Why a change of bank details letter needs care
Telling customers about a new bank account sounds routine, but it is exactly the message fraudsters fake. In invoice redirection fraud (also called mandate fraud) a criminal poses as a supplier and asks customers to send future payments to a “new” account. Because the request looks ordinary, it often works — and once a bank transfer has gone, it can be very hard to get back.
That puts honest businesses in an awkward spot. Your genuine notice looks just like a fraudster's. The answer is not to make your letter look more official — letterheads and logos are easy to copy — but to give customers a way to check it that a fraudster can't control.
What this template includes
- Your new bank name, account name, sort code and account number, set out clearly so they are easy to key in.
- The date the change takes effect, and (optionally) the old account it replaces, identified only by bank name and last four digits.
- A request to confirm the change by phoning a number the customer already holds for you, not one taken from the letter.
- A clear statement that you will never change bank details by email alone, so customers know to distrust any email that says otherwise.
- A prompt to check before paying, including the Confirmation of Payee result their bank shows when they set up the new payee.
- If you are listed on Paylist, a line telling customers they can confirm the details by looking up your Paylist number.
How to send it
Send the letter by post or attach it to an email, and use the email version for a shorter notice. Either way, give customers plenty of notice — two to four weeks before the old account closes is sensible — and keep the old account open for a while so late payments are not lost.
Make sure the account name in the letter matches the name your bank holds exactly. Most UK banks now run a Confirmation of Payee check when someone sets up a new payee; a mismatch will show customers a warning and may, rightly, make them hesitate.
Expect careful customers to call you. That is the system working. Brief whoever answers the phone so they can confirm the new details quickly, and thank the customer for checking.
Things a genuine notice should never do
- Pressure the customer to pay the new account urgently or before they have had a chance to check.
- Ask them to keep the change confidential or not to call.
- Give a new phone number and ask them to use only that one to confirm.
- Arrive from an email address or domain you don't normally use.
If your own letter avoids all of these, customers have a simple rule: anything that does them is not from you.
A letter is still a document that can be forged
However well it is written, a letter or email can be copied, altered and sent by someone else. The safest change of bank details is one customers can look up for themselves from a source you control. That is what Paylist is for: you list your verified bank details once, share your Paylist number, and customers check the current details in the directory before they pay — rather than trusting whatever arrived in their inbox.
