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Reference··7 min read

Bank statement abbreviations: what those codes actually mean

ACH, POS, SQ*, DDA, NSF, INT — a reference for the cryptic abbreviations and merchant codes on your bank statement, and why your $12 charge shows up as something unreadable.

Bank statements are written in a shorthand that made sense to a 1980s mainframe and nobody since. A simple coffee purchase can show up as POS DEB SQ *BLUE BOTTLE, and a transfer as ACH DEBIT. This is a reference for the abbreviations and merchant codes you'll actually run into, grouped by what they tell you.

Transaction type codes

These describe how money moved — the mechanism, not the merchant.

  • ACH — Automated Clearing House. Electronic bank-to-bank transfer. Payroll direct deposits, most bill payments, and app transfers ride ACH.
  • POS — Point of Sale. A debit card purchase made in person or online.
  • DEB / DR — Debit. Money leaving the account.
  • CR — Credit. Money coming in — a deposit, refund, or reversal.
  • ATM — A cash withdrawal or deposit at a machine.
  • EFT — Electronic Funds Transfer, a catch-all for electronic movement.
  • WT / WIRE — A wire transfer, usually for larger or time-sensitive amounts.
  • ETF / RECUR — Some banks flag recurring card payments this way.

Account and balance codes

  • DDA — Demand Deposit Account. Banker-speak for your checking account.
  • SAV — Savings account.
  • BAL — Balance.
  • AVAIL BAL — Available balance (excludes holds and pending items).
  • INT — Interest, either earned (savings) or charged (credit).
  • APY / APR— Annual Percentage Yield (what you earn) and Annual Percentage Rate (what you're charged).

Fee codes — the ones worth reading

  • NSF — Non-Sufficient Funds. A payment bounced, and you were charged for it.
  • OD / ODP — Overdraft / Overdraft Protection.
  • SVC CHG — Service charge, usually a monthly maintenance fee.
  • FEE / INTL FEE — A generic or foreign-transaction fee.
Fee codes are the highest-value lines to decode. NSF and overdraft fees run $25–$35 each and are frequently reversible with a quick phone call — but only if you notice them.

Merchant prefixes: why Square, PayPal, and Amazon look weird

The most confusing strings usually aren't the bank's codes at all — they're the payment processor stamping its own prefix in front of the real merchant.

  • SQ* — Square. SQ *TARTINE BAKERY is a small business that takes payments through Square.
  • PP* / PAYPAL * — A PayPal-processed payment. The name after it is the actual seller.
  • TST* / TOAST — Toast, a restaurant point-of-sale system.
  • AMZN MKTP / AMZN.COM — Amazon Marketplace vs. Amazon retail.
  • Phone numbers and city codes — trailing digits like 866-579-7are the merchant's customer-service line, appended by the card network.

The point: readable transactions in one step

You can decode these by hand, but it's slow and easy to skim past a subscription hiding behind a processor prefix. Sortlumo does the translation automatically — SQ*TARTINE becomes Tartine Bakery, NETFLIX.COM 866-579 becomes Netflix — so your converted statement reads in plain English and every line lands in the right category. If you're still learning the layout, our guide to reading a bank statement walks through the rest of the page.