A question people rarely ask until it is too late: what actually happens if you send money to a sort code that does not exist, or exists but is no longer in service. The answer is reassuring in one way and annoying in another, and knowing it helps you judge how worried to be while a payment that has not arrived sits somewhere you cannot see.
A code not in service
If the sort code is not recognised by the clearing system, most banks will refuse the payment at entry and tell you the details are invalid. That is the good case: nothing leaves and you go back to the source. Where a code was in service and has been withdrawn, the payment may leave and then be returned by the institution that used to hold it. A return of this kind is normal and usually takes a few working days, during which the money is out of your account and not in theirs.
A code in service but the wrong one
This is the bad case. The payment routes correctly to an institution that has no account matching the account number, and is returned, or worse, reaches an account that does exist and belongs to somebody else. The first costs days. The second is a misdirected payment and needs to be reported to your bank at once, because the process for recovering one depends heavily on speed and on the receiving bank being able to act before the money moves again.
What the name check prevents
Almost all of this. Adding a payee in your own banking app triggers a check with the receiving institution on whether the name you typed matches the account behind the sort code and account number. A wrong sort code that lands on an unrelated institution will fail it. The check exists because misdirection and fraud were expensive enough to justify building an overlay across the whole payment system, and it works best when payers read the answer.
Confirming a code you were given
Ask the payee which bank the account is with and check the details against what that bank publishes for its own customers. Enter the sort code and account number together from one source. Read the name check result. If the code was sent to you in a message that replaced details you already had, telephone the payee on a number you held before that message. None of these steps requires a directory lookup, and together they remove nearly all of the risk.
Questions people ask about sort code 608407
What happens if I send money to a sort code that does not exist?
Most banks refuse it at entry as invalid details. A withdrawn code may accept the payment and return it after a few working days.
How long does a returned payment take to come back?
Commonly a few working days. The money is out of your account and not in the payee's for that period, which is why a return is worth avoiding rather than shrugging at.
What if the money reached somebody else's account?
Report it to your bank immediately. Recovery depends on speed and on the receiving bank being able to act before the funds move on.
How do I stop this happening?
Enter both fields from one source, use the name check when you add the payee, and confirm any changed details by telephone on an old number.