How to check if particular bank account can receive Faster Payments? (United Kingdom)

How to check if the account you are sending a payment to can receive Faster Payments*?
- Well, actually for this you will need to check if the sort code associated with the account can receive Faster Payments.

More of us are using automated payments, whether that means making an internet payment via our online banking or using a Direct Debit to pay a regular bill. It is increasingly important that we are able to make automated payments smoothly and efficiently.
To help achieve this, the Payments Council has created a Sort Code Checker for the UK Payments website – which acts as a one-stop-shop for the payments industry.
The Sort Code Checker is an online resource that lets you check that the sort code you are sending a payment to can receive Faster Payments, Bacs Credits and CHAPS Payments, as well as confirm that you can set up a Direct Debit instruction on your account, and whether you can clear a cheque or pay a paper credit to that account through the cheque & credit clearing.

The Sort Code Checker uses the latest industry data, which is updated weekly, in line with industry practice.

Click here to access the Sort Code Checker

*Faster Payments

The Faster Payments Service allows customers to make faster electronic payments, typically by phone or online banking, to transfer money between accounts or pay bills, or make regular standing order payments.

When Faster Payments was launched in May 2008 it was the first new payments service to be introduced in the UK for more than 20 years.

Thirty five organisations are Participants of the scheme, and over 400 other financial institutions are able to offer the service, making Faster Payments available to more than 52 million current account holders in the UK.

Faster Payments celebrated its 10th birthday in 2018. During this time, over 9 billion payments had been sent using the service, worth a combined value of over £6 trillion! Virtually all internet and telephone banking payments in the UK are now processed through Faster Payments.

How to check MOT status and history of a vehicle? (United Kingdom)

You can check if an MOT certificate is legal or if a vehicle has failed an MOT test by doing an MOT check online. This will give you details about past tests.

Check the current MOT status of a vehicle

You can check the current MOT status of any vehicle online. This might be one that you own already or a second hand vehicle that you are thinking of buying.
The online MOT status check gives you information about:

• the date of the last test
• mileage on the vehicle at the time of the test
• the expiry date of the test

You can compare the online information against the paper certificate to make sure it’s genuine.

Click here to do MOT status check

Check the MOT history of a vehicle

To find out details of previous MOT tests on a vehicle you can do an online MOT history check.
You can only look up information online going back to 2005 when the MOT Scheme was computerised.
The MOT history check will give you the following information:

• full test details
• mileage at the time of each test

Click here to do MOT history check

You can find out more details about the topic from official government portal here.

How to check if a vehicle is insured? (United Kingdom)

Use following website: http://www.askmid.com/

http://www.askmid.com - the Motor Insurance Database (MID) is the only central record of all insured vehicles in the UK and is updated over 10,000 times an hour.

If your vehicle does not appear on the MID then it can be stopped and seized by the police. You can check if your vehicle is on the database of insured vehicles for FREE*. 

If you have been involved in an accident and need to check the other vehicle is insured, then you can search askMID for a small charge. You will need to have the accident date to hand. Once you have registered some details, you can search to confirm the insurance of the vehicle for your claim to be made with that insurer.

Please note, from personal experience, it does not appear to be that the database shows vehicles which have short term insurance policies (e.g. 24 hour insurance policy), particularly when these are used within 24 hours of their purchase.
* Free check was available on the time of publication, but there is currently a small charge for any car insurance check.