Managing your money

Faster Payments

Incoming Faster Payments changes

From 28th April 2015 we began to process your incoming Faster Payments 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

What does this mean?

This means payments will be credited to your account no later than 2 hours after receipt of the funds from our clearing bank and you will then have immediate access to those funds, subject to the terms and conditions of your account. This change only affects Faster Payments into your account, other payment types, for example CHAPS and Foreign Transfers, are not changing.

Electronic payments you make from your account to a bank account elsewhere will normally arrive the next day.

There is an overall transaction limit of £100,000 under the Faster Payments scheme. So, if you request an electronic transfer above this amount, it will be sent as more than one payment.

Payment of interest

If interest is sent to your bank account at the end of the month in which it is due, it will reach your account quicker than under the previous system.

Are all bank accounts in the scheme?

A limited number of bank accounts are not part of the Faster Payments scheme. To check whether the bank accounts you make electronic payments to are covered, use the sort code checker.

More information

Call us on 0345 850 4041 with any questions about how the Faster Payments service affects your accounts. Lines are open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm Saturday.

Sort code

Not all accounts can receive payments. Please refer to your account terms and conditions before making a payment to make sure that it's possible.

Payments from within the UK (CHAPS and Electronic Transfers)

You can transfer money by telegraphic transfer (SWIFT) from overseas. To arrange this transfer, the organisation sending the payment will need to quote:

Payments from Abroad

Useful forms

Download, complete and sign the form you need and send it to our office or your local branch.

You will need the free Adobe® Reader software and weblink plugin to view these documents. If you do not have this, you can download it from the Adobe website.

Dormant or lost accounts

Chelsea has always been committed to keeping our customers in touch with their savings. As part of this commitment, we can help you trace lost or forgotten accounts held with us.

What is a lost or dormant account?

A lost or dormant account is one which shows no customer initiated activity for more than 15 years. Accounts can become lost or dormant for many reasons. Some customers don't keep track of the accounts they hold and lose touch with their money. Other accounts may become dormant as a result of people moving house and not informing their bank or building society of the change of address.

How do I trace a lost or dormant Chelsea account?

If you think you have a lost or dormant savings account, we can check for you free of charge. To do this, we'll need as much information from you as possible including your full name (and any other names, e.g. maiden name), your date of birth, current and previous addresses, the estimated date of when the account was opened and your account number (if you know this).

Once you have this information, please get in contact with us by either visiting your local Chelsea branch or, calling our dedicated Customer Call Centre on 03457 446622 or by writing to us at our office.

Once we've checked our records, we'll write to you to let you know if we've been able to locate an account. If we do locate an account we'll let you know what to do next.

Tracing other accounts

You can also trace a dormant account with another bank, building society or with National Savings & Investments by visiting mylostaccount.org.uk. This is a free service provided by the Building Societies Association, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) and National Savings and Investments (NS&I).