About
What UnknownCharges is — and isn't
UnknownCharges is a free, independent reference that translates the cryptic lines on bank and credit card statements into plain English. No signup or bank-account connection required. Tool inputs are processed in your browser and are never sent to us or to analytics.
Who built this
I'm Divy, a finance research student. I started UnknownCharges after a charge showed up on my credit card that I didn't recognize.
The statement line was a short run of capital letters that matched nothing I remembered buying. I didn't take it calmly. My first thought was that my card had been stolen, and I spent the next few hours trying to work out what the charge actually was.
Search results were mostly forum threads full of guesses. Then I tried AI chatbots. Every one answered with total confidence, they didn't agree with each other, and none could tell me where its answer came from. When you're already anxious about money, a confident wrong answer is worse than no answer, because you might act on it. You call the wrong company, or you let a real dispute deadline slip while chasing the wrong lead.
Those few hours are the reason this site exists. I wanted one place where an explanation of a statement line comes with its receipts: the merchant's own billing or help pages, the payment processor's documentation, and guidance from regulators like the CFPB. If I can't find a source for a claim, the page should say it's unconfirmed instead of guessing.
Two things I want to be upfront about. I use software, AI tools included, to help draft and organize entries. That's exactly why the source links and review labels matter here: they let you check my work instead of taking my word for it. And the registry has grown faster than I can review it claim by claim, so many entries are still marked as pending review. Treat those as a starting point for your own checking.
I'm a student, not a financial adviser or a lawyer. If a charge looks like fraud, call the number on the back of your card. Your bank can see details about the transaction that I never will.
Keeping it free
UnknownCharges is free to use, with no account and no paywall, and I'd like to keep it that way. If it saved you some stress, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. It's optional. A tip doesn't buy a listing, change what an entry says, or get a charge removed, and nothing on the site is locked behind it.
The problem with statement lines
Every bank and credit card statement is full of abbreviated, truncated, and deliberately opaque merchant names — VIOC, ACHMA VISB, FENIX INTERNET, SQ *DAILY GRIND. These strings can be clues to a company or payment system, but some exact mappings remain unconfirmed. UnknownCharges exists to bridge that gap.
Editorial standards
Every charge entry is researched and written to answer three questions: What is this charge? Why does it show up looking like that? What should you do if you don't recognize it? Each page links to the merchant's own support or dispute-resolution page so you can verify independently.
Entries list sources and evidence status. Legacy records are marked pending until their claim-level review is complete. The full process — source types, confidence levels, and our corrections policy — is documented on the how we verify page. If you spot an error, tell us: we check corrections against a source and update the review date when a fix lands.
Charge descriptors and billing practices change. We review entries periodically, but you should always verify with the merchant or your bank before acting on any information here.
What you can check here
The registry contains 2,077 entries, with descriptor variants, related records and source links. An entry is a reference for investigation, not proof that a payment was authorized.
Revised records distinguish what a source establishes from what remains unknown. A real company can have an unconfirmed statement spelling. The registry analysis describes our own records and alias counts; it does not measure national search demand or fraud prevalence.
The free tools help compare statements, organize records, prepare drafts and inspect matching candidates locally. They require no signup or bank connection. If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics counts page visits; tool inputs are never included. Read the privacy policy for analytics, hosting requests and local storage.
What this is not
UnknownCharges is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company listed. It is not a financial advisor, a credit counseling service, or a dispute-resolution service. Nothing here is financial or legal advice — for disputes, your bank has the final word.
Privacy
UnknownCharges does not require an account and does not record what you search for. Analytics cookies are optional and only load if you accept them. The search box runs entirely in your browser. Read the full privacy policy.
The PDF statement decoder is private by design: the file is read by pdf.js inside your browser and never leaves your device. The receipt decoder is the same: the receipt text you paste is parsed locally and matched against the database in your browser — nothing is uploaded, stored, or sent anywhere.
Open source
The PDF reader that powers our statement decoder is pdf.js, a Mozilla project distributed under the Apache License 2.0. We use it unchanged — your statement is parsed locally, never sent to Mozilla or anyone else.
Contact & editorial channels
Found a charge we haven't decoded, or spotted an error? Use the report-a-charge form, visit the contact page, or follow site updates on X: @unknowncharges1. We read every report, check corrections against a primary source, and update the review date when a fix lands.