Payments and transfers


Criminals impersonate bank staff to steal from you

Criminals contact customers and pretend to be from Santander’s fraud or security team. They say there’s been fraudulent activity on your account to trick you into giving them your money. 

If you’re contacted by anyone and told to move your money to keep it safe, stop. This is always a scam.

You can visit our latest fraud updates page to learn more about impersonation fraud or our spotting fraud and scams page to learn more about how to keep yourself safe. 
 

Make payments, transfer money and pay your bills with ease

You can make single payments in Mobile and Online Banking of up to £25,000 from your current account for free. The maximum amount you can make in payments in 24 hours is £100,000.

You can change your payment limit to any amount between £0.01 and £25000 to suit your needs. Take a look at our step-by-step manage payment limits guide on how to do this in Mobile Banking.

Or to change your payment limits in Online Banking, you’ll need to: 

  • log on to Online Banking
  • go to ‘Payments and transfers’
  • choose ‘Manage payment limit’.

Payments usually arrive at the destination as soon as they leave your account, but sometimes they can take up until the end of the next working day.

Make a large payment

If you want to send payments over £100,000, you can do so with a CHAPS payment

Limits on high-risk payments

If we notice that the sort code you want to send a payment to is high-risk, we may limit how much you can send. This is so we can help protect you against fraud and scams. 

If we do spot a high-risk sort code, you’ll be restricted to:

  • a £300 limit per transaction
  • a total limit of £1000 in any rolling 30-day period

International payments

You can safely make international payments in Online Banking. Please visit international payments page to find out more.

Tell us who you’re paying 

You’ll first need to tell us if you’re paying a new person, business, or changing the account details for an existing payee. We’ll then show you the name of the payee’s bank and ask you to choose a reason for the payment.

You’ll then see one of the 5 outcomes listed below so you can check that the details are correct before sending a payment. 

  • The name and account type match. You can continue making your payment. 
  • The details partially match. We’ll show you the actual name or account type so you can update the details.
  • The name doesn’t match. We’ll ask you to contact the person or organisation you’re trying to pay.
  • The reference isn’t correct. We’ll ask you to check the reference details before continuing.
  • We can’t check the account. We might not be able to get your money back if you send a payment to the wrong account. 

Always check with the person or company before setting up for changing existing payment details. 

Add your payment reference

This helps the person you’re paying know the money is from you. For example, if you’re paying a credit card bill, the company will ask you to quote a specific reference, which is usually the long card number on your statement. If you’re paying a friend or family, you decide the reference.

About these checks

We’ll check Faster Payments, standing orders, CHAPS, international transfers, credit cards, and BACS payments. These checks can help you avoid simple mistakes and also helps keep you safe from fraud. Find out more about spotting fraud and scams

If you’d prefer, you can opt-out of these checks when someone makes a payment to you so your name won’t be validated. To discuss opting out or to understand the implications, please contact us

Looking to make regular payments instead? 

You can set up a standing order if you need to pay someone regularly.

When paying a new person, their name must be an exact match to the one that appears on their bank account statement, so always double-check with them first.

If you need to pay a joint account, you’ll only need to ask for the name of one of the joint account holders. This name will also need to be exactly as it appears on their account statement.

  1. Log on to your Mobile Banking app
  2. Tap ‘Pay’ at the bottom of the screen. 
  3. Choose the account you want to make the payment from. 
  4. Tap the ‘To’ box then the plus sign for Android or ‘Add a new payee’ for iOS. 
  5. Add the person’s details and reference. 
  6. Add the amount you’d like to send and when to make the payment. 

Need more help making a payment in our Mobile Banking app? Take a look at our step-by-step mobile banking demos that show you how to use the app.

If you’re already using Online Banking, download our mobile banking app for your phone or device. Then you can log on with the same details you use for Online Banking and you’re ready to go.

You can download our app on your smartphone or device from the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store. Just click on one of the logos below to get started. We don’t ever recommend downloading apps from other third-party sites.

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If you haven’t signed up for Online and Mobile Banking yet, you can get started today. 

Can’t log on to your account? Visit our trouble logging on page for help and tips.

 

Add a new payee in Online Banking 

  1. Log on to your Online Banking
  2. Go to the 'Payments and transfers' tab.
  3. Click 'Set up a new payment'.
  4. Choose the account you want to make the payment from and click 'Continue'.
  5. Add payee details. You'll need their account number, sort code, the account holder's name, reference and the type of account (personal or business).
  6. Add the amount, what the payment is for and when to make the payment.

The business or trading name must be exactly as it appears on an invoice or other payment instruction you have. Remember that some companies may have more than one trading name, so always double-check that you’ve got the correct one before sending any payments. 

Paying your credit card?

Please visit our credit card repayments page to find various tips, guidance and tools to help you. 

Add a new payee in Mobile Banking

  1. Log on to your Mobile Banking app
  2. Tap ‘Pay’ at the bottom of the screen and choose the account you want to make the payment from. 
  3. Tap the ‘To’ box. For iOS users tap ‘Add a new payee’ or tap the plus sign for Android. 
  4. Add the amount, a reference, and when to make the payment. 
  5. Tap ‘Continue’ and check the company’s details before you complete the payment. 

Add a new payee in Online Banking

  1. Log on to Online Banking
  2. Go to the ‘Payments and transfers’ tab at the top of the page.
  3. Click ‘Set up a new payment’.
  4. Choose the account to make the payment from and click ‘Continue’.
  5. Add payee details. You’ll need their account number, sort code, the account holder’s name, a reference and the type of account (personal or business).
  6. Add the amount, what the payment is for and when to make the payment.

Cryptocurrency payments

We’ve limited cryptocurrency payments. To help protect yourself from scams and fraud, before making any cryptocurrency payments, visit our cryptocurrency page.

You can make a payment to someone you’ve paid before quickly and safely using our Mobile Banking app or Online Banking. 

Mobile Banking app

  1. Log on to the app.
  2. Tap ‘Pay’ at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Choose the account you want to make the payment from.
  4. Tap the ‘To’ box and choose who to pay from the list of people you’ve paid before.
  5. Add the amount and when to pay and choose the ‘Payment purpose’.
  6. At this point, you can change the reference or continue to complete the payment. 

Online Banking

  1. Log on to your Online Banking
  2. Go to the 'Payments and transfers' tab.
  3. Click 'Pay existing payee'.
  4. Choose the account you want to make the payment from.
  5. Click on the payee you want to pay.
  6. Add the amount and when to make the payment.
  7. You'll be shown the details for your payment and can change your reference before you confirm the payment.

If you want to change the payment reference to an existing payee, it’ll be treated like a new payment. Make sure that the payee details are still correct, including their sort code and account number.

You can move your money to another Santander account you own in just a few easy steps. 

Mobile Banking app

  1. Log on to the app. 
  2. Tap ‘Transfer’ at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Choose the accounts you’d like to move money from and to. 
  4. Add the amount and when to make the transfer. 

Online Banking 

  1. Log on to Online Banking
  2. Go to the 'Payments and transfers' tab.
  3. Click 'Transfer between my accounts'.
  4. Choose the accounts to transfer money from and to.
  5. Add the amount and when to make the transfer.

A payment could be returned for several reasons. 

If it’s a new payment, it could be because:

  • the reference information on the payment is incorrect
  • the terms and conditions of the account don’t let you pay in what you’re trying to pay in.

For an older payment that’s been set up on your account for a while, it could be returned because: 

  • the sort code or account number wasn’t recognised
  • the account could be closed.

You can use our touch screen cash machines or visit us in branch to deposit cash and cheques. 

With our touch screen cash machines, you can do the following. 

  • For cash, you can deposit up to 50 notes at a time. (Up to £2,000).
  • For cheques, you can deposit up to 30 at a time. 

Please use our branch locator tool to find your nearest cash machine or branch. 

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