# Bank statement parsing API documentation

> One POST turns a bank or credit card statement PDF into structured JSON: every transaction, the account it belongs to, and a check that the figures reconcile.

Section: Get started
Source: https://statementbear.com/docs
Product: StatementBear statement parsing API, $0.49 per document, 25 free.

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StatementBear turns a bank or credit card statement PDF into JSON. One POST returns every transaction, the account it belongs to, and a check that the figures reconcile. No bank login, no end-user account, nothing stored.

`POST /api/v1/documents`

- [Quickstart](https://statementbear.com/docs/quickstart): From key to parsed JSON in about five minutes.
- [API reference](https://statementbear.com/docs/api/documents): Every header, status code and field.
- [Errors](https://statementbear.com/docs/errors): What can come back and what to do with it.
- [Pricing](https://statementbear.com/docs/billing): $0.49 a document, 25 free, billed on success.

## The request

Send the PDF as a raw body or as a multipart file part. There is one endpoint, one verb, no SDK and nothing to poll.

Request and response:

```http
POST /api/v1/documents HTTP/1.1
Host: statementbear.com
Authorization: Bearer sb_live_...
Content-Type: application/pdf
Idempotency-Key: 6f1b1f22-9c62-4c0e-b6a4-1d0f5f0b6f5a

<the PDF bytes>

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
X-Billable-Documents: 1

{ "id": "doc_...", "issuer": { ... }, "accounts": [ ... ], "verification": { ... } }
```

## What you get back

- **Every transaction**, with the date and payee line as printed, a positive amount and an explicit `direction`.
- **Every account on the PDF**, kept separate. Some issuers bill a current account and three savings accounts on one statement.
- **Totals we summed and totals the issuer printed**, side by side.
- **A verification object** holding our check of the extraction against the statement's own balances.
- **The issuer and the period**, so a document can be filed without anyone opening it.

## What it does not do

- **Store anything.** The PDF is parsed and returned. See [Security and data retention](https://statementbear.com/docs/security).
- **Score or decide.** You get the rows. Affordability, risk and eligibility are yours.
- **Create an account for your customer.** The person whose statement it is never hears from us.
- **Clean up payee names.** `description` is the line as printed, branch and reference included.
- **Read scans.** Send the PDF the bank issued. A photo or a flattened scan returns `422` and is not charged.

## When to use it

Open Banking needs the account holder present, consenting, and banking with a covered institution. Mortgage files, SME lending, tenant screening, immigration and legal disclosure still run on PDFs the applicant hands over. Use this for those. Plenty of customers run both.

## What it costs

$0.49 for every document that returns `200`. The first 25 are free and need no payment method. One file is one document, however many accounts or months are inside it. Errors are free. Every response carries `X-Billable-Documents`. See [Pricing and billing](https://statementbear.com/docs/billing).

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All documentation: https://statementbear.com/docs/llms.txt
Questions: api@statementbear.com