Convert an American Express statement to Excel

What you can export from Amex directly

American Express offers several downloads, each with its own format list and time window. From its statements and activity FAQ and download FAQ:

If one of these files covers the period you need, upload it here instead of the PDFs: Excel, CSV, QFX and QBO uploads use no pages (with any plan or page pack), and the merchants still get clean names and categories.

When you need to convert Amex PDF statements

• More than two years back. The Excel and CSV download stops at two years; archived statements go further, but only as PDFs.
• A QuickBooks file for more than six statements. The Quicken and QuickBooks download covers recent activity and the last six billing statements. Catching up a full year of books means converting the rest.
• Statements from clients. Bookkeepers and tax preparers usually receive the PDF statement, not access to the account.
• The statement as the record. When an accountant or lender needs the numbers to agree with the statement — previous balance, payments, new charges, new balance — the PDF is the source that shows all of them.

Charges, credits and signs

On the PDF statement, payments and credits are listed apart from new charges and shown as negative amounts. In Amex's own CSV and Excel downloads charges usually appear as positive numbers and payments as negative — the reverse of how a bank account export reads, so mixing the two in one spreadsheet without flipping signs gives wrong totals.

Whatever you upload, the export uses one rule: purchases, fees and interest are negative (money out), payments and refunds are positive (money in). The statement is then checked from its previous balance to its new balance, so a sign that went the wrong way can't slip through. Read more about converting a credit card statement to Excel.

Additional Card Members and multiple cards

Amex itemizes the charges of each Additional Card on the billing statement, so one statement can list purchases by several people. They all belong to one account with one balance, so they're converted as one statement and the totals still reconcile — while each charge keeps its own description, so you can filter by merchant afterwards.

If you hold several Amex cards, each has its own statement. Convert them together and export one file, optionally limited to a date range, or keep them separate per card. Cards from other issuers work the same way — see Chase or all bank guides.

Plan It and Pay Over Time on the statement

If you use Plan It, the monthly plan payment is added to the minimum payment due and appears from the next billing statement, and the statement shows an adjusted balance while plans are active. Pay Over Time balances are shown separately from Pay In Full balances, and Amex says Pay Over Time will be permanently set to active from February 1, 2027. None of this changes the transactions themselves: purchases are still purchases, and the conversion checks them against the statement's new balance.

Amex into QuickBooks, Xero or a spreadsheet

• QuickBooks Online: upload the three-column QuickBooks Online CSV to the credit card account — see bank statements to QuickBooks.
• QuickBooks Desktop: a .qbo Web Connect file for the periods Amex's own download doesn't reach.
• Xero: the Xero CSV, ready for Xero's statement import — see bank statements to Xero.
• Excel: a Transactions sheet plus a Summary sheet by category and month — similar to Amex's Year-End Summary, but for any period and for every card you upload. See bank statement to Excel.

Questions