# SEPA credit transfer testing with virtual bank accounts

This section describes how to test a SEPA transfer with the Investment API if you are using virtual bank accounts (VBAs). In this case, the transfer information is not important as the ID of the virtual bank account is used to identify the transaction.

This section describes how a SEPA credit transfer can be tested if **virtual bank accounts (VBAs) are used**. In this case, the user must not enter a 9-digit reference number to identify the transaction. Read more about testing without VBAs in this [chapter](/products/tol/guides/payments/testing/credit_transfer_testing).

## Prerequisites

Before testing SEPA credit transfers with virtual bank accounts, please ensure that:

- the "Virtual bank account" feature is enabled for you.
- a reference account is registered for the account group.


## Triggering a bank transaction

To simulate SEPA transfers, you can trigger a bank transaction with the following call:

**POST** [`/tests/payments/transactions`](/api/tests/create_bank_transaction)

**Example request**


```json
{
  "account": {
    "iban": "FR7617789000011051089906447"
  },
  "amount": "1000.37",
  "currency": "EUR",
  "client_reference": "054540402",
  "counterparty_name": "Marcel Schwarz",
  "counterparty_account": {
    "iban": "DE95500105173934555844"
  },
  "counterparty_agent": {
    "bic": "DEUTDEFF"
  },
  "virtual_bank_account_id": "87926f69-6b0a-416f-ba5a-0e669609b703"
}
```

| Parameter | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `account` | Specify the IBAN FR7617789000011051089906447. This is our pooling account. This IBAN is the account from which the user pays and has no relation to the virtual IBAN. |
| `currency` | The currency must be `EUR`. |
| `virtual_bank_account_id` | The ID of the virtual bank account to which you want to send the money. |
| `counterparty_name` | Specify the counterparty name, which must match the name of the user who owns the securities account. |


The `remittance_information` field is not required for this simulation as the `virtual_bank_account_id` is used to identify the transaction. Make sure that the other fields pass the API validation.