Payment tips

Confirm the account and reference details.

The sort code should be six digits and the account number eight digits. If they're not, talk to who you're paying.

The reference can be either your card or customer reference/account number. If you're paying a friend, you can enter the reason for the payment, eg birthday, or put the sort code and account number of the payee. Making a payment to a credit card? Use the long card number as the reference.

Enter the 'roll number' in the reference field (if required).

This may be needed when making payments or transfers to a building society account or a former building society.

Have enough money in your account the working day before your payment is due or before making immediate payments.

Please note: Online Banking will not recognise any Auto Transfer facilities set up on your account.

Always use the 'search' tool when making payments to a company or organisation.

Examples are Barclaycard, British Gas, Thames Water, etc. This will automatically generate the correct sort code and account number for online payments.

After selecting your payee from the search results, type the correct reference number. This should be your card or customer account/reference number. 

Ensure you've used the correct entry from your list of previous payees. Delete those unused.

For example, if you change your credit card, make sure that you delete the old one from your list. If you've got payees saved that you no longer use, delete them using Delete Payees from the menu of your At a Glance page.

This will either log you out or give you an error code and your payment may not be made.

This is confirmation that your payment's been made and can be referred to if you have any problems with your payment.

You don't have to make any changes to the payment but you can see a list of them here. You can find a link to the page on At a Glance.

To check your immediate payment, view your cleared balance on the See Statements screen.

Your payment will show in your balance.

If you deposit cash at a branch after 3.30pm-4pm, the funds will appear on your statement and reflect in your balance the same day in Online Banking. These funds, however, are not cleared funds and will not be available until the following working day. If the funds are transferred out of the account you may incur charges to your account.