Importing OFX files into financial software from my bank has always been a pain. Merchants report the transaction data to the bank, and the transaction data is always merchant-centered. For example, here is an excerpt from an OFX file provided to the bank
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>DEBIT</TRNTYPE>
<DTPOSTED>20190325120000</DTPOSTED>
<DTUSER>20190325120000</DTUSER>
<TRNAMT>-75.01</TRNAMT>
<FITID>5348555026201903251</FITID>
<NAME>DEBIT CARD PURCHASE XXXXX1234</NAME>
<MEMO>Merchant1</MEMO>
</STMTTRN>
As you can see, the transaction name is not the name of the merchant Merchant1, but my payment method. Once imported into my financial softare, I get the amount OK, but I don't know who the Payee is; DEBIT CARD PURCHASE XXXXX1234 was not who I payed.
This script is meant to rectify this problem by swapping the NAME and MEMO fields in an OFX file.
- Python 3.x
<path_to_python3_interpreter> ofx_swapper.py <OFX_file_name>
invokes the script on the specified OFX file, swapping name and memo fields of all transactions. The transformed data is written to stdout.
<path_to_python3_interpreter> ofx_swapper.py -o <OFX_file_name>
overwites the original file with the swapped data
I use Hazel to process the OFX file as it is downloaded from my bank. When the file is detected on disk, Hazel is activated and runs the Shell Script
/usr/local/bin/python3 ~/bin/ofx_swapper.py -o $1
This performs the name and memo swap, overwriting the downloaded file.
Hazel then Opens the OFX file in my financial software, which starts the import process.