# Do I need to do anything for SEPA for ordinary banking within Ireland?



## Brendan Burgess (20 Dec 2013)

I went to make a payment just now through AIB online and they asked for the IBAN and BIC instead of the sort code and account number. There is a handy converter which inserts the IBAN and BIC for you. 

For ordinary payments and receipts within Irealnd, do I need to do anything? 

Will direct debits and standing orders be converted autotmatically by AIB or do I need to set them up again? 

I get a pension payment every month.  They haven't asked me for any information, so I presume that they too will convert the payee information automatically? 

I suppose that the main thing is to check that receipts I am expecting actually do come into my bank account. 

When people are sending me money, I should send them my IBAN and BIC which are on my bank account statement. 

When making payments, as the numbers are much longer, there will be more transcription errors. So maybe be generally more careful when paying online, or send a test payment of €1 first? 

Brendan


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## jaykayphd (20 Dec 2013)

I have some Ulster bank accounts and had a DD from BOI into one.  The UB accounts were not SEPA compliant and I got letters informing me of new numbers.  BOI also wrote to me telling me about this and that if I did not alter these accounts in my DD/Standing order list they would be deleted from the list...which they were!
The remaining list of accounts that were compliant were automatically updated.


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## MrEarl (21 Dec 2013)

I think Danske Bank have kindly made all of the changes automatically in respect of various third party payees I have set up on my online banking, so I don't have to do anything to keep paying them (eh, except find a new bank in the coming months sadly !).


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## murphaph (21 Dec 2013)

Any bank that opts to delete existing payees instead of automatically converting them to BIC AND IBAN is an amateur set up. Totally unprofessional carry on.


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## gipimann (21 Dec 2013)

The bank can't create a BIC and IBAN for a destination that won't be SEPA reachable.


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## RichInSpirit (22 Dec 2013)

I went to make a payment from my BOI 365 to another domestic bank and the bic and iban had already been set up. 
I hope the money went the right route and it was a substantial amount, for me anyway 
It went somewhere at any rate.


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## Brendan Burgess (22 Dec 2013)

RichInSpirit said:


> I hope the money went the right route and it was a substantial amount, for me anyway



I was wondering about that. Would it be worth sending a trial €1 first to make sure it works?

Brendan


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## Boyd (22 Dec 2013)

Definitely...I always do that when setting up new payees


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## Lightning (22 Dec 2013)

Brendan Burgess said:


> For ordinary payments and receipts within Irealnd, do I need to do anything?



For existing mandates, you do not need to do anything. 

For new mandates, you need to give the party your IBAN and BIC. 



Brendan Burgess said:


> Will direct debits and standing orders be converted autotmatically by AIB or do I need to set them up again?



Converted automatically. 



Brendan Burgess said:


> I get a pension payment every month.  They haven't asked me for any information, so I presume that they too will convert the payee information automatically?



Converted automatically. 



Brendan Burgess said:


> I suppose that the main thing is to check that receipts I am expecting actually do come into my bank account.



Should not need to do anything extra here other than ensuring that new parties paying money to you have your IBAN and BIC. 



Brendan Burgess said:


> When people are sending me money, I should send them my IBAN and BIC which are on my bank account statement.



Yes. 



Brendan Burgess said:


> When making payments, as the numbers are much longer, there will be more transcription errors. So maybe be generally more careful when paying online, or send a test payment of €1 first?



The golden rule is to copy and paste the IBAN and BIC as much as possible. Don't free type.


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## BazzaDP (27 Dec 2013)

Brendan Burgess said:


> When making payments, as the numbers are much longer, there will be more transcription errors. So maybe be generally more careful when paying online, or send a test payment of €1 first?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good advice but, on the plus side, an IBAN has two check digits which should pick up most errors and prevent money being sent to a random real account by mistyping one number wrong - as happens now.

In fact if they want to, banking apps and websites are able to tell you as soon as you type if the IBAN is valid before you even submit it which should give you some confidence.

Of course it's not perfect and getting a few digits wrong could still result in an incorrect "valid" IBAN, but still should help a lot.


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## Farfrae (9 Jan 2014)

BazzaDP, the current account number format of branch sort code and account number contain a check digits as well to prevent money being sent to a random real account.


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## DMTW (9 Jan 2014)

I just closed my Ulster bank account today. have had no end of hassle with them so the sepa thing was last straw. the DDS were deleted from bank of Ireland list but no other payments were problematic. Have been using sepa abroad for last 18months and find it brilliant.  much easier to make payments


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## BazzaDP (9 Jan 2014)

Farfrae, are you sure? Some banks might do this but not all. In IBAN it's mandatory.


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## Eithneangela (10 Jan 2014)

DMTW - can you be more specific about problems you encountered with Ulster Bank and Sepa, please? We have numerous vital transactions flowing through UB to and from other financial institutions and assumed that the major banks would all do the conversion hassle-free!


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## DMTW (10 Jan 2014)

Eithne, I think it was because my ulster bank accounts were originally with first active that there was a problem with SEPA.  To be fair they did ring me but I couldnt remember my identity word online as I don't use them much and they couldnt tell me what the problem was.

I would have missed a loan payment only for the fact I had an extra month in the service account.  Decided enough was enough yesterday and shut the whole lot down.


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## BazzaDP (11 Jan 2014)

Your IBAN contains your national sort code and account number. For some branches, usually where branches have merged, there are two sort codes for that branch. For example a lot of Ulster Bank branches have an Ulster Bank sort code and also the old First Trust sort code.

Until now you have been able to continue to use either. However it appears a clean up has gone on so only the Ulster Bank sort codes and accounts have been converted to an IBAN.

If you have an old First Trust account then you still have a SEPA account - it's just when you look at your IBAN you'll notice it doesn't contain your sort code and account number but contains the Ulster Bank sort code and a new account number. I'm curious if this sort code/account number would allow you to access your account the old way - ie. have you always had two sort codes and account codes (even if you didn't realise it) and up until now could you use either to access the same account or did you have to use the old First Trust numbers prior to SEPA? Dunno.

Anyway this complicates things because, if someone is doing a quick conversion, using the format of what an IVAN is supposed to be, then they might come up with the IBAN including your First Trust sort code and account code. This will look like a valid IBAN in terms of check digits working out and the like, but won't work and any payment or DD collection will be rejected. For DD collections it's up to the collector to get this conversion right and you shouldn't be out if pocket just because they couldn't convert properly, but they might (incorrectly) treat any failed collections as fault of the customer suddenly leaving you to sort out their screw up.

This doesn't just affect Ulster Bank btw. A few other banks and credit unions are in the same situation. But these First Trust accounts definitely caused us a lot if hassle when doing the conversion at my job.

It's probably worthwhile checking your IBAN (either on your bank statement or by using this website: https://ipsosepaservice.sentenial.com/ipso/oneShotIRL) to see if you are one of the people who don't have a straight forward IBAN which contains your sort code and account number. If you are one of those, then you may run into problems during this handover phase. Probably worth your while double checking any payments, DDs...etc. and keeping a close eye in your bank account for the next few months.

Hope all that makes sense.


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## murphaph (11 Jan 2014)

You mean First Active, right?


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## BazzaDP (11 Jan 2014)

Yes. Showing my Northern Irish roots ;-)


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## masterboy123 (11 Jan 2014)

I transfered money from AIB to BOI and yes they asked me the same to enter IBAN and BIC, there was a converter in the same window, it took 1 business day only for the money to be transferred...


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## BazzaDP (9 Feb 2014)

Posted some more info on problems here for those interested:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=185245#post1372943


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## jdwex (10 Feb 2014)

EBS normally take for mortgages on the 7th of the month. Not taken for me and a colleague (B of I and AIB).


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## jdwex (10 Feb 2014)

Oh, the 11th
[broken link removed]


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