validateAccount
 
SOAP API > Validating Payments > Bank Account Numbers > United Kingdom Functions >
validateAccount: United Kingdom

Validate Account Number: United Kingdom

Country Name: United Kingdom
ISO Code: GB

Syntax:

validateAccount(string keycode, string field1,string field2,string field3,string field4,string countryId,string countrySpec)

1) Sort Code and Account number as separate variables:

 

 

 Field  Explanation  Format  Example 
 keycode  Your Validate keycode    
 field1  Sort Code 6n  

 123556
 12-34-56
 12:34:56
 etc

 field2  Account number   8-10n  12345678
 field3  Not Used    
 field4  Not Used    
 countryId  The ISO Country Code  2a  GB
 countrySpec  The number of the sub branch  1-2n  1

 

2) When you sort code and Account number as one variable the 14 digit UK electronic transmission format or Traditional representation can be used by

 

 

 Field  Explanation  Format  Example 
 keycode  Your Validate keycode    
 field1  Account Structure 14-16n  

 i) 12345612345678
 ii) 12-34-5612345678

 field2  Not Used
 field3  Not Used    
 field4  Not Used    
 countryId  The ISO Country Code  2a  GB
 countrySpec  The number of the sub branch  1-2n  1

 

 

Returned data

An object paccnum containing the following fields:

 Name

Type

 Description

 field1

String

 field 1 from the original request (or transposed version if applicable)

 field2

String

 field 2 from the original request (or transposed version if applicable)

 field3

String

 field 3 from the original request

 field4

String

 field 4 from the original request

 validity

String

 String ‘Valid’ if the account number is valid.

 String ‘Invalid’ if the account numbers not valid. 

bic

String

 The full Bank Identification Code (BIC) of the account holding branch - if available

 branchTitle

String

 The account holding branch title as defined by the bank

 institutionName

String

 The parent financial institution of the account holding branch

 city

String

 The city that the account holding branch is located

 address1

String

 Address line 1 of the account holding branch

 address2

String

 Address line 2 of the account holding branch

 address3

String

 Address line 3 of the account holding branch

 address4

String

 Address line 4 of the account holding branch

 postcode

String

 The postcode/zipcode of the account holding branch

 country

String

 The country that the account holding branch is located

 tel1

String

 Telephone number 1 of the account holding branch

 tel2

String

 Telephone number 2 of the account holding branch - often but not always the fax number

transposed

Bool

 Flag to show if the account number was transposed as part of the validation. If True the account number was transposed.  Field1 and Field2 will hold the transposed account details.

accountCode

String

Default is 0
For UK 10 Digit account number that have been transposed, this field holds the account code.

numSubBranch

String

The Number of sub-branches associated with a particular sort code.

subBranchSuffix

String

The index number of the current sub-branch

 errorCode

String

 If an error occurs during processing the error number will be here. See the error section for more details.

 errorText

String

 If an error occurs during processing the error textually description will be here. See the error section for more details.

 None Standard Account Numbers

Some electronic payment systems such as BACS and Faster Payments require an account number of exactly eight digits.  They are strict about this rule and will fail any payment using account numbers that are not the correct length.

Validate automatically fixes these, so called, none standard account numbers using a technique known as transposition. Therefore you should submit standard and non-standard account numbers to Validate but used the returned transposed account numbers (and in some cases sort codes) for submission to e-Payment systems.

The transposition process uses the following rules.

6 Digit Account Numbers
The account number is transposed into an 8 digit account number.
The Boolean field 'transposed' - returned in the paccnum object - is set True.
If the account number check returns valid, it is the transposed account number that should be used for e-Payment submissions.
The transposed account number is returned in the paccnum object in field2.

7 Digit Account Numbers
The account number is transposed into an 8 digit account number.
The Boolean field 'transposed' - returned in the paccnum object - is set True.
If the account number check returns valid, it is the transposed account number that should be used for e-Payment submissions.
The transposed account number is returned in the paccnum object in field2.

9 Digit Account Numbers
The account number is transposed into an 8 digit account number. The sort code may also be modified.
The Boolean field 'transposed' - returned in the paccnum object - is set True.
If the account number check returns valid, it is the transposed account number AND sort code that should be used for e-Payment submissions.
The transposed soft code is returned in the paccnum object in field1.
The transposed account number is returned in the paccnum object in field2.

10 Digit Account Numbers
The account number is transposed into an 8 digit account number.
The Boolean field 'transposed' - returned in the paccnum object - is set True.
If the account number check returns valid, it is the transposed account number that should be used for e-Payment submissions.
The transposed account number is returned in the paccnum object in field2.
The account code is returned in the accountCode field of paccnum object. e-Payment system usually require this number if using a 10 digit account number. 

 

Supported Versions

Validate Web Service Version 1.x

Errors

1501 Details could not be checked
1502 Failed Modulus Check
1503 Foreign currency account
1504 An undetermined error prevented validation
1505 Incorrect number of digits, should be n for cc account number
1506 The account details cannot be checked. [because ….]
1507 Input error. The supplied details are not in the correct format
1508 The supplied sort code could not be found

 

Example Code

c#
The following sample show how to use the validateAccount function using c#.
As with all examples, please see the section Adding a reference to the Validate Web Service .

 c# Example 1

validate.validate wsObject = new validate.validate();
validate.paccnum acObject = wsObject.validateAccount("qwerty", "074456", "12345112", null, null, "GB");

 

c# Example 2

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
namespace ConsoleApplication1

{
   class Program
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         string keycode = "qwerty";
         string sortCode = "074456";
         string accountNumber = "12345112";
         string countryCode = "GB";
         string countrySpec = "";

         validate.validate wsObject = new validate.validate();
         validate.paccnum acObject = wsObject.validateAccount(keycode,sortCode,accountNumber,null,null,countryCode,countrySpec);

         Console.WriteLine(acObject.validity);
         Console.WriteLine(acObject.institutionName);
         Console.WriteLine(acObject.errorCode);
         Console.WriteLine(acObject.errorText);
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}


Visual Basic .net
The following sample show how to use the validateAccount function using Visual Basic.net.
As wilth all examaples, please see the section Adding a reference to the Validate Web Service .

 Visual Basic.net Example `

Dim wsobject As New validate.validate()
Dim anObject As validate.paccnum
anObject = wsobject.validateAccount("qwerty", "074456", "12345112", "", "", "GB")


  Visual Basic.net Example 2

Module Module1

   Sub Main()

      ' define the keycode, sortcode, account number and country Id to validate, both as strings.

      Dim keycode As String = "qwerty"
      Dim sortCode As String = "074456"
      Dim accountNumber As String = "12345112"
      Dim countryCode As String = "GB"
      Dim countrySpec As String = ""

      ' Create a web service object
      Dim wsobject As New validate.validate()

      ' create a account number object for the returning data
      Dim anObject As validate.paccnum

      ' Call the web service function - validateBic
      anObject = wsobject.validateAccount(keycode, sortCode, accountNumber, "", "", countryCode,countrySpec)

      ' display the validity and institution name - or error message
      Console.WriteLine(anObject.validity)
      Console.WriteLine(anObject.institutionName)
      Console.WriteLine(anObject.errorCode)
      Console.WriteLine(anObject.errorText)
      Console.ReadLine()

   End Sub

End Module

 

Java
The following sample show how to use the validateAccount function using Java.

Java Example 1

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        validate.Validate service = new validate.Validate();
        validate.ValidateSoap port = service.getValidateSoap12();

        java.lang.String keyCode = "qwerty" ;
        java.lang.String accver1 = "074456" ;
        java.lang.String accver2 = "12345112" ;
        java.lang.String country = "GB" ;

        validate.paccnum result = port.validateAccount(keyCode, accver1, accver2, "", "", country, "");
        System.out.println( "Result = " +result.getValidity());
        System.out.println( "Institution = " +result.getInstitutionName());
        System.out.println( "Error Code = " +result.getErrorCode());
        System.out.println( "Error Message = " +result.getErrorText());

    }
}

 

XML Messages

Below is a typical XML message request

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:tns="http://vtest.bemac.com/">
  <soap:Body>
    <tns:validateAccount>
      <tns:keyCode>qwerty</tns:keyCode>
      <tns:accver1>074456</tns:accver1>
      <tns:accver2>12345112</tns:accver2>
      <tns:accver3/>
      <tns:accver4/>
      <tns:country>GB</tns:country>
      <tns:countryspec/>
    </tns:validateAccount>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

 

Below is a typical XML message response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
    <validateAccountResponse xmlns="http://vtest.bemac.com/">
      <validateAccountResult>
        <validity>Valid</validity>
        <bic />
        <branchTitle>FlexAccount (NGC) </branchTitle>
        <institutionName>NATIONWIDE BLDG SCTY</institutionName>
        <address1>P.O. Box 8888 </address1>
        <address2>Nationwide Hse </address2>
        <address3>Pipers Way </address3>
        <address4>Swindon L </address4>
        <postcode>SN38 1NW</postcode>
        <country>Wilts. </country>
        <tel1>08457 302010 </tel1>
        <tel2>
        </tel2>
        <printIndicator>0 </printIndicator>
        <numSubBranch>1</numSubBranch>
        <errorCode />
        <errorText />
      </validateAccountResult>
    </validateAccountResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

 URL Encoding

Below is an example of using validateAccount via a URL encoded GET request

serviceUrl.asmx/accountnum2.aspx?keycode=qwerty&field1=074456&field2=1234511212&countryId=GB

 

 


 

 

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