Refunds and returns

When money comes back to you — a retail refund, an insurance payout, a friend repaying their share of dinner — keel treats it as a reduction of the original expense, never as income. Your reports show what things actually cost you, and your income figure stays honest.

Returned direct debits and cashback are handled too, each in the way that keeps your numbers accurate.

How it works

Matching a refund

Refunds arrive as money in, so they first appear in the Income section of the review queue. Tap "This is a refund / reimbursement" and keel shows likely matches from the past 60 days — scored mainly on merchant name, then amount, then how close the dates are. When the merchant is a strong match, keel widens the amount range to catch partial refunds, like returning one item from a multi-item order.

Once matched, the refund links to the original purchase and takes its expense category. Spend shows net of refunds everywhere it appears — Reports, Budgets (including the "typical monthly" figure), and your health score all use the same number — so a category never reads one figure on Budgets and a different one in Reports. If a category's refunds exceed its spending in a month, it shows the honest negative (money back) rather than being rounded up to zero.

You can match from the review queue or the transaction's detail page. After matching, the detail page shows the linked purchase with a "Change match" option.

One refund, several purchases

If a single refund covers more than one purchase — say an insurance payout reimbursing several vet visits — tap "Split across multiple purchases", select the original transactions, and set how much applies to each. The amounts must add up to the total refund.

Several payments, one expense

When friends each send you their share of a group expense, match each payment to the same original purchase. keel tracks how much has already been offset and won't let the total exceed the original amount.

Seeing the links

The refund's detail page shows which purchases it offsets and by how much. The original expense's page shows an "Offset by" section listing every refund that reduces its cost.

Finding your refunds

On the All Transactions screen, use the "Refunds only" filter to see every refund grouped by month.

Returned direct debits

A returned DD is a failed payment — the bank tried to collect and it bounced. That's different from a refund. keel detects them from the bank's description ("RETURNED DD", "UNPAID DD" and similar) and pairs each return with the original outgoing payment: exact amount, same or next day, one return to one original. If two outgoing payments could match, keel asks you rather than guessing.

Paired returns and originals cancel each other out — both are excluded everywhere spend is shown (your monthly reports, the year-to-date totals, Budgets, and your score), because the money never actually left your account. On the first-import review screen they're hidden entirely because there's nothing to do.

Cashback and rewards

Cashback and reward credits on credit cards reduce what you owe — they're functionally a partial refund, not income. keel detects them automatically and classifies them so they offset your spending. On a credit card import review, cashback appears in its own "Credits & refunds" section alongside retail refunds. More in Transaction types explained.

Why it works this way

Netting refunds against expenses gives you an honest answer to "what did this actually cost?". One deliberate exception: coaching looks at your gross spending for trend signals, so a habit doesn't hide behind a one-off refund. And a refund counts in the month it arrives rather than being backdated — your monthly numbers reflect what actually happened that month.

Good to know

• If an expense is fully offset by refunds, it stays in your transaction list but nets to zero in your reports.
• Re-classifying a refund (removing and re-matching) replaces all its previous allocations — it doesn't stack.
• If the original purchase happened before your keel history starts, use the no-match option: classify the refund and pick the expense category directly without linking to a specific transaction.
• For a split refund covering different categories, the refund's headline category is the one with the largest share.

FAQ

I got a refund but it's showing as income. Tap "This is a refund / reimbursement" in the review queue and match it to the original purchase.

A refund arrived months after the purchase. keel looks back 60 days for matches. Beyond that, you can still classify it as a refund and pick the expense category manually.

My friend paid me back for dinner — is that a refund? Yes. Match it to the original dinner expense and it reduces your net cost for that meal.

Three friends each paid me £30 for a £120 dinner. Match each payment to the same dinner transaction. keel tracks the running offset and won't let you exceed the original amount.

I got an insurance payout covering multiple vet visits. Use "Split across multiple purchases" to allocate portions of the payout to each vet bill.

How do I find all my refunds? On the All Transactions screen, open the filters and select "Refunds only".