Problem
Transaction descriptions returned by the SimpleFin API appear to be sourced only from the OFX NAME field, which is limited to 32 characters per the OFX spec. The OFX MEMO field (up to 255 characters) — which often contains the rest of the description — seems to be discarded.
This means downstream apps receive truncated descriptions that cut off merchant names, locations, and reference numbers.
Example
What SimpleFin returns:
WITHDRAWAL 03/05 RIVERSIDE GROCE
What the bank's full description contains (NAME + MEMO):
WITHDRAWAL 03/05 RIVERSIDE GROCERY & DELI SPRINGFIELD PA 24428066065501130411774 5411 %% CARD 17 #9744
The merchant name ("GROCERY & DELI") and location details are entirely in the MEMO portion and get lost.
Impact
- Auto-categorization breaks — budgeting apps that use rule-based matching on transaction descriptions can't reliably identify merchants when the name is cut off at 32 characters
- Ambiguous transactions — multiple merchants in the same town can share the first 32 characters, making it impossible to distinguish them without the full description
- Manual identification is harder — users have to cross-reference with their bank's website to figure out what a transaction actually was
This affects any bank that splits transaction details across OFX NAME and MEMO fields, which is a common pattern among US banks.
Ask
Would it be possible to concatenate NAME + MEMO (or prefer MEMO when it's a superset of NAME) when populating the transaction description field in the API response? This is a well-known OFX quirk — other budgeting tools like MoneyDance have had to solve the same NAME/MEMO merging problem.
Happy to provide more examples or help test if that would be useful. Thanks for building SimpleFin — it's a great service!
Problem
Transaction descriptions returned by the SimpleFin API appear to be sourced only from the OFX
NAMEfield, which is limited to 32 characters per the OFX spec. The OFXMEMOfield (up to 255 characters) — which often contains the rest of the description — seems to be discarded.This means downstream apps receive truncated descriptions that cut off merchant names, locations, and reference numbers.
Example
What SimpleFin returns:
What the bank's full description contains (NAME + MEMO):
The merchant name ("GROCERY & DELI") and location details are entirely in the MEMO portion and get lost.
Impact
This affects any bank that splits transaction details across OFX NAME and MEMO fields, which is a common pattern among US banks.
Ask
Would it be possible to concatenate NAME + MEMO (or prefer MEMO when it's a superset of NAME) when populating the transaction
descriptionfield in the API response? This is a well-known OFX quirk — other budgeting tools like MoneyDance have had to solve the same NAME/MEMO merging problem.Happy to provide more examples or help test if that would be useful. Thanks for building SimpleFin — it's a great service!