Address, Postcode and Bank solutions
Validate Tab
This tab is used to validate account numbers and debit/credit card numbers and to transcribe non-standard account numbers. It helps eliminate errors in capturing these numbers by checking the format and the checksums that are included in these numbers. You can configure Insert Settings for your application to Insert these details when [F2] if pressed. It can be selected by clicking the tab - or use the [Alt]+8 keyboard shortcut.
You can toggle between validating account and card numbers using the options across the top of this tab.
Enter the Sort Code, and then the Account Number and click Validate (or press [Enter]) to check if the number is valid. An additional 'Roll Number' field is present for Building Society credit accounts that may require one.
Text below the fields will indicate if the account number is valid:
| Text | Meaning |
| Account Number Valid | This means the Account Number has been correctly validated. Text will also appear to indicate if this account is held at a branch on the UK (BACS) clearing system, Irish (ISPO) clearing system, or both clearing systems. This helps you direct payment to the correct system if you are able to process both but have to treat them differently. Please note that if an account is held at a branch on both clearing systems this only indicates that the branch is a member of both systems and does not necessarily mean that the account can clear through either. The clearing system used should be checked with the account holder. |
| Invalid Sort Code | The Sort Code entered is not in a valid format (It should be in the format XXXXXX, XX-XX-XX, or XX XX XX where X is a digit) |
| Sort Code Not Recognised | The Sort Code does not exist in the BACS database - check it has been entered correctly. |
| Validation Not Available | No validation is available for this sort code, you should therefore check the number carefully and accept it. |
| Invalid Account Number | The Account Number is invalid |
| Invalid Roll Number | The Roll Number entered is invalid |
| Missing Roll Number Number | This account number belongs to a Building Society account also requiring a roll number and none has been entered. |
On leaving the Sort Code field the sort code will be looked up for you. You may like to check the expected Branch and Bank Name is displayed in the list to further verify the sort code. For more information about the branch that the account is held with and the types of processing it accepts, select the appropriate branch (if there is more than one on that sort code) and refer to the details shown on the Bank, Address, BACS, CHAPS and C&CCC tabs. If you need to post something directly to the branch, the Label Tab allows you to print a label for the address where correspondence for that branch should be sent.
On validating the sort code/account number non-standard account numbers will also be transcribed into the format required by BACS for processing and the Sort Code and Account Number fields will be updated to reflect any transcribing that has taken place. The Type Of Account Code field is usually set to zero, but for some account number translations will be a single digit value required for submission to BACS along with the translated account number.
Example fictitious (but not guaranteed not to exist) account numbers that pass validation:
774814 24782346
308475 37475850
600849 98237438
010090 2384939230
301539 374742Building Society Accounts
In most cases the Roll Number field can be ignored. However, some Building Society Accounts require an additional item of data along with the account number which is the customers Roll Number. This is entered in Field 10 of a BACS payment and such accounts can be used for credits only. BankFinder will inform you if a Roll Number is required and has not been entered. On validating such a Building Society account the Building Society Name will also be displayed as this sometimes differs from the bank such payments clear through. Note that not all Building Societies require Roll Numbers, for example most Nationwide accounts do not have nor require one.Important Considerations
Many customers use AFD BankFinder to validate bank address, account and sort code information - for example in relation to Standing Orders and Direct Debit mandates. It is very important that unless you have access to the Irish Payment Services Organisation for clearing your banking transactions, you DO NOT use BankFinder to validate against Irish data!To switch off Irish data from the AFD BankFinder main window, go to the File menu and select Properties. Then select the 'Data' Tab and select the 'UK Banks Only (BACS Clearing)' option.
Enter the Card Number, Expiry Date, and if required the Issue Number (although please note most cards do not have an issue number) and click Validate (or press [Enter]) to check if the number is valid. The card type will be displayed next to the card number and text to the right of the 'Validate' button will indicate the validity of the number:
| Text | Meaning |
| Card Number Valid | This means the Card Number has been correctly validated. Text to the right of this will indicate the card type. |
| Invalid Expiry Date | The expiry date is not in the expected format (MM/YY) |
| Card Expired | The expiry date has passed - check it has been entered correctly, or use another card |
| Invalid Card Number | The Card Number entered was invalid (incorrect length or checksum) - check it has been entered correctly |
| Unrecognised Card | The number is valid for a card but it could not be fully validated as it is not of any of the recognised types (listed below) |
| Visa card valid for use in ATM machines only | The number is a valid Visa number but the card is only valid for use in ATM machines and not for electronic processing. |
The recognised card types are:
- Mastercard
- Visa
- Visa Delta
- Visa UK Electron
- Visa Purchasing
- American Express
- UK Maestro (Formerly Switch)
- International Maestro
- Solo and Maestro (always combined)
- JCB
AFD BankFinder will also identify any VISA numbers entered that are valid for use with ATM machines only (and so not for electronic processing), and will inform you if the number is valid but the card type is not recognised.
Please note that the Issue Number cannot be validated. Expiry dates cannot be checked against the card number (new cards are normally issued with the same number but a new expiry date) but BankFinder checks that these are in range and that the card has not expired. You may omit the expiry date if you wish to validate the card number only.
Example fictitious (but not guaranteed not to exist) card numbers that pass validation:
6759600849982374380
5155744836273941
374837283647389
4903005748392742
You can enable BankFinder to include some fictitious bank account and card numbers. As these are known not to exist they can be useful for testing data.
To enable this you will need to open the afdbank.ini file in your windows folder (usually c:\windows or c:\winnt). You will then need to locate the '[General Settings]' section (usually near the top) and add the following line:
Test Numbers = 1
Then save the file and re-load BankFinder.
The following account number is fictitious (as is the sort code) and so this sort code can also be used for general testing:
999999 12345670
You will notice that the bank details indicate this is a testing sort code to avoid any confusion if it is accidentally entered. This result will not be included in any searches, but it can be located by looking it up in the Find field.
The following test account numbers can also be used. Each of these sort codes is also fictitious at this time and these are standard BACS supplied testing numbers. Details of these and the expected results are as follows:
Sort Code Account Number Valid? 089999 66374958 Yes 107999 88837491 Yes 202959 63748472 Yes 871427 46238510 Yes 872427 46238510 Yes 871427 09123496 Yes 871427 99123496 Yes 820000 73688637 Yes 827999 73988638 Yes 827101 28748352 Yes 118765 64371389 Yes 200915 41011166 Yes 938063 55065200 Yes 772798 99345694 Yes 309070 02355688 Yes 309070 12345668 Yes 309070 12345677 Yes 309070 99345694 Yes 938063 15764273 No 938063 15764264 No 938063 15763217 No 118765 64371388 No 203099 66831036 No 203099 58716970 No 089999 66374959 No 107999 88837493 No For Credit Card Testing fictitious numbers beginning 999 are used. There are no recognised cards starting with these digits and they fall outside the ranges of each of the supported card types. They would not normally be valid numbers and so are ideal for testing where you do not want to use real numbers. The following is a list of some valid numbers in this range:
Card Number Card Type 9990232904263964 Visa 9990134534564563 Visa Delta 9990262479823843 Visa UK Electron 9990300325327433 Visa Purchasing 9990733534758694 Visa **ATM Only** 9990837495834270 Mastercard 9990403475834972 UK Maestro (Formerly Switch) 9990647384637356 International Maestro 9990532749823745 Solo & Maestro 9990990325698231 JCB 999103240952394 American Express
You can drag text from the individual fields of the Validation tab and drop it into other Windows programs - like Microsoft Word.
Hold down one of the [Shift] keys (usually marked with a hollow arrow pointing upwards). Then click and hold down the left mouse button on the field you wish to move (drag) text from - the cursor will turn into a dragging icon. Now move to the program you wish to place the text in (keeping the mouse button down). Finally, release the mouse button to drop the text in the new field.
You can also drag text from other Windows programs - like Microsoft Word - and drop it onto any of the validation fields.
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