Santander doesn’t have one sort code for all its accounts, so the one to use is the sort code on your own account. Santander says you’ll find it on your debit card or in the Mobile Banking app, and your sort code and account number are also printed on your statements. For payments from abroad you need two more details: Santander’s BIC, ABBYGB2LXXX, and your IBAN, which is on your statements, in Online Banking, or in the IBAN finder on Santander’s international payments page.
This page explains where Santander shows each detail and what to give someone paying you from overseas. For an overview of Santander’s accounts, see our Santander UK review.
Where Santander shows your sort code and account number
- The Santander app. Santander says your sort code is in the Mobile Banking app. If you haven’t used the app before, you can register for Digital Banking with your sort code and account number (or a debit or credit card number).
- Your card. Santander’s own guidance says you can find your sort code on your card. The long card number on the front is a different number, so don’t give that to someone paying you.
- Statements. Santander puts your monthly statement in the mailbox in the Mobile Banking app, and in Online Banking under ‘Statements and documents’. The Santander Edge account is paper-free, so its statements arrive as e-Documents in your Online Banking secure inbox unless you change your settings to get them by post (possible once the account has been open for 24 hours). On other accounts you can ask for paper statements in branch, by phone or in chat, monthly or every 3 months.
- Online Banking. Santander says your IBAN is shown in Online Banking, as well as on your statements.
- Telephone Banking or a branch. Call 0330 9 123 123 or visit a branch; you’ll need to pass security checks first.
Keep the two numbers somewhere safe but handy: Santander asks for your sort code and account number if you’ve forgotten your Online Banking Personal ID and need to retrieve it. If you move an existing Santander current account to a different Santander account online (for example from Everyday to Edge), Santander says your account number, card and PIN stay the same, so there’s nothing new to give your employer.
What to give someone paying you from abroad
A payment from outside the UK is sent by SWIFT or, for euros, often by SEPA (the Single Euro Payments Area scheme), and the sender’s bank will usually ask for:
| Detail | What to give | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Account name | Your name exactly as it appears on the account | Your statement or the app |
| IBAN (International Bank Account Number) | Your full IBAN | Statements, Online Banking, or Santander’s IBAN finder |
| BIC (SWIFT code) | ABBYGB2LXXX | Santander’s international payments page |
| Bank name | Santander UK plc |
Copy the IBAN Santander shows you rather than working one out yourself, so a mistyped character doesn’t hold the payment up. The IBAN finder is on Santander’s international payments page: type in your sort code and account number and it shows the matching IBAN.
Charges for receiving money. Santander’s fee information documents for the Everyday and Edge current accounts (effective 28 April 2026) list no fee for receiving a foreign currency electronic payment, and £10 for paying in a foreign currency cheque. What arrives can still be less than what was sent. Since the UK left the European Economic Area (EEA), banks in the EEA can take their own fees out of payments they send to the UK by SWIFT, and a bank the payment passes through can deduct charges too. Santander points out that deductions can’t be taken from SEPA payments, so if someone is sending you euros, asking them to use SEPA avoids those deductions. Confirm the current fees for your account with Santander before a large payment arrives.
Santander discourages foreign currency cheques: they can take 2 to 8 weeks to clear by collection, the banks involved can charge fees that are sometimes a percentage of the cheque, and fraudsters use overpaid foreign cheques in a known scam. An international transfer to your IBAN is usually the simpler route.
Sending money abroad from Santander
You can’t send an international payment in the Santander Mobile Banking app. Use Online Banking (‘Payments & Transfers’, then ‘International payments’), Telephone Banking or a branch, and have the recipient’s name, their IBAN or account number, their bank’s BIC and any routing code the destination country needs. Payments to overseas companies may need a One Time Passcode sent to your registered mobile. What Santander charges to send money abroad, including its exchange rate mark-up, is in our Santander fees guide, and how much you can send in one go is in our Santander transfer limit guide.
cahoot and other Santander brands
cahoot, Santander Business and Santander Corporate & Commercial are trading names of Santander UK plc, not separate banks. That matters for deposit protection (money across them shares one FSCS limit, which our Santander UK review covers). For a cahoot account, use the sort code, account number and IBAN that cahoot shows for that account.
Keeping your details safe
Your sort code and account number are what people need to pay you, so sharing them with an employer or someone who owes you money is normal. The risk is scammers who contact you out of the blue and use details like these to sound convincing, so never hand over your PIN, passwords or a One Time Passcode: Santander says no one from Santander, not even its fraud team, will ask for them. Our guide to bank scams and how to protect yourself covers the common tricks, and if you think you’ve been targeted, contact Santander’s fraud team straight away.