Payee ledger

General information, not legal or financial advice. This tool keeps records on your device and compares short codes. It does not detect fraud, it does not judge whether a request is a scam, and it never touches money.

What is reported to our server. A random identifier kept in this browser; each page visit; one event when five vendors are recorded (the first time your ledger holds five vendors that each have a verified contact channel and a verified date); the link tag you arrived with (or whether you came from a search engine); an operator flag (false for you; it is true only on our own devices); which of our tools the event came from; the server time; and the country reported by our host. Never names, numbers, codes or any content. Details are on the privacy page. Everything below is stored only in this browser (and in backup files that you export yourself).

Browsers can delete site data, for example after a period of not visiting. Export a backup regularly (section 5) and keep it somewhere private.

1. Vendors

Vendor	Contact channel	Code	Last verified	Complete

2. A change request has arrived

The steps unlock in order. Only finishing all four produces a “verified” entry and updates the vendor's code. Editing a vendor's account number in section 1 also changes its code.

Vendor the request claims to come from

Step 1. Set the request aside I will not use any phone number, email address or link that appears in the request.

Step 2. Call back the stored number

Stored number:

I called the stored number and spoke to the vendor.

Step 3. Compare the last four digits

Ask the vendor to read out the last four digits of the new account. Then enter the new account from the request and what the vendor read. Numbers entered here stay on this device.

New routing number from the request New account number from the request Last four digits as read out by the vendor

Step 4. Record the result Your name

3. Before you pay

Paste the routing and account you are about to use. You will see only SAME or DIFFERENT compared with the code on file.

Vendor Routing number Account number

4. Operation log

The log only grows. Each entry carries a fingerprint of the entry before it, so the log detects accidental changes and corruption. It cannot prove that nobody rewrote the whole log, and it cannot show that the most recent entries were deleted.

5. Backup

The backup file contains your records, the log and the secret key that makes the codes. Anyone holding that file could recover account numbers by trying all possibilities against the codes, so keep the backup private. Importing it on another device lets that device compute the same codes.

Only import a file you exported yourself.

Import a backup (replaces what is on this device)

What this does and does not do

What it does

Keeps, for each vendor, the contact channel you verified, a short code for the bank account, and when and how it was last verified.
Makes the code from the routing and account numbers with a secret key that stays on your device. The same numbers and the same key always give the same code. A different account is very likely to give a different code (the code is a short 8-character summary, so two different accounts can, rarely, give the same code).
Walks you through the call-back steps in a fixed order and records what you did.
Shows SAME or DIFFERENT when you check an account against the code on file.
Keeps an append-only log that detects accidental changes and corruption. It cannot prove that nobody rewrote the whole log.

What it does not do

It does not detect fraud and does not judge whether a request is a scam.
It does not touch, hold or send money, and it is not in the path of any payment. Nothing stops you paying without using it.
It does not know whether the phone number you stored is genuine. If a number was wrong when you stored it, the call-back is made to that wrong number.
It does not know whether you really made the call or followed the steps.
It cannot recover your records or your key if you lose the browser data and have no backup.

Limited warranty

The only promise is that the tool works as described on this page: the same numbers and key give the same code, a different account is very likely (not certain) to give a different code, the log detects accidental changes and corruption (it cannot prove that nobody rewrote the whole log), and we do not alter your log. If it does not, we will refund what you paid for the tool in the period concerned. Our liability is limited to the amount you paid. The tool is currently free, so that amount is nothing. We do not promise any outcome, and we do not compensate for any payment loss.