Glossary of Payment Terms

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• BACS/BGC
  The ‘Bankers Automated Clearing System’ / ‘Bank Giro Credit’ enables automatic payments to be made from one bank account to another in the UK. This usually takes three business days.
• CHAPS
  ‘Clearing House Automated Payment System’ is a same day Sterling payment within the UK clearing system.
• Cheque
  A negotiable bank instrument, payable on demand, that instructs a bank to pay the indicated amount to the party named on the cheque from funds held on deposit.
• Draft
  A cheque drawn by one bank against funds deposited into its account at another bank, authorising the second bank to make payment to the individual named in the draft.
• SWIFT
  ‘Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications’ is an international system for paying by credit transfer. A SWIFT payment is a payment from one bank account to another using the SWIFT system.
• TT
  Telegraphic Transfer - also known as ‘CHAPS’ which is a same day Sterling payment within the UK clearing system.