Which bank SMS alerts Skimp reads

For each of these, at least one real alert format is held in the test corpus: UPI debits and credits, card spends, salary credits, ATM withdrawals and refunds, depending on the bank. A change to the parser that breaks one fails the build.

• HDFC Bank
• State Bank of India (SBI)
• ICICI Bank
• Axis Bank
• Kotak Mahindra Bank
• Canara Bank
• Punjab National Bank (PNB)
• Union Bank of India
• Bank of Baroda
• IDFC FIRST Bank
• Yes Bank

Skimp knows these senders by name and applies the same extraction rules to them, so a confident, complete parse is added automatically. Their formats are not yet pinned by a test, so expect more items in the review queue than for the banks above.

• SBI Card
• Bank of India
• Bank of Maharashtra
• Indian Bank
• Indian Overseas Bank
• Central Bank of India
• UCO Bank
• RBL Bank
• AU Small Finance Bank
• Federal Bank
• Karur Vysya Bank (KVB)
• South Indian Bank
• IndusInd Bank
• Standard Chartered
• HSBC
• Citi
• DBS
• American Express
• OneCard
• Slice
• Paytm Payments Bank
• Airtel Payments Bank
• Jio Payments Bank
• Fino Payments Bank

EPFO passbook and contribution messages are recognised as well.

UPI payments are captured through your bank, not through the UPI app. When you pay with Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM or CRED, your bank sends the debit SMS, and that is the message Skimp reads. It works the same whichever app you paid with.

Skimp does not read notifications from UPI apps and has no access to them. So a payment your bank sends no SMS for is not captured, and needs a manual entry. This is a real limit of any SMS-based tracker: HDFC Bank, for one, stopped sending SMS alerts for UPI payments up to ₹100 and receipts up to ₹500 in June 2024.

What happens to its messages depends on how much of a transaction they spell out:

• A complete UPI alert, with the amount, the account, who was paid and a UPI reference number, is added automatically even from a sender Skimp does not know by name. That structure is the same across banks.
• Anything less complete, a card spend or a debit with no reference number, is parsed and put in the review queue. It reaches the ledger when you confirm it.
• When you confirm or correct one, Skimp remembers the shape of that message on your phone and classifies similar ones better next time.
• It is not picked up at all. Tell us from Menu, Report a bug or request a feature, or at support.skimp.rabugotra.com. Supporting a new format starts with adding the real message to the test corpus.

A bank sender plus an amount is not enough to count as spending. These are dropped, and each case is pinned by a test so a later change cannot start counting them:

• One-time passwords, including ones that quote an amount
• “Will be debited” autopay notices and EMI due reminders, where no money has moved yet
• Balance enquiries, card statements, and failed or declined payments
• UPI collect requests and payment requests
• Loan offers, promotions, reward points and gift-card messages
• Anything from a phone number or a saved contact

How that filtering works, and what granting SMS access does and does not expose, is in is SMS permission safe?