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Clean up a merchant name

Last updated October 13, 2026

On this page

A merchant name from your bank or a statement can be a raw descriptor, such as SQ *CORNER BAKERY 4471. Ask your AI to rename the merchant on a transaction and Pennyweight stores the clean name in its place. To find the transaction first, see ask about any transaction.

How to do it

  1. Tell your AI which transaction you mean. The merchant as it appears now, plus a date or an amount, is usually enough.
  2. Give the name you want. Pennyweight saves it exactly as you type it.
  3. Your AI finds the transaction, renames it and tells you what changed.
Try asking

Rename my SQ *CORNER BAKERY charge to Corner Bakery.

Try asking

Rename my SQ *CORNER BAKERY charge to Corner Bakery, then show me that transaction's full details.

What you'll see

Your AI finds the charge, identifies it by its date or amount and confirms the new name. For the first prompt, the card charge that read SQ *CORNER BAKERY 4471 now reads Corner Bakery. The change saves straight away. Pennyweight doesn't ask you to confirm a rename. For the second prompt, the full record shows the new name and the original name the transaction was imported with.

What the new name changes

The new name replaces the old one on that transaction. Searches, rules and saved facts see the new name:

  • Searches. A search for "corner bakery" still finds the charge. A search for "SQ *" no longer does.
  • Rules. Rules match the merchant name as it is stored now. A rule written for the old descriptor can stop matching a renamed transaction. Check your rules after a rename. See create a rule. See a rule didn't categorize a transaction.
  • What your AI remembers. Facts your AI saved about a merchant are looked up by the merchant's current name. See what your AI remembers.

Good to know

  • One transaction per rename. There is no way to rename many transactions in one step. To rename every charge from one merchant, your AI renames them one at a time. Bulk edits cover categories and tags only. See tags and notes.
  • Bank transactions can be renamed too. The amount, date and currency of a bank transaction are locked, and the merchant name is not.
  • A bank update can bring the bank's name back. If your bank sends a transaction again, for example when a pending charge posts or the bank revises it, Pennyweight takes the merchant from the bank's new copy. Your rename on that transaction is replaced. Your category, notes and comments carry over.
  • The original name is kept on imported and hand-entered transactions. Ask your AI to open the transaction to see it. Transactions from a connected bank don't keep a separate original name.
  • A rename doesn't change the category. To change that too, ask for it in the same message. See change a transaction's category.
  • Every rename has a reason. Your AI records why it made the change. The reason is kept on the transaction and in your audit trail.
  • Typed the wrong amount or date on a hand-entered transaction? That's a different fix. See fix a manual entry.
  • Ask about any transactionAsk your AI to find transactions by date, merchant, amount, category, tag or account, and to open any one of them in full detail.
  • Change a transaction's categoryAsk your AI to move one transaction to a different category. Your choice is saved as your own decision, and rules never overwrite it.
  • Create a categorization ruleTell your AI once which category a merchant belongs in. It saves a rule that sorts that merchant's new transactions, and can sort existing ones too.
  • A rule didn't categorize a transactionYou made a rule, but a matching transaction is still uncategorized or has another category. Here is why a rule skips a transaction and how to fix it.