# Payout statement descriptors

Understand and manage how Stripe payouts appear on a connected account's bank statements.

The statement descriptor used for Connect payouts varies according to the properties of the connected account and the conditions of the payout. We use a [precedence order](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/payout-statement-descriptors.md#precedence-order) for manual and automatic payouts.

Connected accounts can set a customized statement descriptor in their [payouts balance settings](https://docs.stripe.com/api/balance-settings/object.md#balance_settings_object-payments-payouts-statement_descriptor).

> #### Banks can override your statement descriptor
> 
> Beneficiary banks don’t guarantee that they’ll display statement descriptors. While Stripe shares this information with the beneficiary’s bank, it’s up to the beneficiary bank to decide what they actually display on the bank statement.

> #### ACH payout descriptor limit
> 
> For standard US ACH payouts, the statement descriptor maps to the ACH **Company Entry Description** field, which the NACHA standard limits to 10 characters. Stripe silently truncates any descriptor longer than 10 characters before submitting to the banking partner. To ensure your descriptor appears as intended on US ACH payouts, use 10 characters or fewer.

## Default statement descriptor

Connect platforms can configure a platform-wide default statement descriptor in their [Connect settings](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/connect/payouts/statement-descriptor), which is also used under certain criteria. Even when the precedence order falls to it, the default statement descriptor configured in your platform’s [Connect settings](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/connect/payouts/statement-descriptor) only applies to a connected account’s payout under certain criteria.

- The connected account belongs to a [platform that pays Stripe fees](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/direct-charges-fee-payer-behavior.md#identify-fee-collection-responsibility), or you have [platform controls](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/platform-controls-for-stripe-dashboard-accounts.md) for it.
- The connected account doesn’t have access to the Stripe API. Connected accounts only have access to the Stripe API if they can access the Stripe Dashboard.
- The connected account isn’t restricted from using the `read_write` OAuth scope. Connected accounts can use the `read_write` OAuth scope if they have access to the Stripe Dashboard and aren’t explicitly restricted from using it with platform controls.

Unless all of these criteria apply, the statement descriptor defaults to STRIPE. However, this default might be subject to other external factors, such as which bank processed the payout.

### Dashboard

You can customize a statement descriptor for all your connected accounts payouts on your [connect settings](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/connect/payouts/statement-descriptor) page in the Dashboard.

### API

```curl
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/balance_settings \
  -u "<<YOUR_SECRET_KEY>>:" \
  -H "Stripe-Account: {{CONNECTEDACCOUNT_ID}}" \
  -d "payments[payouts][statement_descriptor]=Cactus Payouts"
```

#### Json

```json
{
  "id": "{{ACCOUNT_ID}}",
  "object": "balance_settings",
  ...
  "settings": {
    "payments": {
      "payouts": {
        "statement_descriptor": "Cactus Payouts"
      }
    }
  }
}

```

## Precedence order 

If you don’t define any statement descriptor for your connected accounts, we default to `STRIPE` as the descriptor shown on your connected account’s bank statement.
![Platform Statement Descriptor precedence](https://b.stripecdn.com/docs-statics-srv/assets/connect-statement-descriptor-precedence.1cf09b866333dcbc27ef4635c14c53e7.svg)

To learn more about account-level and payout-level statement descriptors, visit the [payout statement descriptors overview page](https://docs.stripe.com/payouts/statement-descriptors.md).