Are there credit cards that list more detail on each transacton?

January 4, 2014 11:48 AM

I am bewildered by the fact that in 2014 my Chase credit card statements are so terse on transaction details. I have had fraud on my card multiple times in the past year, and it's often difficult to sort out the legitimate and the fraudulent transactions. In response to one fraudulent charge, however, Chase e-mailed me asking about the suspect charges. In addition to the abbreviated and cryptic sounding company name that is on my statement, they helpfully listed the non-abbreviated name, the time (rather than just the date), as well as the category (a taxi and limousine company). I would love such information on my credit card statements for all transactions. So two questions: 1) Do any of you have credit cards you are happy with that list details such as time, or category? Or phone number for the merchant? This question was spurred by a memory of a friend telling me his card listed such things. 2) Less importantly, but in case anyone wants to chime in, does anyone know why all cards don't give more detail? How hard can this be in 2014? Thanks in advance.
posted by User7 to Work & Money (14 answers total)

I don't have an AmEx card anymore, so it's been a while since I've seen an AmEx statement ... but in my experience AmEx has the most detailed statements.
posted by jayder at 11:55 AM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have a Discover card that I use for routine stuff and there is a terse line of what I did on the PDF statement but the website gives you access to much more stuff on a per transaction basis. Here's an example. I went to the supermarket. At the bottom of this I also have the option to dispute this transaction or print these details. If it's mail order or a phone order there are a bunch of other details that get added. Sometimes they have the city name, sometimes they have a phone number. It seems to vary.

#07529 SHAW'S MARKET RANDOLPH VT $ 52.61 Supermarkets

General Transaction Information
Original Network Post Date 11/07/2013
Original Network Trans Date 11/05/2013
Approval Code 00518R
Merchant Name #07529 SHAW'S MARKET
Merchant City Name RANDOLPH
Merchant Zip Code 05060
Partial Shipment Indicator N
Merchant Category Description GROCERY STORES AND SUPERMARKETS
Broad Industry Description RETAIL-GENERAL
Device Type Description Square Card (CR80)
POS Mode Description CARD SWIPED
Buyer Name JESSAMYN WEST
Recurring Billing Indicator N
Authorized Merchant Name #07529 SHAW'S MARKET
Authorized Merchant Street 127 VT. HIGHWAY 12S
Authorized Merchant State Code VT
Authorized Merchant Zip Code 05060
posted by jessamyn at 12:00 PM on January 4, 2014

Best answer: For my Chase credit card you can get more details by going to the Dispute a Charge page and clicking on the transaction. For example:

KREUZ MARKET
Transaction type Purchase
Transaction date 12/28/2013
Post date 12/30/2013
Amount $28.74
Merchant address LOCKHART,TX 786440000 US
Merchant category EATING PLACES, RESTAURANTS
Purchase information In-person transaction
Reference number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Phone numbers instead of cities are sometimes listed for businesses that mainly do business by phone or web.

Maybe I am old-fashioned but I try to reconcile my credit card statements against receipts with Quicken, which makes it pretty easy to find things that don't match up.
posted by grouse at 12:16 PM on January 4, 2014

Yes, reconciling your statement with your receipts each cycle is the safest way to go. I also have Chase and I can access the extended info using the method Grouse outlined above.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:27 PM on January 4, 2014

Is this your online statements or paper? From bank of america I get more detail online than in the paper bill.

I will have to look how much detail is online.
posted by TheAdamist at 12:32 PM on January 4, 2014

I don't have a personal Amex but I remember the business account statements had a lot of information (including things like ticket number if it was an airline ticket purchase) on them when I was in charge of reconciling those statements.
posted by magnetsphere at 12:34 PM on January 4, 2014

Response by poster: @grouse, thank you! It never occurred to me to look there, as I always dispute over the phone. That helps a lot. (And unfortunately, I never keep receipts, hence having any bit of additional info is very useful!).
posted by User7 at 1:01 PM on January 4, 2014

does anyone know why all cards don't give more detail?

I think it's two things: while I don't know this for a fact, I assume it's because a) many people don't actually want/need more detail than that terse little line and b) more detail can usually be acquired on a per transaction basis online.

I wonder if it can be requested?
posted by sm1tten at 1:03 PM on January 4, 2014

It's not a credit card, but I love simple.com for stuff like this.
posted by destructive cactus at 1:18 PM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

To be more detailed, my simple.com checking account is linked into a smartphone app. I get notified when a transaction is made, and it stores the location I was at during the transaction (at least, that's how I think it works, but it's really handy to have a geolocation tag for each transaction, let me tell you).

Also, if the name of the transaction is cryptic, I can rename it to something more handily memorable and it'll remember to list future transactions from the same merchant with the nomenclature I picked. Of course, it also has category (you can change it), time and date stamp, etc.

There's live chat with support reps built into the app, too, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but I don't want to sound like an advertisement!
posted by destructive cactus at 1:23 PM on January 4, 2014

agree with cactus- Simple is a great service. I love the app and the notifications that I get with every transaction. Customer service rocks.
posted by catrae at 1:34 PM on January 4, 2014

Response by poster: ^ Thanks guys. I would switch to Simple in a second if it were for credit cards instead of a debit card only. If anyone has a suggestion for a similar service for credit cards, I'm all ears!
posted by User7 at 2:40 PM on January 4, 2014

I haven't tried this yet--keep meaning to--but I hear good things about this app. I think it learns from your own input/designations and recognizes similar terse lines categorized by others using the app (maybe not, but worth checking out?).
posted by whoiam at 8:31 PM on January 4, 2014

American Express does good detail on statements.
posted by arcticseal at 8:34 PM on January 4, 2014