Moving money and paying bills

Standing orders

A standing order is an instruction to make payments from your account, usually on a regular basis, to a specified UK bank or building society. Examples of use include fixed monthly payments and annual club membership fees. If the payment amount or payment date changes, you'll need to update your standing order.

To set up a standing order

To set up a new standing order, from the my accounts page select 'Make a payment' next to the relevant account. Next to 'Looking to make a regular payment?' select 'Set up a standing order' and follow the on-screen instructions.

Standing orders can only be made to sterling accounts. To make a payment to a non-sterling account please refer to the International Payment Services section.

Last payment date

You can specify the date of the last payment you want to make for your standing order.

Select the ‘Further notice’ option if you do not know the last payment date, or want the standing order to continue indefinitely. You can always delete the standing order at a later date if you wish.

Standing order payments

Payments are only sent on working days and the money won't leave your account until we make the payment. If the standing order is due to leave your account on a weekend or bank holiday, your account will be debited on the next available bank working day when the payment is sent.

Where possible we will send standing orders from your Halifax or Bank of Scotland bank account through the Faster Payments Service. As a result, payments may arrive in the receiving account on the same day they leave your account. You don't need to do anything to send your standing orders faster; we do this automatically.

Please ensure you have sufficient funds in your account the day before any payments are due.

To view an existing standing order

To view an existing standing order select your account from the 'My accounts' page. Then select the 'Direct debits & standing orders' tab. This page displays your existing standing orders.

To amend or delete a standing order

To amend or delete an existing standing order, select your account from the 'My accounts' page. Select the Direct debits & standing orders' tab and then select the 'Amend' or 'delete' links next to the standing order you require amending or deleting.

Please ensure you make any amendments or deletions at least 1 working day before the payment is due so the changes have time to take effect.

Our demo shows you how to set up, view, amend and delete a standing order.

Direct Debits

A Direct Debit is an instruction authorising another organisation to collect varying amounts of money from your account. The amount being debited to your account and the payment date may be changed by the collecting organisation, but they should inform you in advance. Examples of use include monthly mortgage payments and payment of utility bills.

To set up a Direct Debit

As a Direct Debit is set up to collect money from your account by another organisation, the setting up of the Direct Debit will be done by them through their bank / building society, using the account details you would have supplied them at the time you purchased the goods or services.

To view a Direct Debit

To view an existing Direct Debit select your account from the 'My accounts' page. Then select the 'Direct debits & standing orders' tab. This page displays your existing Direct Debits.

You cannot amend / change a Direct Debit. If you want to change anything, such as the payment date, you'll need to contact the company you dealt with to set up the Direct Debit originally.

To delete / cancel a Direct Debit

To cancel an existing Direct Debit select your account from the 'My accounts' page. Select the 'Direct debits & standing orders' tab then select the 'Cancel' link next to the Direct Debit you require cancelling. At the confirmation screen you will be asked to enter your password to confirm your changes. Once you have entered your password select the 'Confirm' button.

You should always inform the organisation receiving the payments if you cancel a Direct Debit before final payment has been made.

Our demo shows you how to view and delete a Direct Debit.

Faster payments

More information on Faster Payments.

Bill Payments

Paying bills online, such as your electricity, gas or phone bill is easy and convenient.

You can also use this facility to transfer money to another person or organisation.

To set up a bill payment

To set up a new bill payment select 'Make a payment' from the 'My accounts' page next to your account. Select the 'A new recipient' link and select the 'Pay a bill' tab.

You’ll be asked for the details of the receiving organisation. You can search for these details by using the company name search facility or by entering the sort code and account number which should be shown on the bill.

If you cannot find the organisation through the search facility and you do not have the bank account details, contact the organisation who sent you the bill directly and ask for them.

Payments can only be scheduled for working days and the money won't leave your account until we make the payment. When making a bill payment, your balance will not reduce immediately and your account will be debited on the next available working day. You should allow up to 3 working days after the money leaves your account for a payment to reach the recipient.

Where possible we will send bill payments from your Halifax or Bank of Scotland bank account through the Faster Payments Service. As a result, payments may arrive in the receiving account on the same day they leave your account. You don't need to do anything to send your bill payments faster; we do this automatically.

Please ensure you have sufficient funds in your account the day before any payments are due.

Bill payments can only be made to sterling accounts. To make a payment to a non-sterling account please refer to the International Payment Services section.

Recipient – This is the name of the company or person to whom the bill or transfer is payable, for example 'nPower', 'BT' or 'John Smith', and will help you identify the purpose of the bill payment in future.

Reference – This is additional information that will help you and the recipient identify what the payment is for. For example this could be a unique customer reference shown on a bill, credit card account number or an invoice number.

Referred for authorisation – To help prevent our customers from online fraud, in certain situations, we may further investigate a request to pay a bill / transfer funds from your account. We will take steps to ensure this is a genuine request before allowing the payment.

To pay a bill already set up

To pay a bill already set up select 'Make a payment' from the 'My accounts' page next to your account. Under the heading 'Or, an existing recipient' select the recipient from the drop-down menu. Enter the amount and payment date, followed by the 'Continue' button. At the confirmation screen you will be asked to enter your password to confirm your changes. Once you have entered your password and checked your payment details select the 'Confirm' button.

Payments can only be scheduled for working days and the money won't leave your account until we make the payment. You should allow up to 3 working days after the money leaves your account for a payment to reach the recipient.

Where possible we will send bill payments from your Halifax or Bank of Scotland bank account through the Faster Payments Service. As a result, payments may arrive in the receiving account on the same day they leave your account. You don't need to do anything to send your bill payments faster; we do this automatically.

To amend / delete a bill payment

To amend or delete an existing bill payment select your account from the 'My accounts' page. Select the 'Payments' tab and then select the 'Amend' or 'delete' links next to the bill payments you require amending or deleting.

Please ensure you make any amendments or deletions at least 1 working day before the payment is due so the changes have time to take effect.

Our demo shows you how to set up, view, pay and delete bill payments.

How we process payments

A reminder about payment of Standing Orders/Direct Debits/Cheques/Future Dated Payments

We make payments from your account shortly after midnight at the start of the due date. If your payment date falls on a non-working day, then we will try to collect your payment the next working day.

If you don’t have enough funds in your account at this point to make a payment, we will try to make a payment again after 2.30pm the same day. This gives you the chance to put extra funds into your account so that we can make the payment. The money needs to be available to use straight away, so you could transfer money from another personal account you have with us via Internet, Mobile or Telephone Banking or pay in cash over the counter in branch.

If you do not have enough funds at the beginning of a day to make a payment:

• You have until 2.30pm to pay money into your account to make the payment that day.
  
• If a payment takes you overdrawn, you have until midnight to pay money into your account to avoid a daily overdraft fee for that day.

For Standing Orders and Future Dated Payments only

If there are still not enough available funds, we will make a final try on the next working day before rejecting the payment. Details of our fees and charges can be found in the Banking Charges guide.

Transfer money between accounts

To transfer money between accounts you hold with us select 'Make a transfer' from the 'My accounts' page next to your account. Under the heading 'to' select your account from the drop-down menu. Enter the amount you require transferring, followed by the 'Continue' button. At the confirmation screen you will be asked to confirm your transfer details. Once you have checked your transfer details select the 'Confirm' button.

Only accounts you've added to 'My accounts' will be shown in the dropdown lists. Our 'adding accounts' section shows you how to do this.

Our demo shows you how to transfer money between accounts.

To transfer money into the account of another person or organisation, for example to pay a one-off amount to a friend, follow the same process outlined in the 'To set up a bill payment' section.

Sending money outside the UK or in a foreign currency

You can set up payments from the online service to send funds overseas electronically.  See our payments section for more information.

Bank of Scotland Secure

Complete confidence and peace of mind when shopping online.
Find out more about Bank of Scotland Secure.