Verifying bank accounts

Before money goes to a bank account, someone should confirm the account belongs to the recipient. Backed keeps that confirmation on each account: who verified it, when, and how.

This appears only when Payments is turned on for your organisation. Labels that name Contract and Applicant use your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

See whether an account is verified

A bank account on a contract's page, and on an applicant's record, shows one of two badges:

• Unverified: nobody has verified the account for the number it holds now.
• Verified, with "by", the person's name, the date and the method, such as "by Kim Nguyen on 2 Nov 2026 · Call-back".

The badge never shows the account number.

Verify an account

1. Open the contract, or the applicant's record, and find its bank account.
2. Select Verify beside the Unverified badge.
3. Under How did you verify it?, choose Bank letter, Call-back or Penny test. A method is required.
4. Add a Note if it helps, for example who you spoke to. Don't enter the account number.
5. Select Verify bank account. The badge changes to Verified.

The dialog shows only the account's last digits. On a contract, Verify is offered to someone who can review the contract's bank account changes; on an applicant's record, to someone who can review registrations. Either way, Verify appears only while the Contracts module is on for your organisation.

If the number changed after you opened the dialog, Backed says "The bank account number changed after you opened this. Close it, check the new number, then verify it again." Verify bank account stays unavailable in that dialog: close it, check the new number, and open Verify again.

When an account number changes

A verification holds for the number it was made for. When the account number changes, the account goes back to Unverified and needs to be verified again. Each verification, and each reset, is recorded in the audit log.

Confirm accounts when you approve a batch

When a payment batch makes a first payment to an account that isn't verified for its current number, the batch's Submit step shows Bank accounts to confirm. It lists each recipient, whose account it is (the contract's or the applicant profile's) and its last digits.

1. Under How did you verify them?, choose the method.
2. Add a Note if it helps.
3. Tick "I have verified these bank accounts".
4. Select Approve Payment Batch.

Approve Payment Batch waits until you've chosen a method and ticked the box. When no account needs confirming, the step doesn't appear. See Reviewing and approving a payment batch.

An account changed after approval

If an account number changes after its batch was approved, the payment is left out of the bank file with the reason "account changed since approval – verify before paying". Verify the new number, then make the bank file again. See Exports and bank files.

See also

• Reviewing and approving a payment batch
• Exports and bank files
• Payments