Postcode Anywhere... a closer look at bank and card validation

The data – International Sort Code Directory

• Over 16,000 separate bank details.
• Files updated weekly.
• Contains the following information relating to bank offices or branches: sorting code, BIC, branch title, postal addresses, telephone number and details of which clearings each bank office participates in.

Payment Validation from Postcode Anywhere uses standards including IBAN, ISCD and BBAN to ensure your accounts stay on track

BACS requires six-digit sortcodes and eight-digit account numbers (many banks have different length accounts); Postcode Anywhere's service will generate IBANs, corrected sortcode and account numbers.

IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number (IBAN), the international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders. Checks are carried out in accordance to ECBS (European Committee for Banking Standards) guidelines:

• Checks if the country code is valid
• Verifies the correct number of characters is present in the IBAN
• Looks for the correct BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number ) country format
• Calculates digits in accordance with ISO/IEC 7064:2002 for common errors and typos
• Errors checked include substitution errors, transposition errors, shift errors and double substitution errors

IBAN Breakdown

The industry sorting code directory (ISCD) is a database of information about all the bank and building society branches and bank offices that participate in one or more of the UK clearings systems:

• BACS - Bulk electronic clearing
• CHAPS Sterling - Same day, high-value, sterling payment clearing
• CHAPS Euro - Same day, high-value euro payment clearing
• Cheque and Credit Clearing - UK cheque clearing
• Each record on the ISCD has 82 fields. The 82 fields are grouped into "data groups" according to the use they relate to

Payment Validation from Postcode Anywhere is the easiest way to ensure that all your bank, credit and debit card transactions go through smoothly.