This one is for sellers and merchants, not cardholders. It answers one question before your customers ever see a statement: will they recognise your billing descriptor — or will it read as a stranger's charge? Type the descriptor exactly as it will appear on the statement, and it checks the 22-character network cap, shows what strict banks will cut it to, validates DBA*description format, and flags the recognisability problems that turn into "I don't recognise this charge" disputes. It does not decode an unknown charge on a cardholder's statement — that is a different job, and this tool never asks what an unfamiliar charge is.
Rules checked October 30, 2026 — every rule below is taken from the sources named on this page (Stripe's statement-descriptor docs, Chargeflow's billing-descriptor guide, Chargebacks911's descriptor guides, and network reason-code references). Your processor's own limits can be stricter than the network cap. This is a self-check against published rules, never a processor determination.
Will customers recognise your descriptor?
Everything is checked in your browser and never sent anywhere. Enter your own descriptor only — never enter a card number, account number or merchant ID into any checker.
Type it exactly as your processor has it on file — including the asterisk if you use DBA*description format. The check judges what the network actually sends, not what your dashboard shows.
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The rules, in one view
What a billing descriptor is — and why 22 characters decide disputes
A billing descriptor, also called a statement descriptor, is the short text that appears on a customer's card or bank statement next to a charge. It tells the cardholder who charged them and for what — and it is the only information the network passes through about the transaction. There is no logo, no supporting context, and no link back to an invoice. When that one line does not match anything the customer remembers, the customer's next step is often the bank's dispute button rather than your support page.
Rule
What it is
Source
22-character cap
Networks send only the first 22 characters of the full statement descriptor; anything longer is cut without warning.
Stripe statement-descriptor docs
5-to-22 characters
A full descriptor must be at least 5 characters, Latin characters only, with at least one letter, and must reflect your DBA name.
Stripe statement-descriptor docs
Disallowed characters
No <, >, backslash, apostrophe or double-quote in the descriptor field. The asterisk appears only as the DBA*description separator.
Stripe statement-descriptor docs
DBA*description format
Fixed brand prefix (2 to 10 characters) + "* " + per-transaction suffix, all inside 22 characters. The separator counts.
Some issuing banks truncate below 22 characters. Designing to 15 or fewer survives even the strictest banks.
Chargebacks911 descriptor guides
Brand, not legal name
Use the DBA / storefront name customers know; strip Inc., LLC, Corp. and leading filler words like "The".
Chargebacks911; Chargeflow
Two cautions sit under every row. First, the 22-character cap is the network limit, not a promise: your processor may enforce a shorter limit, and individual banks display the line differently, so a descriptor that fits 22 characters can still arrive cut at a customer's bank. Second, this page states no percentage for how many disputes descriptors cause. A vendor claim that a large share of disputes trace to vague descriptors circulates online, but it is a single vendor's claim, not a measured network statistic, so it is not repeated here as fact.
The reason codes a confusing descriptor invites
When a customer cannot connect a statement line to a purchase, the dispute is usually filed as fraud, not as a billing question. The codes to watch are Mastercard 4863 (Cardholder Does Not Recognize — Potential Fraud) and Visa 10.4 (Other Fraud — Card-Absent Environment). A confusing merchant descriptor is explicitly listed as a cause under Visa 10.4 in network reason-code references, and Chargebacks911's descriptor-troubleshooting guide names Visa 10.4 and Mastercard 4837 (No Cardholder Authorization) as the codes to watch when a descriptor is the suspect. A clear descriptor does not prevent fraud disputes and does not decide any case — the issuer assigns the code from the cardholder's claim — but it removes the commonest honest reason a customer reaches for the dispute button instead of your support page.
Support phone and city: a second line, not part of the 22
Some processors add a second line after the descriptor — a city or a support phone number, up to 11 extra characters in network summaries — and Chargeflow recommends adding a support phone or short URL where the processor allows it. Do not assume yours does, and never invent a phone number for this check: ask your processor whether a phone or city line is supported on your account. A phone line helps only if the brand is already recognisable; it cannot rescue a descriptor that arrives cut to a fragment.
Want the full story, with the sources?
The companion guide works through the descriptor rules with examples, the DBA*description anatomy, the truncation previews, the stranger test, and the test-transaction routine that shows you what customers actually see — each claim tied to its source. Read it here: Billing descriptor guide for merchants.
The short text on a customer's card or bank statement next to a charge — also called a statement descriptor. It is the only information the network passes through about who charged the customer and for what.
Networks send only the first 22 characters, so anything longer is truncated without warning. Stripe requires 5 to 22 characters. But some banks truncate below 22, so the safe design target is 15 characters or fewer.
A dynamic descriptor: a fixed brand prefix (2 to 10 characters) joined to a per-transaction suffix with an asterisk and a space — for example RUNCLUB* OCT MARATHON. Prefix, separator and suffix together must fit 22 characters.
Mastercard 4863 (Cardholder Does Not Recognize) and Visa 10.4 (Other Fraud — Card-Absent Environment), with Mastercard 4837 (No Cardholder Authorization) also named in descriptor-troubleshooting guides as a code to watch when a descriptor is the suspect.
No. This tool validates a merchant's own descriptor before customers see it. If you are a cardholder looking at a charge you do not recognise, contact the merchant or your bank instead.
Sources (checked October 30, 2026): Stripe — "Set statement descriptors for connected accounts" (only the first 22 characters sent for card payments; static prefix 2 to 10 characters; asterisk and space concatenate prefix and suffix and count toward the 22); Chargeflow — "Billing Descriptor: Examples, Rules and Chargeback Fixes" (descriptor anatomy RUNCLUB* OCT MARATHON at 21 of 22; add a support phone or short URL if the processor allows it; descriptor should match the storefront name; Visa Order Insight / Ethoca context); Chargebacks911 — "How to Test Your Statement Descriptors" (banks truncate differently; test transactions across banks and devices; Google-searchability test), "How to Set Up & Update Your Statement Descriptor" (DBA name, 15-character global safe zone, strip Inc./LLC/Corp. and "The", stranger test), and "Troubleshooting Statement Descriptors" (Visa 10.4 and Mastercard 4837 as the codes to watch when a descriptor is the suspect; 15-to-18-character strict-bank range); Recurly — "Payment descriptors" (Prefix*Suffix shape, 22-character total); Ecommpay — "Using dynamic merchant descriptor" (Mastercard maximum 22, Visa 25, Latin alphabet plus space and listed symbols); network reason-code references — Rapyd, Dodo Payments, Disputifier, Chargeflow's evidence matrix and Solidgate (Mastercard 4863 = Cardholder Does Not Recognize — Potential Fraud; Visa 10.4 = Other Fraud — Card-Absent Environment, with an unclear or confusing merchant descriptor explicitly listed as a cause). No vendor dispute percentage is stated on this page: the circulating vendor percentage is a single vendor's claim, not a measured network statistic.
General information only — not legal or financial advice. Whether a descriptor is accepted depends on your processor's own rules and the network's current requirements, which no checker can see. This validator applies the published rules to the descriptor you entered. Never enter a card number, account number or merchant ID into any checker — no genuine descriptor check needs them.
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