How to differentiate identical account names (Halifax)

Frequentlyhere

The fairly recent introduction of checks to make sure the name of the person you're sending money to matches with the account number you specify is pretty much just a great positive thing.

But.....

What do people with lots of bank accounts (switching incentives) and savings accounts do about the giant list of identical 'my name' entries in their payee list?

I'm sure other, better, banks have ways around this like bank nicknames but I don't think my main bank (Halifax) does, which means when I'm messing about transferring money to my other accounts I have to be really careful to remember/check that I'm sending it to the right place by looking at the sort code/acc number only. I literally have like 30 'my name' entries.   

steveksullivan

Frequentlyhere said:

The fairly recent introduction of checks to make sure the name of the person you're sending money to matches with the account number you specify is pretty much just a great positive thing.

But.....

What do people with lots of bank accounts (switching incentives) and savings accounts do about the giant list of identical 'my name' entries in their payee list?

I'm sure other, better, banks have ways around this like bank nicknames but I don't think my main bank (Halifax) does, which means when I'm messing about transferring money to my other accounts I have to be really careful to remember/check that I'm sending it to the right place by looking at the sort code/acc number only. I literally have like 30 'my name' entries.   

I have the same problem with Santander - all they can suggest is not using your own name when creating the payee to make the payee name more appropriate .... even though this then fails the checks, but having checked sort code and account number you can still let the payment go through ..... obviously negating the value of the check in the first place .....

(sigh....) Already logged as another (minor....) complaint with Santander (as this was the only way they could log it as a 'suggestion' for improvement ..........)

ColdIron

I simply continue to name the accounts as I did before CoP (Santander 123 etc) and take on the burden of ensuring it is correct (as I did before). The CoP check will fail but usually allow you to continue. The only one that has disallowed this is Nationwide but they allow a nickname

The situation with banks that use pooled accounts with the payee named as the account owner (Aldermore, Paragon etc) and a reference for the Account No is unchanged so nothing new there

I'll cross any further bridges as they occur but this approach works fine for me so far

Notepad_Phil

I use Santander more than Halifax, and on there I put some kind of id into the space where my middle name would otherwise go.

E.g. "Phil BOS Notepad" for Bank of Scotland, "Phil Llo Notepad" for Lloyds, etc, etc.

Works for me (and Confirmation of Payee), and you can even put numbers in if you need to.

refluxer

I have a similar issue with numerous 'my name' payees with Barclays, however they also list your initial payment reference alongside those entries so I try to make sure the very first reference I send has a suitable reference like 'Zopa Smart Saver' etc.

This does fall down, however, when certain banks or building societies need you to use your account number as your payment reference !

Descrabled

This has been talked about before:

1 Do the COP thing with the proper name. e.g. Jane Doe

2. COP confirms name, account no, and sort code.

3. Go Backwards.

4. Change name to identifiy account e.g. Jane Lloyds 1. Keep account no and sort code both unchanged.

5. Repeat COP.

6. COP declines match. But you know that it has already matched to account no and sort code in action 2.

7 Hey presto correct account and unique name

steveksullivan

Descrabled said:

This has been talked about before:

1 Do the COP thing with the proper name. e.g. Jane Doe

2. COP confirms name, account no, and sort code.

3. Go Backwards.

4. Change name to identifiy account e.g. Jane Lloyds 1. Keep account no and sort code both unchanged.

5. Repeat COP.

6. COP declines match. But you know that it has already matched to account no and sort code in action 2.

7 Hey presto correct account and unique name

Hadn't seen this talked about before! Looks like a good hack - will try next time !

Frequentlyhere

Thanks, I'll give that a go.

It does seem a bit weird that we have to apparently "hack" this to achieve something as obvious as being able to easily see which account you're sending money to.

I guess it's a trickier problem than it first appears perhaps though as introducing aliases perhaps risks payments being exploited by 'fake' aliases.

Qyburn

In Lloyds it also stores the payment reference used last time.  Since these are all payments from myself to myself I use that to name the destination.  So I have a list of payees all called "Mr Qyburn", but the references say things like Marcus, Santander, Virgin ISA etc.

soulsaver

steveksullivan said:

Descrabled said:

This has been talked about before:

1 Do the COP thing with the proper name. e.g. Jane Doe

2. COP confirms name, account no, and sort code.

3. Go Backwards.

4. Change name to identifiy account e.g. Jane Lloyds 1. Keep account no and sort code both unchanged.

5. Repeat COP.

6. COP declines match. But you know that it has already matched to account no and sort code in action 2.

7 Hey presto correct account and unique name

Hadn't seen this talked about before! Looks like a good hack - will try next time !

There's IMO a slightly better version I use, saves couple steps:
I name the payee S.Oulsaver ldsclb 
In the payee list I know that is my lloyds Club ac without having to drill down and back to see the ref.
COP says it's got S.Oulsaver for that account ('cos it's a near miss) and asks which I want to go with. I choose the S.Oulsaver ldsclb. No going back & editing.

It works for sure with my Santander hub.

Daliah

Descrabled said:

This has been talked about before:

1 Do the COP thing with the proper name. e.g. Jane Doe

2. COP confirms name, account no, and sort code.

3. Go Backwards.

4. Change name to identifiy account e.g. Jane Lloyds 1. Keep account no and sort code both unchanged.

5. Repeat COP.

6. COP declines match. But you know that it has already matched to account no and sort code in action 2.

7 Hey presto correct account and unique name

That's exactly what I do where CoP is offered. Quicker than the "£1 test payment" approach and just as safe.