Analyze seven years of credit card statements with Claude Cowork

Posted

Feb 2, 2026 by Simon Smith (@_simonsmith)

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Last checked

Oct 16, 2026

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Method:

How we verify

Evidence: Screenshots or logsThe source shows screenshots, a transcript or the agent's output.

Outcome

From seven years of monthly credit card statement PDFs in zip files, Claude Cowork returned an Excel file with 5,726 extracted, categorized transactions plus analysis; issues were vendor transaction IDs and some miscategorized vendors it wasn't told how to handle.

Agent

Claude Cowork

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

Here's a task I'd like your help with. Read it all the way through before you start.

Goal: Pull every transaction out of my credit card statements, categorize them, and give me a spending analysis in Excel.

Check with me first: Are there vendors or categories you should know about before you start?

What I'll give you:
- My statement PDFs (zip files are fine)
- How I want certain vendors categorized, if I have preferences

Rules:
- Extract every transaction with date, vendor and amount.
- Group the same vendor together even when its transaction IDs change.
- List vendors you're unsure how to categorize and ask me.
- Don't change the original files.

Output: An Excel file with all transactions, categories, and a summary of spending over time.

If anything here is unclear or missing, ask me instead of guessing.

You'll know it worked when: the transaction count matches the statements and the categories look right to me.

Works best when: I tell it upfront how to categorize unusual vendors.

Here's a task I'd like your help with. Read it all the way through before you start.

Goal: Extract every transaction from seven years of credit card statements, categorize them and give me a spending analysis in Excel.

Quick check first: tell me if anything below is missing or unclear.

Inputs (fill in or confirm):
- Statement PDFs (zips fine)
- Vendor or category rules
- Currency

Rules:
- Extract date, merchant, amount and statement month; keep a file reference per row.
- Check each statement's extracted total equals its printed total; flag mismatches.
- Categorize with my rules first; normalize merchant names.
- Build summaries: by year, category, top merchants, subscriptions.
- Treat refunds and payments separately from spending.

If you get stuck: If a PDF is a scan, OCR it and mark low-confidence rows. If a login, CAPTCHA or two-step code appears, stop and ask me to handle it; never guess or store passwords.

Verify before you finish: Reconcile totals per statement and per year.

Output: Excel workbook: transactions, summaries, charts, reconciliation tab.

Done when: every statement reconciles and the analysis covers all years.

Source

https://x.com/_simonsmith/status/2018380086311800948