Guide · American Express
Convert American Express statements to Excel, CSV or QuickBooks®
Download your American Express statements, drop them into Pennyrow, and get every transaction as a clean spreadsheet, with a check that each statement adds up. Free. Your statements are read inside your browser; we never upload, receive, see or store them.
Step 1: download your statements from American Express
- Log in at americanexpress.com.
- Go to Statements & Activity.
- Select the statement you need.
- Download it as a PDF. Archived statements become available within 24 hours of asking.
American Express's help pages don't describe the app steps. The website steps work in a phone browser too.
Amex doesn't say how many years of PDFs personal cards get. Older ones are "archived" and show up within 24 hours after you select them.
Transaction downloads
American Express also lets you download transactions as a file. Pennyrow reads CSV, OFX and QFX files:
- CSV, Excel or PDF: Statements & Activity: filter the transactions, then download. (previous 2 years)
- Quicken and QuickBooks: The same download page, in the software options. (recent activity and the last 6 statements)
- Year-End Summary: Year-End Summary page > Download (CSV, Excel, PDF, Quicken or QuickBooks). (previous calendar year)
PDF statements are usually the better choice for catching up a year: each one has opening and closing balances, so Pennyrow can check every month adds up.
Good to know
- The Year-End Summary is a quick way to get a whole calendar year of card spending in one file.
- Corporate cards use the separate @ Work site.
- Amex checking and savings accounts are handled separately from cards.
Checked October 13, 2026 against American Express's help pages: www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/faq.transaction-billing-statements-history.html, www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/faq.download-export-transactions-software.html, www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/faq.download-export-year-end-summary-statement.html. Banks move menus around; if a step has changed, the help page has the current one.
Step 2: drop them into Pennyrow
- Open Pennyrow and choose your files, or drag them in. A whole year at once is fine, and you can mix American Express with your other banks and cards.
- Each statement gets a balance check: opening balance plus money in, minus money out, should equal the closing balance. You see "✓ Balanced", or which row is off and by how much.
- Catch-up checks look across all your files: missing months, statements that don't follow on from the last one, the same transaction in two files, and transfers between your own accounts (including card payments) so they aren't counted twice.
- Export: Excel (.xlsx), CSV, a QuickBooks Online bank CSV, a QuickBooks Desktop .iif file, or OFX.
If a American Express statement doesn't read right
- Pennyrow reads statement layouts with general rules, not a American Express-specific template, and it hasn't been tried on every American Express layout. The balance check is how you know: if a statement doesn't balance, Pennyrow shows the row that's off so you can fix it.
- Scanned or photographed statements can't be read (there's no OCR). Download the PDF from American Express's site instead of scanning a paper copy.
- Password-protected PDFs open with your own password, used only in that tab.
- If a layout keeps failing, tell @minsoesantun which American Express account type it was. Please don't send the statement itself.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Converting statements, the catch-up checks and every export are free.
Does my American Express statement get uploaded?
No. The converter page is locked so it can't make network requests, and it works with Wi-Fi off once it's open. Here's how to check that yourself.
Do I need to sign in to American Express through Pennyrow?
No, and you never should. You download the statements yourself; Pennyrow never asks for a bank login.
Does it make a .qbo (Web Connect) file?
Not yet. For QuickBooks Online use the bank CSV export; for QuickBooks Desktop use the .iif export.
Other banks and cards
Any bank or card with text PDF, CSV, OFX or QFX statements can work; these guides cover where to download them.