Make the totals add up
Why your spending total looks too high: a reconciliation checklist
Check pending payments, transfers between your own accounts, credit-card repayments and refunds before counting the same spending twice.
The useful answer
Before treating every debit as spending, check what it represents. A transfer between your own accounts moves money; a credit-card repayment can settle purchases already counted; and a pending card authorisation may sit alongside the final payment. Compare the original account records before changing your budget or deciding that a charge is duplicated.
What to know
- Choose whether you are measuring purchases or money leaving one account.
- Match transfers and repayments across the accounts included in your review.
- Two genuinely completed charges need investigation; do not dismiss them as a display issue.
First decide which total you want.
“How much did I buy this month?” and “How much left my current account?” are different questions. A purchase total helps explain consumption. A cash-flow total helps explain the balance available to pay bills. Both can be useful, but mixing their rules produces a misleading number.
Choose a date range, a currency and the accounts included. If you include a credit card, count its purchases in the spending view and identify the payment from your current account as a repayment. If you only have the current-account statement, that repayment is a real outgoing, but it does not tell you which purchases it settled.
Match the pattern before adjusting the total.
Check dates, amounts, merchant descriptions, account names and payment status. Matching an amount alone is not enough: two purchases can have the same price. Keep the original entries intact and make any adjustment in your own review notes or the supported categorisation controls.
| What you see | What to check | Treatment in a purchase-based budget |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer out and matching transfer in | Both accounts belong to you and are in scope | Exclude the internal move from new spending; keep any separate fee |
| Card purchases and a card repayment | The repayment settles the included card balance | Count purchases once; show repayment separately for cash flow |
| Pending and completed card entries | Bank status and merchant confirmation | Do not assume two settled charges; reconcile when status is clear |
| Refund received after a purchase | Which purchase it reverses and which reporting period you use | Record the refund once and explain your date convention |
Work through a small example.
Suppose your account feed shows £60 groceries on a credit card, a £60 payment from your current account to that card, and £200 moved from your current account to your own savings account. Counting all outgoing entries produces £320. That does not mean you bought £320 of goods.
If all three accounts are included and the repayment relates to the recorded purchase, new purchase spending is £60. The £60 repayment settles the card liability and the £200 transfer increases your savings balance. Your current-account cash outflow is still £260, so those movements matter when checking whether bills can be paid.
Use your bank’s status for pending payments.
Monzo explains that a pending payment reserves money while the merchant has not yet collected it. Release timing depends on the transaction, and some holds last longer than ordinary purchases. Other banks can use different timing and labels; consult your own bank’s current guidance.
If both entries have completed, a charge is unfamiliar, or the held money causes a problem, use your bank’s official help route and the merchant’s records. Do not wait for a budgeting app to resolve a suspected unauthorised payment. A forecast refund is not money already available.
Keep a short reconciliation note.
When asking Lodo about spending, specify the period and provide relevant context about your own transfers or repayments. This checklist does not claim that every app automatically recognises every match. Never paste full card details, bank passwords or security codes into a chat.
- Record the reporting dates, currency and accounts included.
- List the entries you are matching, using a private reference rather than sharing account details.
- Write the reason for each adjustment: transfer, repayment, pending item or refund.
- Keep unresolved entries separate and mark the next check date.
- Compare the adjusted spending total with the original statements; explain any remaining gap.
Sources & further reading
Examples are illustrative unless stated otherwise.
- Monzo: when a card payment is pending · Checked 20 October 2026
- MoneyHelper: budget planner · Checked 20 October 2026
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