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Bank validation API

Sort code and bank account number validation

Postcoder validates UK bank account details and auto-fills payment and Direct Debit forms. Reduce customer frustration, payment errors and bank charges by adding bank validation to your website and app.

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Bank account validation
    • Result Valid bank account
    • Bank BANK OF ENGLAND
    • Branch HEAD OFFICE
    • Direct debits accepted
    • Chaps
    • Bacs
    • Sort code 100000
    • Account number 31510604
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Frictionless payments

Bank validation API

Postcoder bank validation works by querying the extended industry sort code directory (EISCD) to gather the most up-to-date and detailed information from the UK's financial institutions.

  • Validates UK sort codes and account numbers
  • Converts details into the required BACS format
  • Auto-fills UK bank and branch details
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POST /pcw/PCW45-12345-12345-1234X/bank?format=json
{
	"sortcode": "10-00-00",
	"accountnumber": "31510604"
}
----
{
	"valid": true,
	"stateid": 0,
	"sortcode": "100000",
	"accountnumber": "31510604",
	"directdebits": true,
	"fasterpayments": true,
	"chaps": true,
	"bacs": true,
	"bankbic": "BKENGB33",
	"branchbic": "XXX"
	"bankname": "BANK OF ENGLAND"
	"branchname": "HEAD OFFICE"
	"addressline1": "Threadneedle Street"
	"addressline2": ""
	"addressline3": ""
	"addressline4": ""
	"posttown": "London"
	"postcode": "EC2R 8AH"
	"phone1": "020 34614717"
	"phone2": ""
}
Sort code
10-00-00
Account number
31510604
Submit details

"1 in 40 sort codes and account numbers are entered incorrectly."

Source: Unified Software
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Validate, format and auto-fill

Unlock efficiency with Postcoder bank validation

  • Validate UK sort codes and account numbers

    Postcoder enables you to instantly verify sort code and account number combinations, and identify whether an account supports Direct Debits, CHAPS and Faster Payments (FPS).

    {
	...
	"valid": true,
	"directdebits": true,
	"fasterpayments": true,
	"chaps": true,
	"bacs": true,
	...
}

  • Convert details into the required BACS format

    People fill in their bank account details with additional spaces and hyphens in different places. Postcoder automatically transposes these details into the precise format expected required by BACS.

    Sort code
    10-00-00
    Account number
    31510604
    {
	...
	"sortcode": "100000",
	"accountnumber": "31510604"
	...
}

  • Auto-fill UK bank and branch details

    Postcoder provides the Bank Identifier Code (BIC), the Branch Identification Code (Swift Code), the bank and branch names, and the address and telephone numbers to use for BACS enquiries.

    {
	...
	"bankbic": "BKENGB33",
	"branchbic": "XXX",
	"bankname": "BANK OF ENGLAND",
	"branchname": "HEAD OFFICE",
	"addressline1": "Threadneedle Street",
	"addressline2": "",
	"addressline3": "",
	"addressline4": "",
	"posttown": "London",
	"postcode": "EC2R 8AH",
	"phone1": "020 34614717",
	"phone2": ""
	...
}
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Simplify payments

Exceed expectations and reduce costs

  • Reduce fraud

    Strengthen your KYC and KYB checks and protect your organisation by ensuring people provide valid details.

  • Avoid failed payments

    Verify bank accounts and check whether they support direct debits, faster payments and CHAPS.

  • Minimise admin costs

    Avoid unnecessary bank charges and internal admin associated with re-processing failed payments.

  • Enhance customer experience

    Validate customer details in real-time and avoid the risk of asking them to correct their details later.

  • Improve employee satisfaction

    Reduce payroll issues and salary delays by validating employee bank details as soon as they're provided.

  • Autocomplete bank forms

    Automatically fill in direct debit forms and bank forms with all required details, quickly and accurately.

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Everything your business needs

Postcoder and its team of address and technology specialists meet the needs of high-demand applications and rapidly growing businesses.

  • ISO 9001 certified

    Built on quality management best practices you can trust.

  • Auto-scaling infrastructure

    Seamlessly handles enterprise volumes and traffic spikes.

  • PCI-DSS & GDPR compliant

    Designed for secure, privacy-first data handling.

  • 99.99%+ uptime

    Proven reliability to keep your integrations running smoothly.

  • 24/7 internal response team

    Our engineers are on standby 24/7 to respond to service disruptions.

  • Low-latency response times

    Fast, reliable API performance at all times, even under load.

  • Full API access & integrations

    Connect easily with your existing tech stack.

  • Full UK coverage

    Auto-fill UK bank and branch details from just a sort code and account number.

  • Dedicated onboarding specialist

    Personalised setup and best-practice guidance.

  • Migration assistance included

    Smooth transition from legacy systems or providers.

  • Free multi-channel support

    Get help via chat, email or phone - at no extra cost.

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Highly rated by customers

Award-winning with top performance, easy admin and great support

Businesses rate Postcoder 4.7 stars out of 5 on the world's most trusted software marketplace.

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  • "Having a more simplified checkout page with the help of Postcoder has had two major benefits to our business. Faster checkouts by customers who haven't had to type in their full address, a much simpler customer journey and a major reduction in data errors; where we saw a big drop in incorrect details entered."
    Alex Woods Digital Marketing Executive / Victorian Plumbing
  • "We picked Postcoder because the API is simple to use and it supports many countries which we want to scale out to."
    David Annez Head of Engineering / loveholidays
  • "The reason we like Postcoder is that the rooftop lat/long coordinates have proven to be far more accurate than any other service and Postcoder has hugely increased our successful delivery rates."
    Laura Bailey E-commerce Product Manager / Pasta Evangelists
  • "Postcoder offers a seamless integration with our services. It is very popular with our customers."
    James Gutterson Commercial Manager / Signicat
  • "Postcoder has been great; there has been a noticeable quality increase in our campaigns. In some the pickup rate went from 30% to 60-70% and our appointment ratings for a campaign went from a 15% average to 40% for one client!"
    Daniel Jones IT Technician / Lead Pronto
  • "Postcoder is a single API that provides all the features we need... Rather than integrate several APIs, we only had to integrate one."
    Carl Horn Head of Digital Servicing & Customer Transformation / Capquest
  • "Postcoder ensures that all the address data, the mobile number and the email addresses that our customers give us are correct. It really speeds up the process for our customers."
    Julie Taylor Operations Director / Barrhead Travel