Transaction types explained

Every transaction in keel has a type that determines how it's treated in your reports, score and coaching. Most spending is just an expense — but money in isn't always income, and money out isn't always spending. Getting the type right is what keeps your financial picture honest.

keel detects most types automatically and asks you to confirm when it matters.

How it works

Expenses

Regular spending — the default for money out. Appears in your reports under its category and counts in your score.

Income

Money in, sub-typed when you confirm it:

• Salary — regular employment income
• Rental income — property rental receipts
• Business income (pre-tax) — self-employment income, before tax
• Business income (post-tax) — dividends and distributions
• Other income — everything else

You set the income type in the review queue or on the transaction's detail page. How each type counts toward your spendable income — and how estimated tax applies for the self-employed — is covered in Income types.

Internal transfers

Money moving between your own accounts. Excluded from your reports and score — it's not spending or income, just money changing location. Sub-types: credit card payments, internal transfers, savings transfers, and pending transfers (money sent to an account not yet in keel, matched automatically when you later import it). See Transfers between accounts.

Refunds

Returned money that should reduce an expense category, not inflate your income. keel matches refunds to original purchases where it can — including one refund split across several purchases, or several payments offsetting one expense. Refunds show as deductions from the expense category, and if a category's refunds exceed its spending one month, it shows as a net credit. Full details in Refunds and returns.

Returned payments

Bounced direct debits, chargebacks and recalls — detected from patterns in the bank's description like "RETURNED DD" or "REVERSAL". These are failed transactions, so they're excluded from your reports entirely.

Savings account interest

Interest earned on savings accounts (ISAs, regular savers, instant access) is classified as Savings & Investments, not income. Interest grows your savings balance rather than adding to what you can spend — counting it as income would inflate your income figure and distort your savings rate.

keel detects it automatically from patterns like "GROSS INT", "INT PAID" and "AER" on savings-type accounts. Interest on a current account is different — it lands in your spending account, so it IS counted as income.

Cashback and rewards

Cashback credits and reward payouts on credit cards reduce what you owe — they're functionally a partial refund, not income. keel detects them automatically (patterns like "CASHBACK", "REWARD", "LOYALTY CREDIT") and classifies them as refunds in the Bank Fees & Charges category, so they offset your spending.

Loan receipts

Money in from a lender is not income — receiving a loan doesn't increase what you've earned, it creates an obligation. keel detects loan receipts from payee patterns, confirms with you, and excludes them from your income figures and savings rate. They stay visible in your transaction list for reference.

Debt repayments

Money out to a lender — mortgage payments, car finance, personal loans, credit card debt payments. These aren't everyday spending and they aren't transfers: they're a distinct type of outflow that reduces what you owe.

keel gives them their own section in your reports ("Debt repayments"), separate from regular spending, so loan payments don't inflate your spending figures or distort budget tracking. They count in your total outflows (it's real money leaving your accounts) but not in discretionary spending.

keel detects them automatically from lender patterns. The full payment amount is shown — keel doesn't yet split capital from interest. Regular, on-time repayments also feed the debt component of your score.

Business reimbursements

If your business pays you back for an expense you covered on a personal card, that's a reimbursement — not income. Your household already absorbed the original cost, so the money coming back just squares the books.

When money arrives from a business you've paid expenses for, keel asks softly: "Could this be a reimbursement from {business}?" Confirming marks it, excludes it from income, and reduces the outstanding balance on that business's page. keel only asks when it's confident which business is paying you — either you tagged the transaction, or it came from an account mapped to that business.

keel tracks reimbursements as a running balance per business and account, rather than matching them to individual receipts. If a refund later arrives for an expense the business already reimbursed, the balance naturally flips to show the business has overpaid you. See Business accounts.

Why it works this way

• Refunds reduce expenses, not inflate income — your reports show what things actually cost you.
• Credit card payments are transfers, not expenses — the underlying purchases were already categorised when you made them. Counting the payment too would double-count everything.
• Loans aren't revenue — money you have to repay isn't money you've earned.
• Debt repayments get their own section — mixing loan payments in with groceries would make your spending figures misleading.

FAQ

A refund appeared in my income section — what do I do? Tap "This is a refund" and match it to the original purchase. It moves to the correct expense category.

Why is my credit card payment showing as a transfer? Because it's money moving between your accounts. The actual spending is tracked when you import your credit card statement.

Why isn't my savings interest showing as income? Interest on savings grows your savings balance — it's not money you can spend. Counting it as income would inflate your income figure and make your savings rate look worse than it is.

What about interest on my current account? That IS counted as income, because it lands in your spending account and is genuinely available to spend.

Why isn't cashback showing as income? Cashback reduces your credit card balance; it doesn't put money in your current account. keel treats it like a partial refund instead.

I received a personal loan but it's not showing as income — is that right? Yes. A loan is money you have to repay, not money you earned.

My loan repayment is showing as a regular expense — how do I fix it? Tap the transaction and change its type to "Debt repayment". keel learns the pattern and classifies future payments from the same lender automatically.

Can keel show how much of my loan payment is interest vs capital? Not yet. keel shows the full payment amount for now; a split will come in a future update when reliable data is available.