In this Spring edition of Postcode News, we review some of the causes that lead to electronic payment failures and the huge cost that a simple mistake can have to both individuals and businesses. Read how AFD’s Confirmation of Payee solutions help ensure compliance and get payments transferred to the intended bank account.
Your address data has untapped potential, are you making the most of it?
AFD’s latest dataset, “Property Attributes”, unlocks detailed analysis of not only the physical nature of a property, but also aspects of property ownership, information about the people who live there, and specific insurance data. Discover how this new dataset can help your organisation make smarter decisions and uncover new opportunities.
This year UK organisations will put hundreds of millions of pounds into wrong accounts. Much of this money will be irretrievably lost. Also, organisations will fail to collect millions in Direct Debits. How can you protect against this very real risk? AFD Software has launched a fast, powerful and affordable service as a key defence against financial loss. The aim is to cut this tragic waste of money by dealing with the root causes.
That’s where Confirmation of Payee (CoP) helps. It’s a security check that ensures the account name, sort code, and account number all match the details held by the bank before a payment is made. If something doesn’t match, the sender is warned before making a costly error.
The new AFD Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service is a secure, real-time check that the bank sort code, account number and account name match those held by the payee bank record. Using this new service is a strong, effective mitigation against payments to suppliers, staff or clients being mis-directed. It is also an affordable fast way to check the bank details of user-completed Direct Debit forms. Errors are automatically detected enabling the user to correct them prior to form submission. This enables successful Direct Debit transfers.
A key driver to the introduction of CoP is that deceptions which trick internal staff have become more sophisticated and pervasive. Staff are deceived into altering bank sort code and account number details while cleverly not being asked to alter the payee name. Often, communications to the staff member appear absolutely legitimate, such as from a board Director. AFD CoP closes this scammer’s loophole by instantly checking that all three payment credentials—sort code, account number, and payee name—match the bank record before the transaction takes place. Another key risk is human error: one transposed figure can lead to money being transferred into an unknown account. Both are known as “misdirected funds.”
With new Direct Debit setup, many organisations ask consumers, donors, or businesses to enter their own account details into online forms or provide them over the telephone. Inevitably, this is prone to human error, with mistakes only coming to light after the Direct Debit instruction fails. Any mistake means the instruction cannot be set up and money cannot be received. Correction after the event is time-consuming, and sometimes even the best efforts to contact the payer simply don’t work.
There is a legitimate anxiety among those responsible for payments about the risk of misdirected payments, whether due to error or fraud. The reality is that a substantial portion of misdirected funds are uninsured and can never be recovered—or, at best, would be recovered at a substantial cost, both human and financial. Often, the time of the most senior staff or external experts would be required. The AFD CoP service is a significant risk mitigation—a simple, cost-effective process.
There are two common misconceptions. First, that banks will refund fraud and misdirection losses. This only applies to consumers, micro-businesses, and small charities—not to any other organisation. The second misconception is that banks will carry out a check before transferring funds. This belief is reinforced because manual payments set up directly with a bank ARE checked, but that’s where it stops.
While CoP is mandated for all firms in the finance sector, beyond this, the responsibility to check details does not lie with the banks. For example, banks have no obligation to carry out CoP checks for batch payments uploaded by their commercial customers—the onus and risk remain with the organisation.
Our trained team is ready to answer your questions and help you decide if the AFD Confirmation of Payee service is for you.
Get in touch today to discuss your specific requirements with The Postcode People on 0333 433 0711 or email postcode@afd.co.uk.
Many organisations rely on address data for onboarding and deliveries, but what if the customer address data you already have could do more? AFD’s new Property Attributes dataset transforms a delivery location into actionable insights about the building, the customers who live there, and specific insurance data. Now available in AFD’s Address Lookup and Database Cleansing solutions, the dataset includes:
Harnessing AFD’s detailed Property Attributes data unlocks valuable benefits to a range of sectors. Insurers can analyse the information about a property and its occupants to better understand risk and provide more tailored policies. Banks and lenders are fully equipped with more accurate property valuations and household information to precisely assess affordability and risk during mortgage applications.
Accurate property type data (Detached, Terraced, Flat) also helps logistics companies plan deliveries and services more effectively, reducing operational inefficiencies. Energy providers can assess fuel types and household size to optimise tariffs and predict energy demand, and estate agents can see and filter current estimated property values at a glance, allowing them to efficiently matchproperties with potential buyers.
Many of the datapoints in this dataset, including property status (e.g. “Under Offer”), insurance renewal months, or household composition are not static, and have the potential to change frequently and sometimes unpredictably.
AFD can supply regular updates and these are recommended for this dataset, to allow your organisation to access the most up to date information, equipping you to make the best possible decisions for your organisation, and provide the best possible service to your customers.
Discover how AFD’s solutions could unlock the full potential of your address data, and deliver powerful, actionable insights today by contacting The Postcode People on 0333 433 0711 or email postcode@afd.co.uk.
Relocating to the Isle of Man from the Wirral in 2016, Thomas joined the Postcode People at AFD in September 2019 straight out of Sixth Form, as an apprentice in the IT team. Over the next two years, he gained valuable experience by working across different departments, combining hands-on practical learning with formal qualifications under the guidance of AFD’s highly experienced team. As his apprenticeship neared completion, Thomas developed a more focussed interest in working with AFD’s Support team, which at the time managed the hosted environment used by the majority of AFD customers to access our solutions. From there, he transitioned into the newly formed DevOps team, where he continues to refine and enhance AFD’s infrastructure.
As a DevOps Technician, Thomas says his role within the wider Postcode People team is to “deliver value one nine at a time”, referring to the availability percentage (e.g. 99.99%) of AFD’s service. In other words, Thomas helps ensure that AFD’s hosted environment is continuously optimised for maximum responsiveness and resilience.
For Thomas, the best part of working at AFD is his freedom to innovate and constantly find new ways to apply his skills to improve system performance and deliver extra value. Outside of work, his fascination with “maximising efficiency” extends to personal projects to automate tasks as much as possible. One such automation invention is a device and process to preheat a toaster oven, though the challenge of actually getting food inside it remains a work in progress!
Favourite travel destination? Fernie, Kamloops in British Columbia, Canada, stands out for its stunning landscapes that helped make an unforgettable holiday.
Between January and March 2025 there were significant updates to data on PAF. These included 8 new localities; 6,451 new postcodes; 96,106 new delivery points and 20,735 delivery point changes.
The most up-to-date PAF data is available now in our latest Q.2/25 update. You can order updates for any AFD software solution by calling 0333 433 0711 or emailing postcode@afd.co.uk.
We serve thousands of organisations and a network of hundreds of partners across multiple industry sectors, enabling them to have full confidence in their contact data.