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

RG2015

@The_Green_Hornet
Thank you. I used my initials and failed but using my christian name worked. This now makes sense but why is this not made clear by extensive publicity.

born_again

Uxb1 said:

Your debit card & a cheque book. Santander it is on your statement.
Or strangely. Contact you bank & ask them..
Why should banks have to waste paper (save the environment etc) when the details should already be known by their customer.

My lloyds online account says:   Single Initial followed by surname
My Lloyds statement says: Mr plus all my initials followed by surname
My lloyds bank debit card says:  Mr followed by by first christian name then my other initials and then my surname
My Lloyds bank cheque book says: all initials followed by surname (so no leading Mr)
So that's four different versions in one bank of what my account name really is

So have you actually asked them?

Uxb1

Nope - I'm not really bothered. As yet I've not had any problems reported back to me of someone/organisation trying to pay me and getting stopped by an 'account name mismatch' response.  I've usually told people my account name is christian name, middle initials and surname - which is none of the above 4.

bradders1983

Unsure why this is even an issue.

I am with the Halifax. I have set up new payees recently, put in the sc and an and what I thought was the name on the account, pressed enter, it thought about it for a few seconds and then came back and said the account name was X (slightly different to my initial "guess") and do I still want to make a payment. It didn't block it totally and make me go back and guess the name on the account again.

Surely all banks operate the same procedure? And with this it even tells the person paying you what the name is registered as, and they could simply tell you this if you asked?

Uxb1

It seems you were told what the actual name of the account was.
From what I gather others are told the unhelpful message that the account name differs from what you have put in - which could either mean it is slightly different or that it is totally different.  The first being most likely of no consequence while the second would indeed be of concern.
For instance went to pay NS&I and put in the correct details for the particular NS&I product - and I too got this unhelpful message back that the name I have put in for NS&I did not match - so I ignored it and made the payment and it was indeed received by NS&I - the system never told me what the name of the NS&I account I was paying actually was.

inspectorperez

Have to say that the OP originating this thread has asked a perfectly reasonable question and from experience of my own bank accounts there is no certainty about the name which the respective banks acknowledge as being the account name. There are certainly differences with the form of my own name appearing on Estatements, cheque books (where I have them) and debit cards. I do find this surprising and IMO the banking profession should provide uniform guidance and consistency on the issue. Lawyers always use a definitions index at the beginning of legal contracts and banks should similarly provide customers with an acknowledgement of the name used in the title of the customer's own bank account.

bradders1983

Uxb1 said:

It seems you were told what the actual name of the account was.
From what I gather others are told the unhelpful message that the account name differs from what you have put in - which could either mean it is slightly different or that it is totally different.  The first being most likely of no consequence while the second would indeed be of concern.
For instance went to pay NS&I and put in the correct details for the particular NS&I product - and I too got this unhelpful message back that the name I have put in for NS&I did not match - so I ignored it and made the payment and it was indeed received by NS&I - the system never told me what the name of the NS&I account I was paying actually was.

Interesting. So some banks clearly do and some dont.

mgdavid

Owain_Moneysaver said:

mgdavid said:

For the second scenario, I repeat: if the payee tells me an incorrect 14 digits it's their problem not mine. Especially as the vast majority of one-off payment instructions are transmitted to me electronically I always cut and paste to ensure any error is not mine. 

One of the problems is those instructions can be hacked/faked/corrupted and there is no guarantee that just because you think you have an email from Johnny Builder asking for payment to 51-61-71 00123456 that is the genuine account number you need to pay. 
With Confirmation of Payee you would get a message saying Do you want to pay Davey Scumbags Y/N? and can be stopped before you send the money for your house extension to Nigeria. 

Who said anything about emails? Why would I use the absolutely most insecure method of electronic communication?

If I was paying for a house extension I'd use cash anyway, to keep my builder sweet.

RetSol

inspectorperez said:

Have to say that the OP originating this thread has asked a perfectly reasonable question and from experience of my own bank accounts there is no certainty about the name which the respective banks acknowledge as being the account name. There are certainly differences with the form of my own name appearing on Estatements, cheque books (where I have them) and debit cards. I do find this surprising and IMO the banking profession should provide uniform guidance and consistency on the issue. Lawyers always use a definitions index at the beginning of legal contracts and banks should similarly provide customers with an acknowledgement of the name used in the title of the customer's own bank account.

I agree, @inspectorperez.
I recently went to transfer cash between two current accounts with different banks, both in my own name.  I assumed that the transferee's name would be my name as per the debit card associated with the account.  It wasn't.  I had to guess. 

kaMelo

I can't help but think people are overthinking this, it's simply about your name. 
Business bank accounts I appreciate could be in a variety of names for different reasons but personal accounts, it's simple.
The bank know you by name, they may also have your initials, titles or whatever else you may consider important, they may also share the ego flattering information on your debit/credit cards but ultimately what matters to the bank regarding CoP is the combination of Forename and Surname along with account no and sort code.
eg, your paying Dr. Joseph William F. Bloggs III (the third).  Just use "Joe/Joseph Bloggs as payee.

We don't need even more regulation insisting financial institutions send us a legal definition of what our own name is.