CoP and the £1 test deposit

RG2015

For a few years I have used the £1 test deposit to a new payee before transferring larger amounts. Now that Confirmation of Payee is operating I miss out this stage, as long as CoP has been successful.

I cannot remember offhand the last time I did a £1 check, probably when the bank was not part of CoP.

I was just curious if others had changed their new payee process.

JGB1955

I have just paid into a new Sainsbury's Bank savings account for the first time.  Nationwide couldn't confirm the payee, so I sent £1 anyway.  Three hours later it turned up in the account, so I then sent the balance over.

MovingForwards

I still do the test amount first.

RG2015

MovingForwards said:

I still do the test amount first.

Even with CoP confirmation?

Thumbs_Up

Even with the payee section set up and working correctly and I am going to send large sums of money I will still check the account I’m sending too like the sort code and account number just in case  my bank account has been compromised unlikely as it seems.

 

Molehusband

RG2015 said:

For a few years I have used the £1 test deposit to a new payee before transferring larger amounts. Now that Confirmation of Payee is operating I miss out this stage, as long as CoP has been successful.

I cannot remember offhand the last time I did a £1 check, probably when the bank was not part of CoP.

I was just curious if others had changed their new payee process.

In principle I like the CoP system. However, I don't like the way some financial institutions have implemented it. In addition to the Payee Name used for the CoP check I want to have the option to add a "Payee nickname" field to distinguish between the different payees. This is because many of my payments are made to an external account in my own name. So with Banks like Santander, my payee list will mostly show "Reginald Molehusband" and my statements will say:

date-1 "Reginald Molehusband" £x1
date-2 "Reginald Molehusband" £x2
...
date-n "Reginald Molehusband" £xn
yet each of these payments is to a different external account.
This is totally useless to me. Why can't Santander (and others) not allow me to display a Nickname for each payee which will tell me where the payments are actually going to? So for those financial institutions the £1 pantomime is continuing.

Daliah

I rarely use CoP, for the reasons outlined by Reginald Molehusband.

Any payments to my own accounts use a fictitious payee name, in the format "My bank xxxx", where bank is obviously the (abbreviated) name of the receiving bank, and xxxx the last 4 digits of the receiving account number. I use this nomenclature even at banks which support nicknames (Natwest/RBS, VM) as I don't want to break my naming system. I only use the £1 method for accounts which require a Reference for the routing of payments, as sometimes I can't be sure I have got the correct Reference number. 

I do find CoP useful when paying a third party.

RG2015

This is interesting. The problem is not with CoP then, but with Santander and the absence of the “nickname” facility.

I have no such problem with NatWest being my main hub, and naming my accounts according to my convention. 

Molehusband

RG2015 said:

This is interesting. The problem is not with CoP then, but with Santander and the absence of the “nickname” facility.

I have no such problem with NatWest being my main hub, and naming my accounts according to my convention. 

Yes the problem is with the implementation of CoP. Santander is one of a number of banks (including Halifax) who don't seem to understand that many customers wish to have a way of identifying their payees using an optional additional "nickname" field. It should also be possible to alter the "Nickname" at any time without having to reset the Payee. It's a very simple and straightforward thing to add this field, but so far both Santander and Halifax have effectively told me "Push off, we're not interested".
I think it would be helpful if the Payment Systems Regulator would make these layabouts implement the optional "Nickname" field.

MovingForwards

RG2015 said:

MovingForwards said:

I still do the test amount first.

Even with CoP confirmation?

Yes.
Same as when I do my transfers, I always check the money has moved over.

Small habit, takes a few seconds and I know everything is ok.

RG2015

Molehusband said:

RG2015 said:

This is interesting. The problem is not with CoP then, but with Santander and the absence of the “nickname” facility.

I have no such problem with NatWest being my main hub, and naming my accounts according to my convention. 

Yes the problem is with the implementation of CoP. Santander is one of a number of banks (including Halifax) who don't seem to understand that many customers wish to have a way of identifying their payees using an optional additional "nickname" field. It should also be possible to alter the "Nickname" at any time without having to reset the Payee. It's a very simple and straightforward thing to add this field, but so far both Santander and Halifax have effectively told me "Push off, we're not interested".
I think it would be helpful if the Payment Systems Regulator would make these layabouts implement the optional "Nickname" field.

This is a bit harsh, but each to their own.

I know that NatWest have had their problems, but the more I see and hear of other banks, the more I believe that there is no better bank for day to day banking.