How ChatGPT-4 Simplified My Credit Card Statement in Minutes!

One of the most difficult things to comprehend in life is the credit card statements banks send. The numerous charges and fine print are super difficult to understand. Today, I copied and pasted the financial sections from this month’s credit card statement into ChatGPT-4. I gave it the following three prompts, and here’s how it helped simplify my understanding.

It’s astonishing that in 2024, we still struggle to analyze our credit card statements without AI assistance. Imagine if banks made all transaction data easily accessible via a simple format like Excel or through API to consumers. Making data on us available shouldn’t be expensive or complicated. If only banks realized this, they could provide seamless access to our transaction history, allowing us to dig into our finances however we see fit. Unfortunately, the lack of digital know-how and a desire to hoard data means these steps aren’t being taken. As a result, we’re turning to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT-4 to bridge the gaps in financial understanding.

First, I asked ChatGPT-4 to analyse my credit card statement and tell me the total due for this month. It quickly calculated the total charges and credits, providing the net amount due. This made it much easier to understand my financial obligations without sifting through all the details manually. Next, I wanted to know what I was spending the most on. ChatGPT-4 categorised all my transactions and summed up the amounts for each category. It identified my top spending areas and gave me a clear picture of where my money was going, helping me make more informed decisions about my expenses. Finally, I requested ChatGPT-4 to create a visual representation of my spending. It generated a bar chart showing my expenditures across different categories, excluding sensitive details. This visual helped me easily grasp my spending patterns and identify areas where I could potentially cut back. Interestingly, other AI tools like Google Gemini (free) refused to answer, and open models like Llama3 and Phi3 gave completely wrong answers. This experience showed the reliability of ChatGPT-4 in providing accurate and practical solutions to everyday problems, making it a useful tool for managing personal finances.

Below are the three prompts I used:
1. Can you analyse this credit card statement of mine, tell me my total due this month and what am I spending most on?
2. Can you draw a nice chart using matplotlib for the spending, anonymise my name.
3. Can you remove zomato, swiggy from dining and create a new category. Add spends between 02/05 to 06/05 to Travel category.