Santander Connect Help Centre

CHAPS payments are made from the Payments tab in Connect;

• Step 1.  Go to the ‘Payments’ tab and select ‘Make a Payment’ from the left-hand menu.  Select ‘CHAPS (UK same day)’ from within the Domestic payment section.
• Step 2.  Enter the Payment details (debit account, payment date, and payment amount and debit reference). 
• Step 3.  Enter the Beneficiary details (Beneficiary name, beneficiary account and credit reference). These details will be validated to ensure they conform to the CHAPS payment instruction format.  If you are advised of an error, you must verify the details with the beneficiary as errors will result in a delay to your payment or it may fail completely.  
• Step 4. Review and ensure the payment details are correct, then press ‘Make Payment’ at the bottom of the screen.
• Step 5. Check all details are correct and click ‘Confirm Payment’ at the bottom of the screen. 

Please note that this payment will not be processed until it is authorised (if required).
Please note Fields marked with * are mandatory.

If you do not wish to proceed with the payment, you can select ‘CANCEL’ payment or ‘SAVE PAYMENT’ as incomplete.

When the payment has been processed and released, it will appear immediately on your account statement. This payment has now been made and cannot be recalled.

A payment can be cancelled during the creation and/or authorisation stages by using the cancel buttons available. At the authorisation stage you will need to use your security device to to cancel the payment.

If the payment date is today the payment will need to be cancelled before the payment is fully authorised, once fully authorised we will begin processing the payment and the payment cannot be cancelled beyond this point.

Although it is highly unlikely that we will be able to stop this payment once authorised via Connect, please contact our Corporate Service Centre on 0800 085 2090 as the payment may still be held completing standard bank checks.
If the payment date is in the future, the payment can be cancelled at any time up until the actual payment date. 

Note: Once a payment has debited your account the funds may have already been issued to the beneficiary bank and we can never guarantee these funds can be completely recalled. In this case you should speak to your beneficiary directly about returning your funds.

Future dated payments are simply payments with a payment date set in the future e.g. tomorrow or in 2 weeks’ time. You can future date any payment - Single or Bulk Faster Payments, CHAPS payments, Inter Account Transfers or International payments.
 
When a payment is created with a date specified in the future then different processing features apply. The main difference is the use of the Active status. Payments with a future date created and authorised on a day prior to the specified payment date will have an Active status, this means the payment has been scheduled for release by the system on the Payment Date and when that date occurs the payment will be processed, no further action is required from you.

It is important to ensure sufficient funds are available in the chosen debit account and the payment is fully authorised prior to the payment date specified.

While Active and fully authorised, the payment can still be Edited or Cancelled. When the scheduled payment date occurs, the status will change from Active and the payment will begin processing and the ability to Edit and Cancel will no longer be available.
 
Please Note:  you can only create future dated payments if you have the appropriate service. Please consult your Administrator on this.

Once fully authorised, all CHAPS payments will be credited to your beneficiary’s account within 3 hours, subject to standard bank checks by us and the beneficiary’s bank.

For Currency IAT payments, the FX rate applied is the prevailing rate at the time of actual processing.

Please note the FX rate shown during making the payment and when authorisation is pending is only indicative, based on the prevailing rate at that time.   Once the payment has been authorised and despatched, the actual FX rate is shown in the payment details.  You may also use a pre-booked rate via our foreign exchange deal service.

Making a Bulk payment with an existing bulk payment template

• Step 1.  Go to the ‘Payments’ tab and select ‘Manage Bulk payments’ from the left-hand menu.  Click on ‘Manage Bulk payment templates’
• Step 2.  Use the magnifying glass to choose an account or enter the account details and click ‘Search’.  Alternatively, a list of all bulk payment templates is shown at the bottom of the screen.
• Step 3. Check the payment details and value are correct, amend as necessary, and click ‘Continue’.  Note: remember to click ‘Save payment’ if you have made changes to the template that you wish to keep.
• Step 4. Review the details and click ‘Confirm.’

If you do not wish to proceed with the payment you can select ‘CANCEL’ payment or ‘SAVE PAYMENT’ as incomplete.

When the payment details are correct and pass the bank’s validation, you will be taken to the Summary screen.  The payment still requires full authorisation before it can be processed.

Bulk payments appear as a single debit for the total value of the payments on your account statement.

Regardless of which payment import specification is used or which payment types are imported the import process is the same. The four steps are as follows;

• Step 1) Import Payment File. Go to Payments Tab and select “Import Payment File” or “Import Payments” from the left-hand menu Click Browse, and select the payment file to import and import.
• Step 2) Validation - system validates the structure and contents of payment file.
• Step 3) Review Import - following validation, the results of the imported file can be reviewed to ensure all payments were successfully imported.
• Step 4) Authorisation - all payments successfully imported are then ready for authorisation before they can be finally processed.

1 Import Payment File

Go to Payments > Import Payments

• Select the Import Payments service option under the main Payments menu (you may need to consult your Administrator to ensure you first have authority to do so)
  The Import Payments index page will be presented and has two sections; 1) import a payment file, 2) imported payments - a view of all payment files imported to date with status and file attributes. We will cover the second section in more detail later.
• Select the payment file for importing, then click the Browser link and select the payment file.
• Select the payment type depending on the type of file you have imported. (Faster payment or Bacs)
• Before starting the import process, you may wish to choose the Duplicate File Check option.  This tool checks that you have not imported the same file earlier in the same day to avoid duplicate payments.
• Select go to start the import process.
• The system will make an initial validation of the file structure and content then present the File Import Details for your review before requesting import authentication using your Security Device. The File Import details presented are described further below.
• Once you have completed the authentication then click Continue to confirm the import, then click Exit to return to the Import Payments index page.

The imported file will now undergo a full validation by the service to check that each payment record is correctly specified. The status of the file as shown under the Import Payments section will change to ‘Validating’ to signal this process is underway.

2 Validation

• The time taken to complete the validation can vary pending a number of different factors such as the volume and type of payments specified in the file.  Please remain patient while this is processed. We recommend you select the Refresh Status option every 10-15 minutes to refresh the status of the current file validation.
• Once the validation has been completed, the status of the file will be updated and will change to a different status pending the outcome of the validation.  What status?  Rejected or awaiting authorisation

3 Review Imported File

The Import Reference field for the imported file will become an active link that can now click to review the Import File Details Report. the full outcome of the validation, this will load The Import File Details Report shows the status of your import, for example “Imported”, “Rejected” or “Import Error”.  Under the section Payments within the report, every payment record validated in from your imported file will be listed with the unique attributes of that payment details and more importantly the resulting payment status.

Where the status is “Imported” then the payment has been imported and now available for authorisation.

Where the status is “Rejected” or “Import Error”, then the payment was rejected from the imported file. The Transaction Reference field for the payment will become an active link that can be selected to review the import error reasons.

Where your payments encountered errors during the import, you have the option to create and re-import a new payment file correcting the errors or manually input the payment instructions through the service.

4 Authorisation

Successfully imported payments will be sent to the authorisation queue and the normal payment authorisation process for your account will apply.

Please take care when authorising imported payments, reviewing the payment details where appropriate to ensure the payment instructions have been correctly specified.  Multiple imported payments can be authorised at the same time using the regular multiple payment authorisation process.

• Import Reference – this is a unique reference generated by the service and assigned to your payment file, this reference should be used when contacting us for further support.
• File Name – this is the name of the file chosen for import.
• File Location – this is the file directory on your computer from which the file was chosen.
• File Size – this is the size of the file, usually in kilobytes.  This is dependent on the number of payment records in the file. 
• File Type – this indicates the type of payment format specification – Standard or Bacs. This shows Ad Hoc Bulk Payment
• Date and Time of Completion – this is the timestamp of the file import process.
• Total amount of the Payments – this is the total value of the payments contained in the file.
• Number of Payments Imported – this is the total volume of the payments contained in the file.

To view and authorise a payment you will need the appropriate payment authorisation service for the type of payment you wish to authorise. You will need to consult your Administrator to ensure you have the required services.

• Step A: From the Payments tab, select Authorise Payments from the left hand menu. This will display all payments currently pending authorisation and payments that have expired as a result of not being authorised in time. Please note, some payments may be listed on additional pages, click ‘next’ from the navigation buttons to review subsequent pages of payment listings.
• Step B: If you wish to find a specific payment to authorise you can refine the list of payments presented by using one of the search parameters – Payment Type, Payment Status or enter a Date Range. Then click ‘Search.’
• Step C: By clicking ‘View Payments Pending Your Authorisation’ you can view the payments pending your authorisation and remove any expired payments from view.

The User Payment Authorisation Limit where used represents the maximum payment amount the given user can authorise. It is configured on a user's own profile and therefore can be different for each and every user.

Please consult your Administrator to understand your User Payment Authorisation Limit if applicable.

Go to the Payments tab and select Direct Debits from the left hand menu

No, as weekends are not BACS processing days. These will be dated on the next available business day. Some banks show D/D’s that are due on a Monday coming off on a Saturday. That is purely to do with the forward postings on their systems and the D/D will still be dated on the Monday.

Beneficiaries can be stored within Santander Connect that can help to save time when making payments.   Remember, you can look up an existing beneficiary while making payments on Connect and this will automatically populate their account details.

To create a new UK-based Beneficiary;

• Step 1: From the “Payments” tab, choose ‘Manage Beneficiaries’ from the left-hand menu.
• Step 2: In Manage Beneficiaries select ‘Create Domestic Beneficiary’ at the bottom of the page
• Step 3: Enter the beneficiary details (please note all fields are mandatory).
• Step 4: Once complete, select ‘Continue’ to review the information you have input.  You will be asked to enter a challenge code into your Token and your signature response code once validated.
• Step 5: Once reviewed, select ‘Confirm’ to create your new domestic beneficiary.

International Beneficiaries can be stored within Santander Connect that can help to save time when making international payments. Remember, you can look up an existing beneficiary – This will automatically populate their account details.

To create a new International Beneficiary;

• Step 1: From the “Payments” tab, choose ‘Manage Beneficiaries’ from the left-hand menu.
• Step 2: In Manage Beneficiaries select ‘Create International Beneficiary’ at the bottom of the page
• Step 3: Enter the beneficiary details (please note all fields are mandatory). 
• Step 4: Once complete, select ‘Continue’ to review the information you have input.  You will be asked to enter a challenge code into your Token and your signature response code once validated.
• Step 5: Once reviewed, select ‘Confirm’ to create your new domestic beneficiary.

If you have received this error message when making an International Payment then phone our Helpdesk on 0800 085 1580 at your earliest convenience. It is likely that the BIC code being used is not a commonly used bank identifier and we may need to ensure a valid record exists in our systems. This can be completed within 24 hours through contacting our Helpdesk.

By selecting up to 50 favourite beneficiary Accounts, you can save yourself time when making payments.

A list of your favourite beneficiaries will automatically be available to select via a drop down menu when populating the beneficiary account field within the payments screens. Favourite Beneficiaries are available to select when performing the following payments types and payment templates.

• Domestic Payments (Standard and Chaps)
• Inter-Account transfer (Sterling and Currency)
• International or Other Payments (Draft or Electronic)
• Creating new Standing Orders
• Creating single payment templates
• Creating bulk payment templates 

Please note a list of all your beneficiaries, including which beneficiaries are marked as favourite can be exported in CSV or PDF formats form the Manage Beneficiaries screen, which can be found under the payments tab.

Single payment templates are available for the following payment types;

Bulk Payments: (Connect Plus Only)

• Bulk Standard domestic payments
• Bulk Faster Payments
• Bulk Bacs payments
• Bulk Currency payments

Bulk payment templates can be created from the Payments tab

• Step A. Go to the ‘Payments’ tab and select ‘Manage Bulk Templates’ from the left-hand menu
• Step B. Select ‘Manage Bulk Payments Templates’
• Step C. Select ‘Create a template’
• Step D: Enter the Payment details (debit account, payment date, and payment amount and debit reference).
• Step E. Enter the Beneficiary details (Beneficiary name, beneficiary account and credit reference).
• Step F. Review and ensure the payment details are correct, then press ‘Create Template’ at the bottom of the screen