Unified Software - BankVal financial web services

Sort Code Lookup

Important note.

All BankVal web services are available on both the main and backup servers at our primary data centre. This configuration is mirrored at our secondary data centre. The two data centres are geographically independent. Using this configuration, the BankVal web service has been available continuously since launch in 2003.

In general:

Call the service at the primary data centre at www.unifiedsoftware.co.uk
In the unlikely event of a failure, call the service at the secondary data centre at www.unifiedservices.co.uk

1 Sort Code Lookup - REST implementation

Use branchdets2 method:

The branchdets2 method retrieves detailed bank branch information for a given sort code using the latest

VocaLink Extended Industry Sorting Code Directory, EISCD.

To make sure you utilise our backup system, follow these three steps:-

1. Attempt to access the service on unifiedsoftware.co.uk
2. Check the http response code
3. If this is < 200 or > 399, access the backup service on unifiedservices.co.uk

URI for GetBranchDetails2

GET https://www.unifiedsoftware.co.uk/services/bankvaluk/branchdets2/userid/‹userid›/pin/‹pin›/sortcode/‹sortcode›/
‹format›/

where:

‹userid› and ‹pin› are your user ID and 5 digit PIN obtained upon registration at:
www.unifiedsoftware.co.uk/free-trial/free-trial-home.html
‹sortcode› > is the sort code of the bank branch to be queried
‹format› specifies the format of the returned data. Valid formats are csv, xml and json. (csv uses the "|" delimiter)

Results

If sort code is valid:-

First field - contains word VALID
Remaining fields - contain data from EISCD, see EISCD file spec

Example Valid Results

Sample valid response in xml format :-

‹branchdets›

‹result›VALID‹result›
‹sortcode›205942‹/sortcode›
‹bicbank›BARCGB21‹/bicbank›
‹bicbranch›08J‹/bicbranch›
etc...

‹/branchdets›

Sample valid response in json format :-

{"result":"VALID",
"sortcode":"205942",
"bicbank":"BARCGB21",
"bicbranch":"08J",
etc...
}

Sample valid response in csv format :-

|VALID|205942|BARCGB21|08J| etc... |

If sort code and account number are not valid or if an error occurs:-

First field - contains error message
xml, json - remaining fields are empty
csv - no other fields returned

Error messages :-

Error Messages

INVALID - Sortcode - The supplied sort code does not exist in the VocaLink Extended Industry Sorting Code Directory (EISCD).

INVALID - Account - The supplied account number is not in any of the recognisable formats, i.e. 7 - 10 numeric characters in length.

INVALID - Modulus Check Failed - The sort code/ account number combination did not pass the modulus checks specified by the owning bank.

INVALID - Result Format - Problem, with format field in URI.

ERROR - Invalid User ID/PIN - The User ID or PIN has not been recognised.

ERROR - UserID Expired - Trial user ID has expired.

ERROR - Insecure Connection - An attempt was made to access BankVal's bankvalplus2 method using insecure HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS.

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2 Sort Code Lookup - SOAP implementation

Use getbranchdtails2 method:

The getbranchdetails2 method retrieves detailed bank branch information for a given sort code using the latest

VocaLink Extended Industry Sorting Code Directory, EISCD.

Parameter Format for GetBranchDetails2

ReturnMessage = getbranchdetails2(QueryString)

where :

QueryString is a " | " delimited string of the format - "userid|PIN|sort code"

ReturnMessage is a " | " delimited string or an error message, as shown below.

ReturnMessage Meaning

Branch information - This is returned as a " | " delimited character string with a " | " terminating character. See the EISCD file specification for a detailed record layout of the returned branch information.