What happened when we tried it
The same fictional statements went through ChatGPT and through MyFulus on Nov 3, 2026. The main one has three pages, 58 lines in dirhams, wrapped descriptions, a header repeated on every page, and balance-brought-forward lines that are not transactions.
| The file | ChatGPT | MyFulus |
|---|---|---|
| Three pages, 58 lines, not locked | An Excel workbook with a summary sheet. All 58 lines matched our answer key, and it reconciled them to the closing balance of AED 2,779.19. It took about 8 minutes (7 min 33 s and 8 min 27 s in two runs). | All 58 lines matched our answer key, marked as checked against the statement, in about 50 seconds. Excel, CSV, QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books. |
| Needs a password to open | Refused at upload: “This file is encrypted/requires a password to access. Please try again with an unencrypted file”. There is nowhere to enter the password. | Asks for the password, uses it once to open the file, and does not store it. |
| Locked against printing only | Uploaded normally. | Opens with no password. |
A small test, not a benchmark. ChatGPT: a Temporary Chat, unpersonalized, on a paid account at its highest (“Pro”) thinking setting, asked to “Convert this bank statement to an Excel file.” MyFulus: one run on the live site as an anonymous visitor. A free ChatGPT account or a lower setting may give a different result and a different wait, and neither tool was tried on a wholly Arabic PDF. We uploaded fictional statements only.
If your statement is locked
Emailed Gulf statements are often locked: ADIB, FAB, RAKBANK and Emirates NBD publish their password rules, and others say theirs are protected. Where to find the password. To use ChatGPT you need an unlocked copy first. Either download the statement from your bank’s app or website, which is often not locked, or open the PDF in your browser, enter the password, and print it to a new PDF, which usually drops the lock. That copy has no protection, so delete it when you are done.
What happens to your statement in ChatGPT
- Training. On Free, Plus and Pro, OpenAI says it may use your content to train its models unless you turn off Improve the model for everyone in Settings, under Data controls. If you give feedback on a response, the whole conversation may be used even after you opt out. On Business, Enterprise and the API, it says it does not train on your data by default. (OpenAI: How your data is used.)
- Temporary Chat. OpenAI says one is not used to improve its models while it stays temporary, and stays out of your history, and that it may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety purposes. (OpenAI: Temporary chat.)
- Limits. OpenAI says Free users can upload 3 files a day. (OpenAI: Uploading files.)
OpenAI’s pages read on Nov 3, 2026. They change; check them.
A statement carries your name, account number and every payment you made, so use a Temporary Chat if you use ChatGPT at all. For how to judge any online tool, see is it safe to upload a bank statement online?
A prompt that makes it check its own work
ChatGPT did this unprompted in our test, but it costs nothing to ask for it:
Convert this bank statement to Excel. Keep every transaction on its own row, with the date, description, debit, credit and running balance exactly as printed. Do not count page headers or balance brought forward lines as transactions. Then check that the opening balance plus credits minus debits equals the closing balance, and that each line moves the running balance by exactly its own amount. List any line that does not agree.
Then check the result yourself, because its report is the thing you are checking. Add the opening balance and the credits, take away the debits, and you must land on the printed closing balance to the last fils or cent. Look at a date after the 12th of a month to catch day and month read the wrong way round. On Kuwaiti, Bahraini or Omani statements, confirm the third decimal survived.
Which to use
ChatGPT fits if
- You already pay for it and have one unlocked statement.
- You want to ask questions about the statement afterwards, not just get a file.
- It is a scan: OpenAI says ChatGPT can read images in PDFs, while MyFulus refuses scans. We have not tested that.
A converter fits if
- The PDF is locked and you would rather not make an unlocked copy.
- You want the file in seconds, or have several statements to do.
- You want a check by fixed arithmetic that runs the same way every time.
- You want a layout QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books imports without describing it.
One thing does not separate them: MyFulus also uses an AI model to read the statement, under a no-retention instruction, and keeps nothing afterwards. If nothing may leave your device, neither fits; our comparison of converters names one that runs in the browser.
Try the same statement here
No account and no email, and a locked PDF is fine.
Never saved: your file is read in memory, not written to disk or a database, and the converted lines are deleted after 60 minutes — or as soon as you press Delete.
Quick answers
Can ChatGPT read a password-protected bank statement?
No. In our test on Nov 3, 2026, ChatGPT refused a PDF that needs a password to open, with the message "This file is encrypted/requires a password to access. Please try again with an unencrypted file", and there was nowhere to enter the password. You have to make an unlocked copy first. A PDF locked only against printing uploaded normally. MyFulus asks for the password, uses it once to open the file and does not store it.
Can ChatGPT make an Excel file from a bank statement?
Yes. Given a fictional three-page statement of 58 lines, it produced an Excel workbook in which every line matched our answer key, and it reconciled the lines to the printed closing balance. It took about 8 minutes on the highest thinking setting of a paid account. That is a small test; a free account or a lower setting may behave differently.
Is it safe to upload my bank statement to ChatGPT?
It depends on your settings. OpenAI says that on Free, Plus and Pro it may use your content to train its models unless you turn off Improve the model for everyone in Data controls. It says a Temporary Chat is not used for training while it stays temporary, and that it may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety purposes.
When is a bank statement converter better than ChatGPT?
When the PDF is locked and you would rather not make an unlocked copy, when you need the answer in seconds rather than minutes, when you have several statements, or when you want a check that runs the same way every time. ChatGPT fits better if you already pay for it, have one unlocked statement, or want to ask questions about it afterwards.
ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse MyFulus.