different CRAs have slightly different names for me, and almost none of the many accounts I hold uses the same as the CRAs use. Don’t ask me how the CRAs came to use the names they use, and how my various accounts are linked to these but linked they are

robatwork

Banks aren't consistent in the name they use in their correspondence to you, it's true.
I've found what is always the full accurate name online, in the documents/inbox section. Download your "statement of fees". This seems to always have the full name on the account.

kulath

"ask the bank": you are joking aren't you, at the moment the bank is not responding to anything cos coronavirus.

"name shown on bank statements": this varies from statement to statement from the same bank.

"id used to open the account": as I said in the original question, that was ages ago, and I certainly don't have a record going back that far; you are supposed to shred everything over 5 (or something) years old.

"overthinking, just additional check": no, I tried to pay a garden contractor, and it just said the name didn't match, didn't say what the mis-match was.

"name on credit report": I don't have a credit report, are you saying I should get one just to check what the bank should be telling me?

"statement of fees": thanks for that suggestion, the name does seem to be consistent across several different accounts.

But, the main point is, why aren't the bank explaining this, and telling us exactly what the situation is. They have had almost a decade to get ready for all this; they seem to take almost no time at all to tell us that they are not going to help anyone about anything because coronavirus, why can't they properly think through the consequences of this CoP change?

Of course, we all know the answer, because they are run by a bunch of barely competent <redacted>.

Zanderman

kulath said:

"ask the bank": you are joking aren't you, at the moment the bank is not responding to anything cos coronavirus.

"name shown on bank statements": this varies from statement to statement from the same bank.

"id used to open the account": as I said in the original question, that was ages ago, and I certainly don't have a record going back that far; you are supposed to shred everything over 5 (or something) years old.

"overthinking, just additional check": no, I tried to pay a garden contractor, and it just said the name didn't match, didn't say what the mis-match was.

"name on credit report": I don't have a credit report, are you saying I should get one just to check what the bank should be telling me?

"statement of fees": thanks for that suggestion, the name does seem to be consistent across several different accounts.

But, the main point is, why aren't the bank explaining this, and telling us exactly what the situation is. They have had almost a decade to get ready for all this; they seem to take almost no time at all to tell us that they are not going to help anyone about anything because coronavirus, why can't they properly think through the consequences of this CoP change?

Of course, we all know the answer, because they are run by a bunch of barely competent <redacted>.

Good to see you're so grateful for the (actually mostly helpful) advice!
Have a nice day.