What is eSortcode?

Why Validate Account Numbers against their Sorting Code?
Validating the sorting code and account details of transactions has many benefits including helping to reduce the number of transactions needing returned.

For instance, Account Validation allows originators of transactions for the BACS clearing service to validate the account details quoted in their payment instructions before submission.

This validation saves time and money because it significantly decreases the number of erroneous transactions.
What is Modulus Checking?
To ensure the validity of Account Numbers for a sorting code the financial institutions use modulus checking methods and these methods differ from institution to institution.

Why use eSortcode?
The ValidateAccount method of the eSortcode.com web service encapsulates these Modulus Checks and updates these checks whenever any changes are made by the financial institutions.

The table below shows the Institutions covered by the eSortcode.com ValidateAccount method.
Abbey Alliance and Leicester Allied Irish
Bank of England Bank of Ireland Bank of Scotland
Barclays Bradford and Bingley Building Society Citibank
Clydesdale Co-operative Bank First Trust
Halifax HSBC Lloyds TSB
National & Provincial Building Society NatWest Nationwide Building Society
Northern Royal Bank of Scotland Ulster Bank
Woolwich Yorkshire Bank  
Abbey
Alliance and Leicester
Allied Irish
Bank of England
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Scotland
Barclays
Bradford and Bingley Building Society
Citibank
Clydesdale
Co-operative Bank
First Trust
Halifax
HSBC
Lloyds TSB
National & Provincial Building Society
NatWest
Nationwide Building Society
Northern
Royal Bank of Scotland
Ulster Bank
Woolwich
Yorkshire Bank


Note: accounts of institutions that are not covered by this document should be assumed to be valid.

Note: If the modulus check shows the account number as valid, this means that the account number is a possible account number for that sorting code but is not necessarily in use.
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