Bank statement abbreviations

Statement descriptions are not written for humans. They are passed through from the payment network in whatever format the network uses, and the bank adds only enough to keep itself compliant. What looks like a jumble is usually three or four separate machine fields printed one after another.

Once you know which field is which, most of it decodes.

Transaction types

Code	Means	What it tells you
ACH	Automated Clearing House	A batched electronic transfer. Payroll, most bill payments, most transfers between institutions.
EFT	Electronic Funds Transfer	Generic umbrella. Some banks use it where others say ACH.
POS	Point of Sale	A card used in person, at a terminal.
CHECKCARD	Debit card purchase	Bank of America’s prefix for card transactions.
PURCHASE AUTHORIZED ON	Debit card purchase	Wells Fargo’s equivalent. The date that follows is the swipe date, not the posting date.
ATM	Automated Teller Machine	Cash withdrawal or deposit at a machine.
DEP	Deposit	Money in.
WD, WDL	Withdrawal	Money out.
TFR, XFER	Transfer	Movement between accounts, usually your own.
PMT	Payment	Money out to a payee.
CHK	Check	A cleared paper check. The number normally follows.
WIRE	Wire transfer	Same-day, irreversible, and usually carries a fee line of its own.
RECUR, REC	Recurring	A subscription or standing arrangement. Useful to filter on.

ACH sub-codes

ACH transactions carry a three letter standard entry class describing how the payment was authorised. It appears in the description on many statements, and it tells you something the rest of the line does not.

Code	Means	Typically
PPD	Prearranged Payment and Deposit	Payroll, pensions, consumer bill payments you set up in advance
CCD	Corporate Credit or Debit	Business to business
WEB	Internet initiated	You authorised it on a website
TEL	Telephone initiated	You authorised it over the phone
ARC	Accounts Receivable Conversion	A paper check converted to electronic
IAT	International ACH Transaction	Crosses a border

A WEB or TEL code on a charge you do not recognise is worth attention. Those two carry the weakest authorisation trail, and they are where unauthorised debits tend to appear.

Field labels inside descriptions

These are the ones that make a Chase or Bank of America line look like a database dump. They are labels, not part of the merchant name.

Label	Means
ORIG CO NAME	The company that originated the payment
ORIG ID	That company’s ACH originator ID
DESC DATE	The date the originator stamped on the batch
CO ENTRY DESCR	The originator’s own description, for example PAYROLL or BILL PAY
INDN	Individual name, meaning the account holder the payment names
SEC	The three letter class from the table above
TRACE, TRN, REF	Trace or reference number for the transaction
MEMO	Free text field, often the only human readable part

Fees and problems

Code	Means	Notes
NSF	Non-Sufficient Funds	A payment was returned. Almost always carries a fee.
OD	Overdraft	The account went negative and the bank covered it.
ODP	Overdraft Protection	Money pulled from a linked account instead. Usually a smaller fee.
SVC CHG	Service Charge	Monthly maintenance, most commonly.
RTN, RET	Returned	A deposit or payment that came back.
STOP PMT	Stop Payment	You asked the bank to block a check.
FX, INTL, ISA	Foreign transaction	A currency conversion or the fee for one.
ANALYSIS	Account analysis charge	Business accounts. Fees calculated on activity volume.

If you have converted a year of statements, sorting by description clusters all of these together. It is the fastest way to find out what your account is actually costing you, and it is usually more than people expect.

Balance and ledger shorthand

Code	Means
CR	Credit. Money into the account.
DR	Debit. Money out.
BAL	Balance
AVAIL BAL	Available balance, after holds
BEG BAL	Beginning balance for the cycle
END BAL	Ending balance for the cycle
DDA	Demand Deposit Account, meaning your checking account
ITF	In Trust For
POD	Payable On Death

CR and DR read backwards to most people. They come from the bank’s ledger, not yours: your deposit is money the bank owes you, so on its books it is a credit.

UK and Commonwealth codes

Statements from TD, HSBC and other institutions operating outside the US use a different set.

Code	Means
DD	Direct Debit. The payee pulls the money.
SO	Standing Order. You push a fixed amount on a schedule.
BGC	Bank Giro Credit
FPI, FPO	Faster Payment In, Faster Payment Out
BACS	Batched three day transfer, the UK equivalent of ACH
CHAPS	Same day high value transfer
CSH	Cash
BP	Bill Payment
TFR	Transfer

The distinction between DD and SO is worth knowing. A standing order is yours and you can cancel it. A direct debit is authority you granted the payee to take variable amounts, which is why unexpected increases show up there and not in standing orders.

Reading a real line

Take a Chase payroll deposit:

ORIG CO NAME:ACME CORP ORIG ID:1234567890 DESC DATE:080126
CO ENTRY DESCR:PAYROLL SEC:PPD TRACE#:021000021234567

Six fields. The employer is ACME CORP, it is payroll, it was authorised in advance as a PPD entry, and the trace number is what you quote if it ever needs tracking down. Nothing about it is mysterious once the labels are visible.

Converting the statement does not clean this up, and it should not: the raw string is the audit trail. What it does is put it in one cell where you can search, filter and find-and-replace across a whole year at once. Pick your bank and drop the PDF in.