A bank CSV is a plain table: one row per transaction, with a date, a description, an amount (either one signed column or separate money in and money out columns) and usually a running balance. The cryptic two or three letter codes are the payment type. DD is a Direct Debit, SO a standing order, FPI a Faster Payment in, DEB a debit card purchase.
| Column | What it holds | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction date | When the payment was made or posted | Some banks add a separate value date. The tracker uses the transaction date. |
| Description or narrative | Who was paid, in the bank's shorthand | Card payments often carry a location and a partial card number. Ignore those. |
| Amount | One column, negative for money out | Used by Monzo, Starling, Revolut and most fintechs. |
| Money out / money in (debit / credit) | Two columns, both positive | Used by Lloyds, Halifax, Nationwide, HSBC and most high street banks. |
| Balance | Running balance after the row | Useful for checking, not for budgeting. The importer ignores it. |
| Type | The payment method code | See the code table below. |
| Category | The bank's own guess at a category | Monzo and Starling include one. The tracker reads it as a hint. |
High street banks label each row with a code. Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland use most of these; other banks use similar ones. They tell you how the money moved, which is handy when a description is unhelpful.
| Code | Meaning | Typically |
|---|---|---|
| DD | Direct Debit | Bills, subscriptions, council tax |
| SO | Standing order | Rent, savings transfers, regular payments you set up |
| FPI | Faster Payment in | Salary from some employers, money from friends |
| FPO | Faster Payment out | Payments you sent by bank transfer |
| BGC | Bank giro credit | Salary, benefits, refunds paid in |
| TFR | Transfer | Between your own accounts |
| DEB | Debit card payment | Shops, online purchases |
| CPT | Cashpoint | ATM withdrawals |
| CHG | Charge | Bank fees |
| INT | Interest | Paid or charged |
| BP | Bill payment | One-off payments to a company |
Credit card exports usually list purchases as positive numbers and payments to the card as negative, the opposite of a current account. If you import one and everything looks upside down, that is why. The Income Tracker detects the pattern and flips it, and the import review has a one-click undo if it guessed wrong.
No. Download it, import it. The tracker finds the date, description and amount columns by their headers, whatever order they are in, and shows you the result before anything is saved. If you like, open the file in a spreadsheet first just to see what is in it; then import the original.