Statement descriptors explain charges or payments on bank statements. Using clear and accurate statement descriptors can reduce chargebacks and disputes. Banks and card networks require the inclusion of certain types of information that help customers understand their statements, and statement descriptors provide this information.


When you activate your account, you can set a single statement descriptor (static statement descriptor) that appears on all customer statements. For card charges, you can also create a statement descriptor that contains a static prefix associated with your account but with a dynamic suffix associated with each charge. This enables you to specify details about the product, service, or payment on bank or card statements.


Most banks display this information consistently, but some might display it incorrectly or not at all.


Note: if you do not setup a statement descriptor, your business name on Omnibasis with transaction description will be used.


Statement descriptor requirements

A complete statement descriptor—either a single static descriptor or the combination of a prefix and suffix—must meet the following requirements:


  • Contains only Latin characters.
  • Contains between 5 and 22 characters, inclusive.
  • Contains at least one letter (if using a prefix and a suffix, both require at least one letter).
  • Doesn’t contain any of the following special characters: <, >, \, ' " *.
  • Reflects your Doing Business As (DBA) name.
  • Contains more than a single common term or common website URL. A website URL only is acceptable if it provides a clear and accurate description of a transaction on a customer’s statement.


A static prefix, also called a shortened descriptor, must contain between 2 and 10 characters, inclusive. The remaining characters are reserved for the dynamic suffix. Use * at the end of descriptor to end a static prefix and create rest dynamically.


Set the static statement descriptor

You set a static statement descriptor or the shortened descriptor (prefix) in Payment Gateway Configuration. This value appears on all customer statements for charges or payments.


A static statement descriptor is sufficient if:


  • Your business provides only a single product or service.
  • Your customers understand a static value for any transaction with your business.
  • You prefer to provide the same statement descriptor for all transactions.


For card charges, consider a static prefix with dynamic suffix if:


  • You provide multiple products or services.
  • Your customers might not understand a single value for all their transactions with your business.
  • You prefer to provide transaction-specific details on the statement descriptor.


You can set both the statement descriptor for non-card charges and the shortened statement descriptor for card charges.


If you set the statement descriptor and don’t set a prefix (shortened descriptor), then for card payments Omnibasis uses the statement descriptor as the prefix. 


Set a dynamic suffix

Dynamic suffixes are supported only for card payments. Use the suffix to specify details about the transaction so your customer can understand it clearly on their statement. The suffix is concatenated with the prefix, the * symbol, and a space to form the complete statement descriptor that your customer sees.


Make sure that the total length of the concatenated descriptor is no more than 22 characters, including the * symbol and the space. If the prefix is RUNCLUB (7 characters), the dynamic suffix can contain up to 13 characters—for example, 9-22-19 10K (11 characters) or OCT MARATHON (12 characters). The computed statement descriptor is RUNCLUB* 9-22-19 10K or RUNCLUB* OCT MARATHON.