Why does my Bank of America CSV import as a single strange transaction?

Because of the summary block at the top of the file. Anything that reads line 1 as the header row ends up importing the beginning balance as a transaction and nothing else. The converter looks for the row that matches the shape of the data instead.

Does Bank of America offer a .qbo download directly?

Bank of America offers Web Connect downloads for some account types through the bank feed setup, but not for every account or every date range, and the range is often limited. Converting the CSV gives you the same file type for any period the CSV covers.

Which QuickBooks account type should I choose?

Checking or savings for a deposit account, credit card for a card. The account type changes the internal structure of the .qbo file, so it has to match the register you are importing into.

Can I import more than 90 days of Bank of America history?

Yes. The 90-day limit applies to a newly connected bank feed. An uploaded Web Connect file can cover any period your CSV export covers.

Is anything sent to a server?

No. The file is parsed and converted by JavaScript in this tab, and the .qbo is generated in memory. No statement data leaves your computer.

Bank of America CSV to QBO

A Bank of America CSV starts with a block of summary lines that breaks most importers; the converter below skips them and writes a clean QuickBooks .qbo file without uploading anything.

Drop a CSV or Excel statement here

.csv, .txt, .xlsx and .xls — or choose a file

Choose file

Your file never leaves your browser.

The Bank of America Checking preset is selected for you. Switch the Format dropdown to Auto-detect if you are converting a file from somewhere else.

How to export a CSV from Bank of America

Sign in at bankofamerica.com and open the account. The transaction list has a small download link above it, usually next to the search box.
Screenshot: bofa-export-1
The Bank of America account activity page and its download link.
Pick the date range or a specific statement period before downloading — the export follows what is selected on screen.
Choose "Microsoft Excel format" or "Comma delimited (CSV)" as the file type. Both give you a CSV; the Excel option is still a text file with a .csv extension.
Screenshot: bofa-export-2
The download dialog with the file type list open.
Save the file — it usually arrives as stmt.csv or something equally anonymous, so rename it while you know which account it is.
Drop it into the converter on this page. The Bank of America preset is preselected and the summary block is stripped automatically.
Review the preview, download the .qbo and upload it in QuickBooks Online.

Online banking screens change; if a label has moved, look for a download or export control above the transaction list.

Known quirks of the Bank of America export

The file does not start with its header row. Bank of America puts three to five summary lines on top — a description column, a beginning balance, total credits and debits — before the real Date, Description, Amount, Running Bal. header. The converter finds the header row by column shape and drops the summary lines instead of importing a phantom balance transaction.
The running balance column is written as Running Bal. with a trailing period. It is ignored either way, but if a future export renames it the converter falls back to reading the columns by name — worth a glance at the preview after a bank redesign.
Bank of America credit cards export a different layout (Posted Date, Reference Number, Payee, Address, Amount). This preset covers checking and savings; a card file still converts, but the columns are detected generically rather than from the preset, so check the preview.
The file carries Intuit bank id 11162, the Bank of America QuickBooks Web Connect entry in Intuit's financial institution directory, with FID 06526. If the upload is refused, check the account type before assuming the file is bad.

Import the .qbo file into QuickBooks

Open the upload screen. In QuickBooks Online, go to Transactions, then Bank transactions, and choose Upload from file (on older layouts: Banking, then the arrow next to Update, then File upload).
Pick the .qbo file. Drag the .qbo file the converter produced into the drop area and select Continue.
Choose the QuickBooks account. Select the bank or credit card account the transactions belong to, or add it first. The account type has to match the one used when converting: a card statement belongs to a credit card account.
Let QuickBooks read the file. Web Connect files carry their own column layout, so there is no column-mapping screen — QuickBooks reads the dates, amounts, payees and memos straight from the file.
Review and accept. The transactions land in the For review tab. Categorise or match them there; nothing hits the books until you accept them.

QuickBooks Online accepts up to 1,000 transactions per upload. Larger statements are split automatically into numbered files by the converter. Import errors are covered in the import error guide.

The summary block is the whole problem

Most of what makes a Bank of America export annoying happens before the first transaction. The file opens with a short ledger summary — beginning balance, total credits, total debits, ending balance — laid out as rows rather than as a header, and only then does the real table start. Spreadsheet software copes because a human reads past it. Importers do not.

The converter handles this by looking for the row whose column count matches the bulk of the file, treating that as the header, and skipping any later row whose description is a balance or a total. The effect is that your first imported transaction is a real one, and your totals are not inflated by a balance line masquerading as a deposit.

Check the date range, not the row count

Bank of America limits how far back online activity goes for some account types, and the export quietly follows whatever range is on screen. Before converting, confirm the first and last date in the preview against the statement you meant to import. It is much easier to notice a missing fortnight here than after the transactions are in the review queue.

Cards and deposit accounts are different files

If you bank and carry a card with Bank of America, expect two different column layouts. The card export leads with a posted date and a reference number, and the description sits in a Payee column. That file still converts — the columns are recognised generically — but the preview matters more, because no preset is doing the naming for you.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Bank of America CSV import as a single strange transaction?: Because of the summary block at the top of the file. Anything that reads line 1 as the header row ends up importing the beginning balance as a transaction and nothing else. The converter looks for the row that matches the shape of the data instead.
Does Bank of America offer a .qbo download directly?: Bank of America offers Web Connect downloads for some account types through the bank feed setup, but not for every account or every date range, and the range is often limited. Converting the CSV gives you the same file type for any period the CSV covers.
Which QuickBooks account type should I choose?: Checking or savings for a deposit account, credit card for a card. The account type changes the internal structure of the .qbo file, so it has to match the register you are importing into.
Can I import more than 90 days of Bank of America history?: Yes. The 90-day limit applies to a newly connected bank feed. An uploaded Web Connect file can cover any period your CSV export covers.
Is anything sent to a server?: No. The file is parsed and converted by JavaScript in this tab, and the .qbo is generated in memory. No statement data leaves your computer.

Other formats: OFX to QBO · QBO to CSV

Last updated September 22, 2026.