How keel learns your merchants

keel builds a memory of your merchants that belongs to your household alone. Once a merchant is categorised — by the AI with high confidence or by you — future transactions from that merchant are categorised instantly, with no review needed.

This is what makes keel get quieter over time: the first import asks questions, the third one barely needs you.

How it works

Raw bank descriptions are messy ("DD TESCO STORES 3947 LDN"), so keel cleans them up first: stripping prefixes and transaction noise, matching 80+ known UK brands, and producing a readable display name. The cleaned merchant becomes the lookup key for keel's memory.

On every import, keel checks its memory first. A confident match means instant categorisation — the AI is only asked about merchants keel hasn't learned yet.

Two learning paths

• AI learning — when the AI categorises a merchant with high confidence, keel remembers it for next time.
• Your corrections — when you confirm or correct a category, your decision always overrides anything the AI learned.

One-off vs permanent corrections

When you change the category for a merchant keel already has a well-established rule for, it asks whether you mean the change permanently:

• "Just this once" — this transaction gets the new category, but the merchant's default stays. Use this for exceptions — a wheelbarrow at Tesco is Home & Garden, but Tesco should still default to Groceries.
• "Always [new category]" — all future transactions from this merchant use the new category.

For merchants keel has barely seen, your correction updates the memory silently — keel only asks when you're overriding an established pattern.

Business learning

Merchant memory also covers the personal/business flag. Confirm a merchant as personal spending on a business account once, and keel suggests it as personal on the next business import. You can also explicitly mark a merchant as always business. The same "just this once or always?" prompt applies when changing an established pattern.

If you have two or more businesses, keel also remembers which business each merchant belongs to — tag a merchant to one business once and future transactions auto-tag, for income as well as expenses. With a single business there's only one answer, so keel never asks. Flipping a merchant back to non-business clears the learning and keel treats it as fresh. See Business accounts.

Viewing and managing what keel has learned

Settings → Merchant rules shows every merchant keel knows, in two groups: Learned (confident, consistent) and Needs attention (fewer observations or less certainty). You can search, sort, change any merchant's category, or remove a rule entirely — keel re-learns that merchant from scratch on your next import.

Merchant detail

Tap a merchant name anywhere in the app to open its detail page: this month vs your 3-month average, the categories it's appeared in, a spending trend chart, recent transactions and the current rule. Where the pattern is clear, keel describes your rhythm with the merchant — "You shop here weekly, around £72 a visit" or "Monthly · £14.99 · unchanged 8 months". If the pattern is unclear, keel doesn't guess. See Merchant pages for the full tour.

Hygiene reminders

keel scans daily for merchants whose categorisation could be tidier and surfaces fixes in your inbox:

• Worth consolidating — most of a merchant's transactions are in one category but a few strayed. One tap moves them all.
• Rule mismatch — the saved rule says one category but recent transactions mostly go elsewhere. Update the rule to match reality.
• Multiple categories — a merchant is genuinely split with no clear leader (Deliveroo across Groceries, Eating Out and Takeaway). Pick a primary or accept the split.
• Worth locking in — a merchant you've categorised 5+ times with no rule yet. Lock it in so future imports auto-categorise.

Three or fewer reminders appear as individual cards with one-tap fixes; four or more collapse into a single card that opens a dedicated review screen where you can fix merchants one at a time or "Apply all" per section. Fix an issue anywhere in the app and the reminder disappears within seconds. Dismissed or fixed reminders don't return until the next month, and only if they still apply.

keel never flags sensitive merchants — pharmacies, therapists, solicitors, funeral services and gambling sites are always skipped.

Renaming merchants

Bank feeds produce names like "AMZN MKTP" or "TV LICENCE QBP1". On the merchant detail page, tap the pencil icon to rename. The new name appears everywhere immediately — transaction list, reports, recurring charges, coaching — and the original bank description is kept for reference. If the merchant is a payment processor (GoCardless, PayPal, Stripe), keel warns that renaming affects every transaction through that processor.

Merging merchants

When one real business appears under several names ("Woodcroft Vets", "Woodcroft Veterina", "Woodcroft Vet Group WD"), merge them:

1. From the rename screen — keel shows similar merchants it found; tick the ones that are the same business and confirm.
2. From "Merge with another merchant" on the detail page — search for the target and review a preview before confirming.

Merging combines all transactions under one name, keeps the stronger categorisation rule, leaves individual transaction categories unchanged, and applies to future imports of the old name automatically. Merges cannot be undone. If two merchants have clearly different spending patterns (Amazon vs Amazon Music), keel warns you before merging.

Good to know

• Merchant learning applies to new imports only. To fix existing transactions, use the bulk recategorise offer on the transaction detail page.
• Each category carries built-in guidance that quietly helps the AI on tricky edge cases — for example, baby clothes go to Clothing, not Childcare; Childcare is for paying someone to care for or educate a child.

FAQ

I corrected a merchant but old transactions still show the wrong category. Learning applies to new imports. Use bulk recategorise on the transaction detail page to fix existing ones.

Why doesn't keel ask me every time I change a category? For merchants keel has only seen once or twice, there's no established pattern to protect. The prompt only appears when you're overriding a well-established rule.

I chose "Just this once" but now want to change the default. Change the category on any future transaction from that merchant and pick "Always [category]" when prompted.

I deleted a merchant rule — what happens to existing transactions? They keep their current category. keel re-learns the merchant from scratch on your next import.

A merchant appears in multiple categories. How do I fix it? Open the merchant's detail page. If one category dominates (90%+ of transactions), keel offers a one-tap consolidate. For more even splits, "Pick one category" shows just the categories the merchant already appears in.

The trend chart ends with an amber dot and then nothing. Why? The dot marks the last month keel has data for. Months after it show "Not yet synced" rather than £0 — missing data isn't the same as spending nothing. Import the latest statements to extend the line.

Can I undo a merge? No. keel warns clearly before you confirm. If you're unsure, rename the merchants individually instead.

keel warned me about different spending patterns before a merge. Should I still merge? Only if you're sure they're the same business. Different patterns usually mean different services — merging makes them harder to track separately.