Importing Bank Statements (CSV)

Almost every bank and card issuer lets you download an account’s transactions as a CSV file, a plain spreadsheet. Banks lay their files out in different ways, so when you import one, Kaizora asks which account it is and which column is which, and shows a preview before anything is saved.

Download From Your Bank

Exporting is usually easiest on your bank’s website, on a computer; banking apps often can’t download files.

1. Sign in to your bank’s website and open the account.
2. Look for Download, Export, or a download icon near the list of transactions. Some banks put it under Statements or Documents instead.
3. Choose CSV as the format. Banks call it different things, such as “Comma-separated values”, “Spreadsheet”, or “Excel (CSV)”. Other formats, such as QFX, OFX, QIF, QBO, or PDF, aren’t CSV and can’t be imported.
4. Choose the dates and download the file.

One file is one account. For a checking account and a credit card, download two files.

How Far Back You Can Go

Banks limit what they let you download, and the limits differ:

• Many offer only recent history, often between 12 and 24 months, even when their PDF statements go back years.
• Some limit each download to a shorter stretch, such as 60 or 90 days, or one statement period for a card. Download several files to cover a longer time; overlapping dates are fine.
• Some cap the number of transactions in one file, and leave out the rest without saying so. Check that the oldest transaction in the preview is the one you expect.

Pending transactions are often left out or change later, so a download that ends a few days ago is the most reliable.

Add the Account First

On Accounts, from the … menu at the top right of Money (See Accounts), add the account the file belongs to: its name and, if you like, its institution and its type (checking, savings, credit card, cash, investment, or loan).

Import It

1. Open Data Sources, from the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar.
2. Under Imports, find Bank Statement (CSV) and choose Import from file.
3. Under File, choose the file.
4. Check the Time Zone: each transaction counts at noon on its day, in this zone, yours by default.
5. Kaizora guesses each column from its header, and asks you to check:
   • the Account it belongs to, and its Currency: the account’s newest balance’s, else your display currency;
   • the Date Column, and how Dates are written: year, month, day (2026-07-31), month, day, year (07/31/2026), or day, month, year (31/07/2026);
   • the Description column;
   • how Amounts are given: One column, with how Money out is shown as, Negative amounts or Positive amounts; or Two columns: money out and money in;
   • the Balance Column, if the file has one, or None;
   • the Category Column, if the file has one, or None: a transaction keeps the bank’s category where it matches one of Kaizora’s, such as Groceries for Food and drink.
6. Check the Preview: it shows the first transactions as they’ll be saved, how many there are, and which lines can’t be read (a bank’s summary line, for example, is skipped). Then select Import.

Look at the signs in the preview: a positive amount is money in. Some card issuers write purchases as positive numbers in a single amount column. Kaizora guesses which way a file goes, but if the preview has your purchases as money in, change Money out is shown as before importing.

What Comes In

• Each line becomes a transaction in the account, with its date, description, and signed amount, at noon on its day.
• If the file has a balance column, the balance after the newest transaction becomes the account’s balance on that day.

Transactions are values of net cash flow, money in less money out, by day, week, or month; a transfer between two of your own accounts nets to zero. Balances give net worth. Both are shown in your currency, with other currencies converted at the US Treasury’s exchange rate for each date.

Categories Are Yours

An imported transaction’s numbers stay as the bank gives them, but its category is yours to set and change, in the table See all data opens on Transactions, as are its notes. Importing again keeps your categories. See Log Transactions and Set Their Categories.

Importing Again

Banks don’t give transactions an id, so Kaizora recognizes one by its account, day, and description, and counts identical ones on the same day: two coffees at the same café are two transactions. Importing a file whose dates overlap an earlier one updates those transactions rather than adding them twice. If your bank later changes a description, such as when a pending transaction posts, that transaction comes in again as a new one. Imported transactions can’t be deleted one by one: to start over, delete the source’s data and import your files again. See Delete What a Source Brought In.

If Something Goes Wrong

• Dates are wrong or lines are skipped: check Dates are written. A date such as 03/04/2026 reads either way, so compare the preview with your bank’s website.
• The file has been opened in a spreadsheet app: saving it again there can change its dates and amounts. Download it again and import it as it came.
• Nothing can be read: check it’s a CSV file, not QFX, OFX, or a PDF renamed. Some banks put a few lines of account details above the header; Kaizora skips lines it can’t read, as the preview shows.