Sort code checker: the bank and branch behind any six-digit code

Sort code checker: verified on the bank's own page

Ordering is a printed rule, not a rating: banks with more verified identifiers first, then alphabetically. Nothing here is ranked by how good a bank is.

Download the Sort code checker dataset (CSV), free to reuse with citation.

Pages within Sort code checker

• UK Sort code checker 9 banks

What a sort code actually carries

The first two digits identify the clearing bank or group, and the remaining four narrow it to a branch or, in the case of the app-based banks, to a division that has no branches at all. That is why a sort code lookup can return an address for one code and nothing but a head office for another: the branch the code named may have closed, merged, or never existed as a building.

The sort code travels with the account number and is useless without it. Monzo's own explanation of an IBAN puts the sort code in its place plainly: "123456 – sort code: the next six numbers are your standard domestic sort code, which identifies the specific branch or division of your bank." The IBAN wraps the same two domestic numbers in a longer international format rather than replacing them.

There is no free, official, complete UK sort code directory. The reference file the banks themselves use, the Extended Industry Sort Code Directory, is a licensed product, so every site offering a complete lookup is either a licensee or is republishing one. This index does neither: it reads what each bank publishes on its own pages and says so.

Questions people ask

Can a sort code checker tell me whose account it is?

No. A sort code names a bank and a branch, never a person or a business. Nothing in the six digits identifies an account holder, and any site that claims otherwise is describing a different product.

Is it safe to give someone my sort code?

Your sort code and account number are what a payer needs to pay you, and they are printed on cheques and shown in banking apps for exactly that reason. They do not by themselves let anyone take money out. Treat a request for your online banking login or a one-time passcode completely differently.

Why does a checker show a different address from the one I expected?

Because branch records lag reality. Branches close and merge and the code is often kept alive for existing accounts, so the address a directory holds may be a head office, a former branch, or a processing centre rather than somewhere you can walk into.