01
Start with the transaction
Review the merchant, description and amount before choosing a category. These details help identify what the transaction represents.
Fast Food24 Oct 2026 · Cashback Credit Card
− AED 850Expense
TRANSACTIONS
TRANSACTIONS
Categorize your transactions
Use categories to organize your financial activity and make spending easier to understand across MoniTrak.
4 min readBEFORE YOU START
Think about what the transaction represents.
A category describes the purpose of a transaction rather than the account or credit card used to pay for it.
✓
The merchant or transaction description
✓
What the money was actually spent on or received for
✓
The category that best represents that activity
✓
Whether the category should contribute to a budget or report
STEP BY STEP
Let's get it set up.
02
Choose the closest category
Select the category that best describes the transaction. The category should explain the purpose of the activity, not the payment method used.
CATEGORYWhat was this transaction for?
◎
A transaction paid with a credit card is not automatically a 'Credit Card' category. The category should describe what you purchased or what the transaction was for.
03
Keep similar spending together
Using the same category for similar transactions makes it easier to understand how much you are spending on a particular type of activity.
RESTAURANTRelated spending
3 transactionsFast Food24 Oct
− AED 850Coffee Shop20 Oct
− AED 75Restaurant15 Oct
− AED 325RESTAURANT SPENDINGOctober
AED 1,25004
Use categories across MoniTrak
Categorized transactions can provide useful context in budgets, reports and other views that summarize your financial activity.
RESTAURANTAED 1,250Recorded spending
→▥
BudgetCompare with your plan
▧
ReportsUnderstand spending patterns
WHY CATEGORIES MATTER
A category turns a transaction into useful context.
The payment source tells you where the money came from. The category tells you what the money was used for. Keeping those ideas separate makes your financial activity easier to understand.
TRANSACTIONFast Food− AED 850
→CATEGORYRestaurantPurpose of spending
→CONTEXTBudgets & reportsOrganized financial activity
◎
The Cashback Credit Card tells you how the transaction was paid. Restaurant tells you what the spending was for.
NEED MORE HELP?
Still have a question?
Visit the Help Center or get in touch if you can't find what you need.