How to convert password-protected bank statements

Two kinds of PDF password

If the PDF opens in your viewer without asking, it has at most an owner password: it is not encrypted, so it converts on any plan, including Free. If the viewer prompts for a password, the file is encrypted and needs a paid plan, from Starter up — or remove the password from the file first, as below.

Finding the password

• The email that delivered the statement often states the pattern (for example: date of birth as DDMMYYYY, or the last four digits of your account number followed by your postcode).
• The bank's help pages for eStatements or emailed statements describe the pattern.
• Banks in some countries, notably India, protect emailed statements by default with a customer-id-based password; the pattern is printed in the email.
• If nothing works, download the statement from online banking instead; statements downloaded while logged in are usually not password protected.

Converting

1. Check your plan: encrypted PDFs convert from Starter up. On the free plan the upload is rejected with a message telling you to remove the password or upgrade.
2. Upload the PDF to the PDF bank statement converter. The inspection detects encryption and asks for the password.
3. Enter the password. It is sent over TLS, used to open the document, and stored encrypted with a rotatable key only until the job finishes. It is never written to logs.
4. The statement is converted, reviewed and exported like any other. If the password is wrong, you are asked again; nothing is guessed.

Exports (CSV, Excel, OFX, QBO, JSON) are not password protected. Store them with the same care as the original statement, and use Delete now on the conversion when you no longer need it on the service.

Should you remove the password?

Re-saving a statement without its password is convenient but leaves an unprotected copy of your financial data on disk and in backups. If you need a permanent unprotected copy, keep it in an encrypted folder or disk image. On a paid plan there is no need for conversion alone: the converter reads the protected file directly and deletes it on the retention schedule described on the security page. On the free plan, removing the password (open the PDF in your viewer, enter the password, then print or export to a new PDF) is the way to convert the statement without upgrading; delete that copy afterwards.