Using Rules to Categorize Transactions Automatically in Kemback

Bank statements are not written for people. “SQ *BLUE BOTTLE 0423”, “AMZN Mktp US*2K4L19”, “PAYPAL *SPOTIFYUSA”. Categorizing these by hand every month is the kind of chore that makes people give up on tracking their money.

Rules fix that. A Kemback rule looks for transactions that match something, like a payee, an amount or an account, and then renames the payee, sets the category, adds a memo or adds tags. This guide shows the fastest way to build up a set of rules, how to write one from scratch, and how to apply your rules to transactions you already have.

When rules run

Rules run automatically on new transactions as they come in:

• File imports: OFX, QFX, QIF and CSV files, including a Quicken or Mint switch.
• Bills entered from the Bills page.
• Bank sync, when it arrives with the Plus plan.

Rules are careful about what they change on new transactions. They fill in what the source left empty: a category on an uncategorized transaction, or a blank memo. Payee renames and tags always apply. Transfers and split transactions are never touched, so a rule can’t break a card payment or a split you made on purpose.

Rules don’t change transactions you already have unless you ask them to. That’s what Apply to existing transactions is for, covered below.

The fastest way: say yes when Kemback offers

You rarely need to write a rule from scratch. Whenever you change a transaction’s category, in an account’s register or in the Review inbox, Kemback offers one:

Always categorize payees containing “SQ *BLUE BOTTLE” as Dining out?

Choose Create rule, or No thanks if it was a one-off.

Notice that the offer drops the changing part of the payee. “SQ *BLUE BOTTLE 0423” becomes “SQ *BLUE BOTTLE”, because words with digits or a # are usually store numbers or reference codes that change every time. That makes the rule match next month’s coffee too.

If you create the rule from a register, Kemback also tells you whether it fits anything else: “Rule created. It also fits 14 other uncategorized transactions.” Choose Apply to them to categorize those too, or Done to leave them.

A good routine for your first week: work through the review inbox, and say yes to the rule every time a regular payee comes up. After a few dozen, most of your regular spending categorizes itself.

Writing a rule yourself

For anything more specific, open Rules in the sidebar. The page explains its job: “Rename payees and categorize transactions as they arrive from imports and bank sync.” The New rule card has two halves.

When

• Payee: choose contains, starts with or is exactly.
• Text: what to look for, for example blue bottle. Matching ignores capital letters and extra spaces.
• Amount from and to: an optional range. Spending is negative, so “-20.00 to 0.00” means purchases of up to $20.
• Account: Any account, or one account only.

Then

• Rename payee to: a clean name, like “Blue Bottle Coffee”.
• Category: the category to set, or Leave as is.
• Memo: text to add to the memo.
• Tags: one or more tags, like #coffee #treats.

Choose Add rule. It appears under Your rules as a sentence you can read back, for example:

When payee contains “blue bottle”: rename to “Blue Bottle Coffee”, categorize as Dining out, tag #coffee

Five rules worth having

Here are patterns that cover a lot of ground. Adjust the text to what your bank actually shows.

1. Tidy a payee. When payee contains amzn mktp: rename to “Amazon”. This makes reports by payee readable.
2. Split one payee by amount. A warehouse club where small trips are groceries and big ones are household stock: when payee contains costco and amount from -150.00 to 0.00, categorize as Groceries. A second rule with no amount range can catch the rest as Shopping.
3. One account, one purpose. If you keep a card only for fuel, leave the payee text empty, set Account to that card, and categorize as Transportation. A rule needs at least one condition, and an account on its own counts.
4. Tag for a project. When payee contains home depot: tag #renovation. Tags let you report on a project across categories.
5. Catch fees. When payee contains overdraft or atm fee: categorize as Fees & charges. (Make one rule per wording.)

Order matters: first match wins

Rules run from the top of the list down. For each field (payee, category, memo), the first matching rule that sets it wins. Tags are different: they add up, so every matching rule can add its tags.

That’s why the order of the Costco rules above matters. The narrower rule, with the amount range, must sit above the broad one. Otherwise the broad rule categorizes every Costco trip as Shopping first.

To reorder, use the ↑ (Run earlier) and ↓ (Run later) buttons beside each rule. Delete removes a rule after asking you to confirm.

A simple habit: put specific rules near the top and general ones near the bottom.

Applying rules to transactions you already have

New rules only affect new transactions, unless you apply them. Under Your rules, the card Apply to existing transactions lets you do that safely: “See what your rules would change before anything changes. Transfers and split transactions are never touched.”

There are two buttons:

• Preview uncategorized: only transactions that have no category yet. This is the safe everyday choice.
• Preview all, including recategorizing: every transaction, including ones you’ve already categorized. Use this after you’ve changed your mind about something, for example moving all coffee from Dining out to a new Coffee category.

Either button shows a preview table of what would change: the date, the payee (with the old name struck through if it’s being renamed), the new category, and the amount. Nothing has changed yet. If it looks right, choose Change 37 transactions (or however many there are). If the preview shows Nothing to change, your rules already agree with your history.

A worked example

You’ve just imported two years of history, and 600 transactions are uncategorized. You add six rules for your most common payees, then choose Preview uncategorized. The preview shows 412 changes. You scan them, spot that a rule for “shell” also caught “Shellfish Shack”, and fix that rule by changing contains to starts with. Preview again, and the restaurant is gone from the list. Choose Change 405 transactions, and two-thirds of your backlog is done.

Tips for rules that stay useful

• Match the stable part of the payee. Leave out store numbers, dates and reference codes.
• Prefer “starts with” for short text. A rule for “shell” with contains matches more than you expect.
• Use amount ranges sparingly. They’re powerful for payees that mean different things at different sizes, but most rules don’t need them.
• Revisit after a few months. Delete rules for places you no longer use, and check the review inbox for payees that keep arriving uncategorized.
• Rules come with you. Your rules are included when you download everything from Your data, so the work isn’t lost if you ever need it elsewhere.

#rules #categorization #kemback guides

This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. For decisions about your situation, talk to a qualified professional.