Can I import the same statement twice by mistake?

Usually, yes. Bank exports overlap, because you download "last three months" every month, and we recognise a transaction we already hold and skip it. After each import you are told how many lines were imported and how many were already held. There is one case we cannot catch, described below, so it is worth knowing how the check works.

How do you know it is the same transaction?

By the account, the date, the amount, the direction and the description together. All five have to be the same, word for word. Two genuinely identical payments on the same day, for example two £5 card payments at the same shop, are still treated as two, because they are two.

When does it not work?

When your bank gives you the same transactions with different wording. Some banks describe a line one way in a quick export of recent transactions and another way on the monthly statement, for example "Sumup Payments Acc M64" in one and "FPS, Sumup Payments Account, M64" in the other. To us those are two different lines, and both will be imported. So always download your statement the same way each month.

If it does happen, we point it out. A line in the On the bank statement only list that has the same date and amount as another line on the same account, but different wording, is marked Possible duplicate, with the other line's wording beside it and whether that line has already been matched. It is a warning rather than a block, because two genuine payments of the same amount on the same day do happen. If it is the same payment, remove the second one with Not mine rather than recording it again. If you have already recorded or matched it, undo that match first; a transaction recorded from the duplicate line is removed with the undo.  

What about lines I removed?

A line you removed with Not mine still counts as held, so importing an overlapping statement does not bring it back. If you do want it back, choose Put back in the Removed list.

Related reading

• Importing a bank statement
• Removing a bank transaction that is not yours