Our BIC is registered for SEPA payments only.

This means that credit union members can send and receive SEPA payments only (regardless of the type of member account e.g. Share account, Current account etc).

It is advisable that members tell their financial institution and third party payers that the payment needs to be made via SEPA. If a payment is sent in any other way, for example by SWIFT/International Payment, the payment will be rejected by our processing Bank and the Payer may incur a rejection charge.

If you wish to receive or send an International Payment to/from your credit union account, please contact our Member Services team for more information.

SEPA stands for Single Euro Payments Area. A SEPA payment is sent through the SEPA Payment Scheme. The SEPA payment scheme was created to facilitate the standardisation of electronic payments denominated in euro between EU member states.

The SEPA scheme consists of the 27 EU Member States plus United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino and Vatican City State.

To make a SEPA payment you need:
1. The IBAN of the person you want to pay
2. The bank to which you are sending the payment, to be a member of the SEPA scheme
3. The payment to be in euro

An International Payment is sent through the SWIFT network to any bank outside the European area.

If you wish to receive or send an International Payment, you will need to contact our member services team for more information.

SWIFT stands for the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, it is a system that allows all banks that are signed up to the system to speak with each other. This is how banks send and receive payments safe and securely.

North Midlands Credit Union is NOT signed up to this system. This means international payments sent to a member using member’s credit union BIC & IBAN will be rejected. Payments sent from a members account to a bank account outside the SEPA scheme countries will also be rejected.

For new members joining on or after Monday 19th December 2022, the maximum amount that they can hold in their account will be €20,000.