Credit card statements contain valuable spending data trapped in PDF format. Converting to a spreadsheet unlocks analysis capabilities—similar to how a bank statement converter transforms bank PDFs into usable data.

Why Convert Credit Card Statements

Expense Tracking

See exactly where money goes
Identify spending patterns
Track against budget categories

Tax Preparation

Separate business from personal—essential for small business owners
Calculate deductible expenses
Prepare documentation for accountant

Budgeting

Analyze monthly spending trends
Compare spending across periods
Identify areas to cut back

Reconciliation

Match against receipts—see how to reconcile bank statements in Excel
Verify charges are legitimate
Dispute errors with documentation

Credit Card Statement Structure

Common Elements

Field	Description
Transaction Date	When purchase was made
Posting Date	When it hit your account
Description	Merchant name and details
Reference Number	Transaction ID
Amount	Purchase amount
Category	Merchant category (some cards)

Additional Sections

Previous balance
Payments and credits
New charges
Fees and interest
Rewards summary
Payment due date

Method 1: Statement Converter

The fastest way to convert credit card PDFs is using a bank statement converter. The same technology that extracts transactions from bank statements works for credit cards.

Steps

Download PDF from credit card portal
Upload to bank statement converter
Select output format (Excel/CSV)—see bank statement formats explained
Download converted file

Output Example

Trans Date	Post Date	Description	Amount
01/14/26	01/15/26	AMAZON MKTPLACE	$47.99
01/15/26	01/16/26	STARBUCKS #1234	$5.75
01/16/26	01/17/26	SHELL OIL 57832	$52.00

Method 2: Credit Card Portal Download

Most credit card companies offer transaction exports:

American Express

Log into amex.com
Go to "Statements & Activity"
Click "Download" icon
Select CSV, Excel, or Quicken format

Prefer automated conversion? Try the American Express Statement Converter →

Chase

Log into chase.com
Go to credit card account
Click "Download account activity"
Select format and date range

Prefer automated conversion? Try the Chase Statement Converter →

Capital One

Log into capitalone.com
Go to account activity
Click "Download Transactions"
Choose CSV format

Prefer automated conversion? Try the Capital One Statement Converter →

Discover

Log into discover.com
Go to Statements
Click "Download"
Select Excel format

Prefer automated conversion? Try the Discover Statement Converter →

Citi

Log into citi.com
Go to credit card account
Click "Download to Spreadsheet"
Choose format

Prefer automated conversion? Try the Citi Statement Converter →

Credit Card vs Bank Statement Differences

Understanding the differences helps when you convert PDF bank statements to CSV versus credit card statements. For background on bank statement basics, see what is a bank statement.

Feature	Bank Statement	Credit Card Statement
Date columns	Usually one	Often two (trans/post)
Amount sign	+/-	Usually all positive
Payments	Deposits	Credits
Balance	Running	Statement balance
Categories	Rarely included	Sometimes included

Handling Specific Card Types

Rewards Cards

Statement may include:

Points earned per transaction
Total points balance
Rewards redemptions

These may or may not convert—focus on transaction data.

Business Credit Cards

Often include:

Employee card identification
Department codes
More detailed merchant info

Useful for expense allocation.

Store Credit Cards

May have:

Store-specific formatting
Promotional balance details
Different layout than major cards

Adding Categories After Conversion

Categorizing expenses is key to meaningful analysis. Learn more about transaction categorization or how to categorize bank transactions automatically.

Manual Categorization

Add a "Category" column and assign:

Description	Amount	Category
AMAZON MKTPLACE	$47.99	Shopping
STARBUCKS	$5.75	Dining
SHELL OIL	$52.00	Gas

Formula-Based Categorization

Use IF or nested IF:

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("AMAZON",B2)),"Shopping",
 IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("STARBUCKS",B2)),"Dining",
 IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("SHELL",B2)),"Gas","Other")))

VLOOKUP with Mapping Table

Create a lookup table:

Keyword	Category
AMAZON	Shopping
STARBUCKS	Dining
SHELL	Gas
UBER	Transportation

Then use VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH.

Analyzing Credit Card Spending

Spending by Category

Create a pivot table:

Rows: Category
Values: Sum of Amount

Monthly Trends

Add Month column: =TEXT(A2,"YYYY-MM")
Pivot by Month and Category

Top Merchants

Sort by amount descending to see where most money goes.

Average Transaction Size

=AVERAGE(C:C)

Preparing for Tax Season

Separate Business Expenses

Add "Business/Personal" column
Mark each transaction
Filter for business only
Sum by category

Create Expense Report

Category	Annual Total
Office Supplies	$1,234.00
Software	$2,500.00
Travel	$3,456.00
Meals (50%)	$800.00

Document Retention

Keep converted spreadsheets
Organize by year
Match to receipts where required

Multi-Card Analysis

If you have multiple credit cards, combining them gives you a complete spending picture. The same approach works for merging multiple bank statements into one spreadsheet.

Combine Data

Convert each card's statements
Add "Card" column to each
Combine into master spreadsheet

Unified Format

Standardize columns:

Date | Card | Merchant | Amount | Category

Compare Cards

Which card do you use most?
Which categories on which card?
Optimize for rewards

Common Issues

For general troubleshooting, see common errors in bank statement conversion.

Issue: Payments Show as Charges

Credit card payments might appear in transactions.

Solution: Filter out or categorize separately. Look for "PAYMENT" in description.

Issue: Returns Not Matched

Return credits don't link to original purchase.

Solution: Note returns separately. Net effect shows in monthly total.

Issue: Foreign Transactions

International charges may show:

Original currency
Conversion rate
USD amount

Solution: Typically the USD amount is what matters for analysis.

Summary

Converting credit card statements to spreadsheets enables expense tracking, budgeting, and tax preparation. Use your card's portal download feature or a statement converter to get the data. Add categories for meaningful analysis, create pivot tables for insights, and organize by year for tax season. The key is making the conversion part of your regular financial routine.