Editing Building society (section)

=== Roll numbers ===

Because most building societies were not direct members of the UK [[Clearing (finance)|clearing]] system, it was common for them to use a '''roll number''' to identify accounts rather than to allocate a six-digit [[sort-code]] and eight-digit account number to the [[BACS]] standards.

More recently, building societies have tended to obtain sort-code and account number allocations within the clearing system, and hence the use of roll numbers has diminished. When using BACS, one needs to enter roll numbers for the reference field and the building society's generic sort code and account number would be entered in the standard BACS fields.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.experianpayments.com/glossary/roll-number.html |title=Roll Number |publisher=Experianpayments.com |access-date=18 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204042023/http://www.experianpayments.com/glossary/roll-number.html |archive-date=4 December 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>