# How to Rename Payees: Using Renaming Rules to Update Future Transactions > The payee that initially appears in your account register is how YNAB imported it from the bank. You can edit it to create a renaming rule going forward! Source: https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-rename-payees-BkotNUSyo Last updated: 2026-09-17T18:41:23.113Z Understand that the payee that initially appears in your account register is how YNAB imported it from the bank. Create a Renaming Rule by correcting a payee. YNAB will use this updated payee on future transactions. Edit and customize Renaming Rules (or turn off payee renaming for an individual payee) in the YNAB web app. #### In This Article [Renaming Rules Overview](#overview) [How to Change a Renaming Rule](#change) [How to Delete a Renaming Rule](#delete) [How to Customize Renaming Rules](#customize) [How to Turn Off Payee Renaming](#turnoff) [How to Access Bank Import Details](#details) [Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)](#FAQs) * * * Need additional control over payees (including bulk edits)? Here's how to [Add, Edit, and Delete Payees](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-payees-rkxMu4Skj). #### Imported Payees and Renaming Rules The “As YNAB imported it” information in the Bank Import Details is how these payees import, and it’s what any payee renaming rules would be based upon. When using an [Apple Wallet connection](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/apple-connections-rkShEfrUh), renaming rules won't always apply as expected. You can [manually edit your imported Apple Card, Apple Pay, and Savings with Apple Card transactions](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/apple-connections-rkShEfrUh#payees). * * * ## Renaming Rules Overview There are two types of Renaming Rules: IS and CONTAINS rules.  * IS rules are **automatically** created when you [edit the payee of a transaction](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-edit-and-delete-transactions-BJG4oS1s#edit) on web or mobile. So, if you change an imported payee from "Mcdonalds #576" to "McDonalds", YNAB creates an IS rule for the "McDonalds" payee. From then on, anytime "McDonalds #576" imports, YNAB will replace it with just plain "McDonalds". (You can also manually create an IS rule in the web app via the _Manage Payees_ window. See our [Customizing Renaming Rules](#customize) section below.) * CONTAINS rules can be manually created on the web app via the _Manage Payees_ window. See our [Customizing Renaming Rules](#customize) section below for specifics.  What's the difference between IS and CONTAINS rules? Let's say you visit a lot of different grocery stores so you want to make sure any payee that comes through with "grocery" **anywhere** in the name is going to be changed to your "Grocery Store" payee. You would want a CONTAINS rule here. If you only wanted to rename payees that specifically said "Kroger #5742", you could use an IS rule.  [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## How to Change a Renaming Rule 1. In the **web version of YNAB**, click on an account (or _All Accounts_) in the left sidebar. 2. Select the transaction with the payee you want to change.  3. Click on the Payee Name field of the transaction and edit the details to your desired name. 4. Click _Done_. That's it! That updates the rule, so the next time you import a transaction with the same payee, it will be renamed according to the new rule. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## How to Delete a Renaming Rule 1. In the **web app**, click the name of your plan (located at the top of the left sidebar). 2. Choose _Manage Payees_. 3. Find the payee you're wanting to change in the list and select it. 4. On the right side, under **Renaming**, click the minus button next to the rule to remove it. 5. Click _Done_. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## How to Customize Renaming Rules You can create rules to rename payees based on any exact string of letters or numbers an imported payee contains. These rules are handy for renaming payees that include unique data which prevents a payee IS rule from being effective. 1. In the **web app**, click on an account (or _All Accounts_) in the left sidebar. 2. Select the payee and click the circled info icon to the right of the payee name to view the Bank Import Details (or how a payee imported). **Renaming Rules are based on the payee that appears after "As YNAB imported it".** 3. Click the name of your plan (located at the top of the left sidebar). 4. Select _Manage Payees_. 5. Search for the payee and select it. Payees with existing rules display a gear icon in the list, to the right of the name. 6. Create or edit the Renaming Rules. Use the plus or minus buttons to add or delete rules. **Pro tip:** When creating IS rules, the rule will need to **exactly** match the payee that appears after “As YNAB imported it” in the Bank Import Details. When using CONTAINS rules, the rule needs to contain a portion of the name that appears in the imported payee. These need to appear in the same order, but are not case-sensitive. 7. When finished, click _Done_. The "As YNAB Imported It" information in the Bank Import Details is how these payees import, and it's what any payee Renaming Rules would be based upon. If this payee is not what you're expecting, [reach out to Support](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-get-help-SygqcvtC5) for personalized help! [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## How to Turn Off Payee Renaming You may not **want** a payee to be renamed, especially if it is being renamed incorrectly. For example, many banks use a generic payee for payments and transfers, such as “credit card payment". If you transfer money between multiple accounts and each transaction imports with the same payee, it can cause transactions to get assigned to the wrong accounts. You can **turn off** payee renaming for an individual payee within the web app. This will prevent a payee renaming rule from being automatically created or updated going forward. Here's how! 1. In the **web app**, click on an account (or _All Accounts_) in the left sidebar. 2. Select the transaction that's being incorrectly renamed. Tip: scan for the transaction with the green C. You may need to click the transfer icon next to the payee. YNAB will take you to the imported transaction. Once located, click on the payee. 3. Click the circled info icon to the right of the payee name.  4. If the payee on the transaction has a renaming rule associated with it that matches the payee that appears under "As YNAB imported it," there will be a link that says _Don't rename as \[Payee\]_. 5. Click that link—the app will automatically add the imported payee to the payee list so it can be ignored from renaming. Any existing IS renaming rules will be removed. That's it! The next time this payee imports, it won't be renamed so you'll need to adjust it manually going forward. ### Change your mind and want to undo this down the road? #### How to Re-Enable Payee Renaming 1. In the **web app**, click on an account (or _All Accounts_) in the left sidebar. 2. Click on the payee. 3. Click the circled info icon to the right of the payee name to reveal the Bank Import Details. Note the exact way the payee appears after "As YNAB imported it" in the list. You'll need this information for step 6.   4. Click the name of your plan (located at the top of the left sidebar). 5. Select _Manage Payees_. 6. Then find the payee that appears after "As YNAB imported it" in the list. 7. Delete this payee to re-enable Payee Renaming. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## How to Access Bank Import Details ### iOS While you can access Bank Import Details on all platforms, only the **web app** provides the specific "As YNAB imported it" info that Renaming Rules are built from, so we recommend using those steps instead when dealing with payee issues. 1. Tap the transaction to open it. 2. Tap the payee name to expand the payee list details. 3. The info you see under Bank Import Details is the "As it appears on your statement" payee —\*not\* the "As YNAB imported it" version that Renaming Rules are based on. ### Android While you can access Bank Import Details on all platforms, only the **web app** provides the specific "As YNAB imported it" info that Renaming Rules are built from, so we recommend using those steps instead when dealing with payee issues. 1. Tap the transaction to open it. 2. Tap the payee name to expand the payee list details. 3. The info you see under Bank Import Details is the "As it appears on your statement" payee—\*not\* the "As YNAB imported it" version that Renaming Rules are based on. ### Web 1. Select a transaction and click on the payee. 2. Click the circled info icon to the right of the payee name to view the Bank Import Details (or how a payee imported). You'll see information for both "As it appears on your statement" and "As YNAB imported it".  [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ### Are Renaming Rules case-sensitive? No, Renaming Rules are not case-sensitive. So if a rule is set in all lowercase and the payee imports as uppercase, the rule will still apply.  ### Do Renaming Rules use AND or OR logic? It is **OR** logic. For example, let's say you have a payee called "Grocery Store" and you create an IS rule for 'Kroger'. You then use the plus sign in _Manage Payees_ to add another Renaming Rule for this same payee. This time, it's a CONTAINS rule for 'Grocery'. YNAB will rename transactions to "Grocery Store" when at least one of the conditions is true. So, if a transaction imports as "Mom and Pop Grocery" **or** "Kroger", it will be renamed to "Grocery Store".  ### What if I have two identical Renaming Rules for different payees? The most **recently** created rule is used.  For example, let's say the "As YNAB imported it" info says "McDonalds #537" and you have two payee options: "McDonalds" (created this year) and "McDonalds Restaurant" (created 3 years ago). Each payee has a CONTAINS rule for 'McDonalds'. YNAB would choose the most recently created payee rule, so in this case, the renamed payee would be "McDonalds". ### Do Renaming Rules sync between web and mobile? Yes! Regardless of where the rule was created, Renaming Rules **do** sync across all platforms. ### Are Renaming Rules shared across plans? No — they are plan-specific. ### Can I use wildcards like \* in my Renaming Rules? No, wildcards are not accepted. When creating IS rules, the rule will need to **exactly** match the payee that appears after “As YNAB imported it” in the _Bank Import Details_. When using CONTAINS rules, the rule needs to contain a portion of the name that appears in the imported payee. These need to appear in the same order, but are not case-sensitive. ### What is the "As it appears on your statement" payee? The "As it appears on your statement" payee is the original payee, [before our import provider has "cleansed" or simplified it](https://www.ynab.com/blog/clean-payees). Renaming rules are based instead on the "As YNAB imported it" payee, because this is what YNAB actually received from our import provider. You can see **both** of these payees in your Bank Import Details on **web**, but only the "As it appears on your statement" is visible for **mobile** Bank Import Details.  ### Why don't I see any Bank Import Details? The information in Bank Import Details will only appear for transactions that entered YNAB via Direct Import or File-Based Import. If you manually added the transaction, you won't see any Bank Import Details. ### How do I know if I have a Renaming Rule set for a payee? If you're in the _Manage Payees_ window (**web app only**), payees with Renaming Rules are shown with a gear icon to the right of the payee name.  ### What if I use multiple credit cards and my bank uses a generic payee like “credit card payment”? If YNAB can't tell which card a payment belongs to from the payee alone, it may be able to match the outflow from your bank with the inflow to your credit card account by amount to assign it to the correct card. The payment may stay unmatched until both sides have imported. ### What is the (Imported As ...) tooltip? In the **web app**, you'll see a tooltip if you hover over the payee name of a transaction. If your tooltip says (Imported As \[...\] ), this means the payee was renamed in YNAB. This tooltip shows you the "As YNAB Imported it" Bank Import Details.  ### Can I change the capitalization of a payee so they're all the same \[upper or lower\] case? Let's take KFC as an example. If the payee imports as "Kfc" and you want it to be "KFC", you need to make sure you have a KFC payee with an IS renaming rule for 'Kfc'. Here's how to do that! 1. From the web app, click the name of your plan (located at the top of the left sidebar).  2. Select _Manage Payees_. 3. Search for the payees you want to update. 4. Merge any similar payees with alternative case/capitalization, making sure to manually edit the payee name shown under "Combine and rename selected payees?" to reflect the **desired** upper or lowercase before clicking _Combine_. More specifics on [how to combine payees can be found here](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-payees-rkxMu4Skj#combine), if needed. 5. You'll then want to add an IS rule for the imported payee. To continue with the KFC example, you'd add an IS renaming rule for 'Kfc' within the KFC payee. [Back to Top](#backtotop) * * * ## Help Us Help You! Our Knowledge Base team reviews article feedback responses weekly, and we actively revise these articles to make them as helpful as possible. That's where you come in! Our articles are scored based on the _Yes_ or _No_ ratings received below. We also collect freeform feedback for any _No_ ratings (so our team can focus in on what you were specifically searching for!). **Success**: Found what you were searching for? It would be super helpful if you click _Yes_ below. **Suggestions**: Didn't find what you're searching for and you'd like to share what terms or topics you wanted? Click _No_ below. You'll then be able to submit your feedback about this article. **Please note:** the feedback submissions are anonymous, and we’re not able to respond, so make sure to use the next option if you have a specific scenario or question you would like a response to. **Support**: If you have a question or would like a response to your specific question, [tell the chatbot you need a human or send us an email](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-get-help-SygqcvtC5) to ensure that your message gets to our Support team!