How-to · Transfers and card payments

Transfers between your own accounts, counted once

Move $1,500 from checking to savings and it shows up twice: money out on one statement, money in on the other. Pay a card from checking and the spending shows once on the card and again as the payment. Put the statements together without matching them and the year looks bigger than it was. Pennyrow matches both sides in your browser and keeps them out of income and spending.

How Pennyrow matches them

• It looks for money out of one of your accounts and the same amount into another, up to 5 days apart, with wording that reads like a transfer or a card payment.
• Each matched pair is one line on the Catch-up tab, such as “Moved $1,500.00 from Checking ••4821 to Savings ••7731 (Mar 20)”. Both rows stay in your files, and both are left out of income and spending.
• If a pair isn't a transfer, choose Un-match on its line and both rows count as normal rows again. “Match them again” undoes that.
• For Zelle or Venmo transfers to yourself, type your name on the Catch-up tab under “Your name, for Zelle or Venmo transfers to yourself”.
• A row that reads like a transfer but has no other side in your files goes under “Possible transfers to check”, with a hint, and is left out until you decide. “Not a transfer” puts it back into income or spending.

Add every account you move money between

Matching needs both sides. Add the savings account, every card you pay from checking, and any account that pays a card. A transfer to an account you didn't add stays a possible transfer for you to decide, and so does one whose other side is in a statement that's missing. Finding missing statements.

Worked example

Pennyrow's made-up sample (the button “Try it with sample statements” in the app) has a checking account, a savings account and a card. The Catch-up tab matches 4 transfers into savings, $6,000.00 in all, and 11 card payments, $6,424.76 in all. Two of its lines:

• Moved $1,500.00 from Checking ••4821 to Savings ••7731 (Mar 20)
• Paid $642.18 from Checking ••4821 to Card ••9876 (Jan 18)

Without matching, the savings deposits would read as $6,000.00 of money in, and the card payments would count the card's spending a second time. 2 rows are left to check:

The April payment has no checking side because the sample has no April checking statement. The $400.00 went to an account that isn't in the sample, so you decide what it was.

What the exports do with transfers

• The Excel file and the CSV keep every row. Their Transfer column says which rows are matched, for example “Transfer, matched with Savings ••7731 on 2025-03-20”, and which are possible transfers.
• The Summary tab lists transfers and card payments with the money that isn't income or spending.
• The QuickBooks® Desktop .iif file writes a matched transfer once, from the account the money left, so importing every account's file doesn't record it twice. More on the .iif file.
• The QuickBooks Online CSV keeps the transfers, because QuickBooks needs them to match the bank balance.

Questions

Why does my income look too high after combining statements?

Money moved in from another of your accounts reads as money in until it is matched with its other side. Add every account you move money between. Pennyrow matches the pairs and keeps them out of income and spending.

Why isn't my card payment counted as spending?

The card's purchases are already on the card's statement. The payment from checking only moves money to pay for them, so counting it too would count the same spending twice. Pennyrow matches it to the card and keeps it out of spending.

What if Pennyrow matches two rows that aren't a transfer?

Choose Un-match on that line in the Catch-up tab, and both rows count as normal rows again.

Does Pennyrow match Zelle or Venmo transfers to myself?

Yes, once it knows your name. Type it on the Catch-up tab under “Your name, for Zelle or Venmo transfers to yourself”.

How far apart can the two sides of a transfer be?

Up to 5 days. A transfer that leaves checking on a Friday and lands in savings the next Tuesday still matches.

Related

• Missing a bank statement: find the gap and fill it
• How to catch up on a year of bookkeeping yourself
• Import bank statements into QuickBooks® Desktop with an .iif file

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