When you make a standard SEPA payment or a SEPA Instant payment, the VOP check will take place automatically and compare the name of your payee with the actual name on the recipient’s account. When the check is complete, your service provider will present you with one of four possible results which you will be asked to review before confirming your payment (the wording displayed may vary slightly from Payment Service Provider to Payment Service Provider).
- Match: If the account name and IBAN match, you will see a message on screen (or will be notified in your branch) confirming this and you may be reminded to check with the payee to ensure the request is genuine. You will be provided with an option to either proceed with or cancel the payment.
- No match: If the account name does not match the IBAN, you will get a message to advise that the payee name does not match. You will be provided with an option to either proceed with, amend or cancel the payment. You may have keyed a wrong IBAN, or you may have saved this payee name as ‘rent’ for example rather than the actual payee account name. We advise that you check the name and IBAN with the payee before continuing with the payment to ensure that the payment is genuine and to avoid paying into a wrong account.
- Close or partial match: If the account name is a close or partial match to the name on the account, but not exactly the same, you will be advised that the payee name does not match exactly. You will be provided with the correct name associated with the account and you will be provided with an option to either proceed with, amend or cancel the payment. You may have input a nickname, an abbreviation such as Ellie instead of Ellen or there may be a typo. We advise that you check the name with the payee via a channel you can trust, before amending and continuing with the payment.
- Service unavailable: If you receive a response saying the VOP service is unavailable or not possible, this may mean that your Credit Union or bank is unable to confirm the payee account name with the payee’s bank or payment service provider. This could be due to a technical error, or perhaps you are trying to verify an IBAN that is not in scope for VOP. We recommend that you verify the account details with your payee to ensure that the payment details are correct and that the request for payment is genuine before continuing. In some cases, due to a technical issue, you may have to retry later when the VOP service is available.
With VOP, you remain in control — you can choose to proceed, correct the name and retry, or cancel the payment request, regardless of the VOP check result.
Remember to be cautious when making any payment. It is extremely important to check the information that you are inputting with your payee to ensure the details are accurate. Only proceed with the payment if you are confident that the payee and payee account are legitimate, and that the request for payment is genuine. This is especially important where the VOP check alerts you that the payee details are not a match as the payment may be sent to someone other than the intended payee.
Whilst VOP adds an additional layer of security, unfortunately fraud and scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and fraudsters can be very skilled at gaining our trust.
Visit FraudSMART.ie for more information and tips on how to protect yourself from fraud and scams.