How to secure your payments with Confirmation of Payee

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) helps prevent you from paying the wrong person.

It checks the details you're paying against the details held by the payee's bank, so you can have confidence that your money is going to the right place.

As fraudsters often use fake names, these checks add an extra layer of security to stop you being scammed.

How to use Confirmation of Payee

Confirmation of Payee works for Faster Payment, CHAPS or Bacs payments made through your Tide app by following these steps:

Add someone as a payee by adding the name on their account, their account number, sort code and account type (personal or business).

Start making a payment by choosing the amount you wish to send them and when you'd like it to be sent

CoP checks the details by cross-referencing the details you've added with those registered to the payee's account

You'll see the outcome of the check, and you can choose whether to make the payment or not

What the Confirmation of Payee checks mean

Complete match

Good news, the details you entered completely match those registered to your payee's account.

CoP hasn't highlighted any risks, but you should still make sure you trust your payee 100% before paying them.

A partial match

The details you entered are close to those registered to your payee's account, but not exact.

This could be a red flag, or it could indicate a mistake, such as a typo when entering their details.

It's best to stop and double check with your payee to confirm these details.

No match

The details you've entered don't match those registered to the account, and this could be a scam.

For example, a scammer could have posed as HMRC and asked you to pay what you think is HMRC's account. Instead, you were about to pay the scammers account, and CoP has warned you.

If this happens to you, call 159 from the UK or tap the 'Support' icon in the top right corner > 'Report fraud' in your Tide app to report this and receive advice from our team.

Wrong details

The details you've entered don't match any account at the recipient's bank.

It's not clear what account you're paying, or who owns it.

It's best to not make this payment, and check the details with your payee again.

Not able to check

In some cases, the check can't be completed.

This might be because the recipient's bank isn't participating in CoP. You can check on the relevant bank's website whether this is the case.

You can still make your payment regardless of any outcome, but we'd recommend stopping and checking first.

How to use the right name with Confirmation of Payee

Sometimes the name registered to the account won't be the payee's personal name.

When making a payment

For example, a sole trader called John Smith could be trading as 'John's Plumbing', and the account will have the trading name registered.

It's best to check with your payee which name is registered to their account before making a payment.

When receiving a payment

As a sole trader, your personal name is registered to your Tide account, and you should provide this to customers when asking for payment.

If you want your trading name to be registered to your account, you can verify this in your Tide app:

Go to the Pay tab and tap the profile icon in the top righthand corner

Tap Profile & settings > Business details > Trading name > Verify now

We'll review this and let you know within 48 hours whether its been verified

For example, if your name is 'John Smith' and your trading name is 'John's Plumbing', completing these steps will let you provide your name as 'John Smith trading as John's Plumbing'. This helps ensure a full match with CoP when customers are paying you.