How to View Your Spending by Category in Your Banking App

Many people carry receipts around or write expenses down in a notebook to understand where their money goes. But there is an easier way. Your bank most likely already tracks all your spending and sorts it into categories — for example, "Groceries," "Transport," or "Utilities." This is called the budget section or spending analytics. It exists in almost every modern banking app — the program you install on your phone to manage your account without visiting a branch.

This guide will show you how to find and view that section. Do not worry if something looks different than expected — you cannot break anything just by looking at information on the screen. This is more like reading than managing money: you are not sending anything anywhere, and you are not changing anything.

What you need before you start

You need a phone with your bank's app already installed, and you need to know how to log in — using an access code (a PIN is a short numeric code you created yourself) or your fingerprint. If you have not installed your bank's app yet, do that first — it helps to ask a staff member at your nearest branch to walk you through it step by step.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Find your bank's app icon on your phone's screen — usually a colored square with the bank's logo — and tap it once with your finger.
2. Wait for the app to fully load. This may take a few seconds.
3. Log in to your account as you normally would — enter your access code or place your finger on the fingerprint scanner.
4. On the main screen, look for the word "Analytics," "Budget," or "Spending." It is usually located at the bottom of the screen among a few tabs (small buttons for different sections), or in a menu near the top.
5. Tap that word once with your finger.
6. On the new screen, choose the time period you want to view — for example, "This month" or "Last 30 days." This button is usually near the top of the screen.
7. Look at the list of categories. Each category shows how much you spent in that group, often with a small picture icon (for example, a shopping cart icon usually means "Groceries").
8. If you want more detail, tap on one category — the app will show you the list of individual payments that make up that total.

That is all. You did not send any money and you did not change anything in the app — you simply looked at information your bank already prepared for you.

A quick safety note

Checking your spending is completely safe, and you can do it as often as you like. But keep in mind: a real bank never calls you to "help check your spending" and never asks you to read out a code from a text message. If someone calls asking you to read out such a code "to verify your account," that is a scam. Hang up. If you are unsure, call your bank back yourself using the number printed on your bank card.

What to do if something goes wrong

Quick recap: all the steps in one list

1. Open your bank's app.
2. Log in to your account.
3. Find the "Analytics," "Budget," or "Spending" section.
4. Choose a time period.
5. Look through your spending categories.
6. Optional — tap a category to see the details.

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