---
title: "Vendor bank account verification: 5 ways to check an account before you pay"
description: "How small finance teams verify a supplier's bank account: call-back to a known number, name-matching checks, account validation services, micro-deposits and bank letters, and what each one does and doesn't prove."
url: https://payeeguard.pages.dev/vendor-bank-account-verification
---

Supplier payments · checked 23 October 2026

# Vendor bank account verification

Before you pay a new supplier, or pay an existing one at new bank details, you want to know two things: that the account exists, and that it belongs to the supplier. Most checks prove only the first. Here's what each method tells you.

## The five methods

- **Call back on a number you already had.** Ring the supplier on a number from your records or their website, not from the email or invoice, and read the new details back to them. It's free, and it's the only check that beats a hacked supplier mailbox. [How to run the call](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/supplier-bank-details-change-verification).
- **Name-matching checks.** In the UK, [Confirmation of Payee](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/confirmation-of-payee-uk-business) tells you whether the name you entered matches the account. In the EU, [Verification of Payee](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/verification-of-payee-business) does the same for euro transfers. These prove the account holder's name, which is a strong check.
- **US account validation services.** There's no free US-wide name check yet. Some banks and payment platforms offer paid account validation, which confirms an account is open and sometimes the owner's name. Ask your bank what it offers. [Name checks in the US](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/confirmation-of-payee-us).
- **Micro-deposits.** You send two small amounts and the supplier tells you what arrived. That proves someone controls the account, not that it's the supplier. A fraudster can confirm micro-deposits too.
- **Bank letters and voided cheques.** Useful as supporting paperwork, but easy to fake with an image editor. Never accept one as the only proof, especially when it arrives with a change request.

## When to verify

- When you add a new supplier.
- Every time bank details change, however the request arrives.
- Before a first payment, or an unusually large one, to details not paid before.

## Keep a record

Write down who checked, how, the number called, who confirmed, and the date. It stops the same question being asked twice, and insurers often ask for it after a loss. [What insurers ask for](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/social-engineering-insurance-proof) · [free change form](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/bank-details-change-form).

The whole set of controls: [how to prevent invoice fraud](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/how-to-prevent-invoice-fraud).

[Check a suspicious email free](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/#check) [Set up call-backs and approvals](https://payeeguard.pages.dev/app#/signup)