Free interactive tool
Statement Charge Decoder
The statement charge decoder identifies the biller class behind a statement descriptor — the compressed merchant text on a bank or card statement line. Most mystery lines are real purchases wearing a payment processor’s name instead of the shop’s: SQ* is a business that takes payments through Square, APPLE.COM/BILL is Apple billing an app or subscription, GOOGLE* prefixes are Google products, PAYPAL * lines are merchants you approved through PayPal, AMZN Mktp is an Amazon purchase, and MSFT* is Microsoft. The decoder matches your pasted line against a curated table of those official descriptor formats and points you at the biller’s own lookup tool — the place that can show you the actual seller and receipt.
Paste the statement line
Paste the line exactly as the statement shows it. Amounts and dates are not needed and are ignored.
Privacy: what you paste is processed entirely in your browser by the mapping table shown below. It is never sent to a server, stored, or captured by this site’s analytics.
The mapping table (every row sourced and dated)
This is the complete table the decoder runs on — nothing hidden, no guessing, no forum lore. Each row is supported by the official page linked in its source column, checked on the date shown. Formats change, so the official lookup beats a memorized prefix.
| Statement text looks like | Who actually billed | What it usually is | Official lookup | Source (checked) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGLE *TEMPORARY HOLD | Google (card verification) | A pending card-verification hold, not a settled purchase. It drops off on its own when the transaction completes. | Google's statement-charges help page | official page (2026-09-13) |
| SQ* SELLER NAME | A business using Square | An in-person or online purchase from the seller named after the SQ* prefix — often the seller's registered legal name, not the storefront sign. | Square receipt lookup at squareup.com/receipts | official page (2026-09-13) |
| APPLE.COM/BILL | Apple | Apps, subscriptions, iCloud, or media billed by Apple — including renewals and Family Sharing members' purchases on other Apple Accounts in the household. | Purchase history at reportaproblem.apple.com | official page (2026-09-13) |
| GOOGLE*SELLER or GOOGLE *PRODUCT | A Google Play purchase, a Google subscription, or another Google product; descriptor formats vary by product. | Google Play purchase history and Google's statement-charges page | official page (2026-09-13) | |
| PAYPAL *MERCHANT | A merchant paid through PayPal | A purchase or an automatic payment agreement you approved once — the merchant behind the line is listed inside your PayPal account, not on the statement. | PayPal: Settings → Payments → Automatic payments | official page (2026-09-13) |
| AMZ*Prime or AMAZON PRIME* | Amazon (Prime membership) | A monthly or annual Amazon Prime membership payment, per Amazon's official descriptor table. | Amazon: Your Transactions and Manage Your Prime Membership | official page (2026-09-14) |
| Amazon Digital Svcs amzn.com/bill | Amazon (digital services) | A digital charge — Kindle books, app or video downloads, or a Prime Video channel subscription, per Amazon's descriptor table. | Amazon: Your Transactions and Your Digital Orders | official page (2026-09-14) |
| AMZN Mktp, AMAZON MKTPLACE PMTS, or AMZN.COM/BILL | Amazon | An Amazon.com purchase (split orders bill per shipment, so one order can post as several lines) or an Amazon Pay transaction on another site. | Amazon: Your Transactions (match amount and date to an order) | official page (2026-09-14) |
| MSFT* or MICROSOFT*PRODUCT | Microsoft | A Microsoft subscription, store purchase, or in-app purchase (for example MICROSOFT*CANDY CRUSH), often a recurring renewal or a family member's purchase. | Microsoft account: Manage your payments → Investigate | official page (2026-09-14) |
A line that matches no row is not automatically fraud. Work the 15-minute identification workflow first: email search by exact amount, the household check, and your own second accounts — then escalate with your issuer if the line survives all of it.
Worked example (hypothetical line)
A statement shows SQ* BRIGHT LEAF LLC $14.37 (hypothetical line, not a real charge). The decoder matches the SQ* prefix: a business that takes payments through Square, posting under its registered name — a taco truck can post as an LLC you have never heard of. The official lookup is Square’s receipt finder at squareup.com/receipts, which can match the charge to the seller and show the receipt. Total time: about two minutes, no fraud claim, no cancelled card.