Reading statements
Reading an Egyptian card statement, line by line
Bill payments through Fawry, online stores on Paymob, InstaPay transfers and transliterated Arabic names. How Egyptian card lines are put together.
Written for: Cardholders 3 min read Updated
Egyptian card statements have a character of their own. Bills are paid through networks rather than directly, online shops run on a few local payment providers, instant transfers sit next to purchases, and Arabic names arrive in a dozen Latin spellings. Here is how to read them.
Places and the country
The city at the end of a line is usually spelled out: CAIRO, GIZA, ALEXANDRIA, often shortened to fit the thirteen-character city field ("ALEXANDRI", "NEW CAIRO", "6TH OCTOBER", "SHEIKH ZAYE"). The country appears as EG or EGY. Lines for online services frequently have no Egyptian city at all, because the service bills from abroad.
Fawry: bills and payments through a network
Fawry is a payment network used for bills, top-ups, government services and online orders. When you pay a bill through it, or through an app built on it such as myFawry, the line often carries Fawry's name, not the biller's. A mobile top-up, an electricity bill and an online order can therefore all look like "FAWRY" on the same statement. The amount, and the time you paid, are what tell them apart.
E-COM FAWRY MYFAWRY CAIRO EG
- E-COM
- The bank's word for an online payment.
- FAWRY
- The payment network the payment went through.
- MYFAWRY
- The app you paid in. The actual bill (telecom, utility, school) is not named.
Online shops: Paymob, Geidea and friends
Many Egyptian online stores and in-store terminals take cards through local providers such as Paymob and Geidea. Depending on how the provider set the store up, the line can show the store's name, the provider's name, or both. A purchase from a small Instagram shop, for instance, may only show the provider, which is why the same provider name can appear for very different purchases. If you see a provider's name on its own, check your email and messages around that date for an order confirmation.
Transfers are not purchases
Egypt's instant payment network, InstaPay, and mobile wallets such as Vodafone Cash move money between people and accounts. These lines often carry a person's name or a phone number, and they are transfers, not spending at a merchant. If you are trying to understand where your money went, set them aside first; budgeting apps should too. Our guide to non-purchase lines explains why that matters.
Arabic names in Latin letters
Most Egyptian descriptors are transliterated, and transliteration has no single standard. Expect:
- EL and AL for the article: "EL SHAMS", "AL SHAMS" and "ELSHAMS" are one name.
- Doubled or dropped letters: "MOHAMED", "MOHAMMED", "MUHAMMAD".
- OU, U and OO for the same sound: "ABOU", "ABU".
- Words joined to save space: "ABOUELSID", "ELABD".
When searching for a merchant, try two or three spellings, and drop the article. Our Arabic descriptors guide explains how we match the variants.
Telecoms and wallets
Mobile bills and recharges come from Vodafone, Orange, Etisalat by e& and WE, sometimes through Fawry rather than directly. Wallet top-ups (moving card money into a mobile wallet) look like a payment to the telecom but are really a transfer to yourself.
Field note
On Egyptian statements, a payment network's name on its own is the most common reason a line cannot be pinned to a single merchant from the text alone. That is not a failure of the statement; the information is genuinely not in the line. A good app shows the network and the amount, and lets the user fill in the rest, rather than inventing a merchant.
Foreign purchases
An Egyptian card used for a foreign subscription or website usually shows the amount in the original currency, the rate, and the pound total, plus a separate fee from the bank. Many international services bill from Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, so those countries appear even for things you bought at home. See foreign currency charges for how to read those lines.
Still stuck?
Paste the line into the playground; it handles Arabic and transliterated names. For a checklist before calling your bank, see identifying an unknown charge.