Recurring Charge Codes on Bank Statements in Canada

If you have ever stared at a bank statement in Canada and wondered what RCUR means, what PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ is doing next to your gym charge, or why some merchants get a recurring tag and others don't, you are not alone. Every major bank in Canada labels recurring transactions differently: TD, RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC, BMO, Desjardins, and Banque Nationale each follow their own conventions, and things get more varied once you factor in credit unions like Vancity or Coast Capital. Underneath, every recurring charge is the same thing: a pre-authorized debit (PAD) governed by the Canadian Payments Association rules. The differences are all surface labelling — the underlying rails, authorization requirements, and dispute rights are identical. This guide is the cross-bank reference for Canada: every code, every descriptor, every gotcha, in one place.

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The Big-Picture Reference Table

A side-by-side view of how each major Canadian bank labels recurring charges:

Bank	PDF code or descriptor	Web/app indicator
TD	RCUR (PDF column)	Recurring icon in EasyWeb and TD app
RBC	recurring tag	"Spending" / "Subscriptions" view in Online Banking
Scotiabank	recurring flag	"Insights" / "Subscriptions" in Mobile Banking
CIBC	varies; may include "REC"	search "subscription" in CIBC Online Banking
BMO	recurring flag	"Spending Categories" view
Desjardins	PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ / PRÉAUTORISÉ	AccèsD → "Mes opérations" filter
Banque Nationale	PAIEMENT PRÉAUTORISÉ	NB Assist → "Abonnements" view

The table above covers the consumer banking experience. Business accounts and joint accounts may surface different views; this guide covers personal banking.

Per-Bank Deep Dive

TD: RCUR

TD's PDF statements include a RCUR flag in the description column for transactions identified as recurring. The flag is consistent across chequing, savings, and credit card statements. TD's mobile app and EasyWeb use a recurring icon (circular arrow) instead of the text label, and offer a recurring-transactions filter that mirrors the PDF flag. For a TD-specific deep dive, see the TD bank statement subscriptions guide.

RBC: recurring tag in Online Banking

RBC Online Banking and the RBC mobile app surface recurring transactions through a Subscriptions view (sometimes labelled "Subscriptions and recurring payments" or similar). The PDF statements do not consistently include an explicit recurring-flag column the way TD's do. RBC's tagging lives primarily in the digital interface. The mobile app's Insights section provides spend-category breakdowns where subscriptions are typically grouped together.

Scotiabank: recurring flag in Mobile Banking

Scotiabank's Mobile Banking app surfaces recurring charges through Insights, with a Subscriptions tab grouping recurring merchants together. PDF statements include a recurring indicator column, though the exact code or icon used varies by statement template.

CIBC: varies by statement type

CIBC's recurring-charge labelling is less standardized than TD's or Desjardins's. The CIBC Online Banking site and mobile app let you search for "subscription" or filter for recurring transactions, and the PDF statements may include a REC flag depending on the account type. When in doubt, the most reliable approach with CIBC is a manual scan of your transaction history for any merchant string under $40 that repeats month-to-month. That is where most forgotten streaming and app-store charges hide.

BMO: recurring flag in Online Banking

BMO Online Banking surfaces recurring charges through the Spending Categories view, which groups transactions into categories including a Subscriptions or Memberships group. The PDF statements include a recurring indicator, though the exact format varies.

Desjardins: PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ

Desjardins uses PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ (or shortened to PRÉAUTORISÉ) as the descriptor for recurring pre-authorized debits across both AccèsD (web banking) and PDF statements. This is the standard French-language equivalent of TD's RCUR and applies to subscriptions, gym memberships, insurance premiums, and similar recurring charges. AccèsD's "Mes opérations" page allows filtering by transaction type, including pre-authorized payments. To list every recurring charge across your AccèsD accounts at once, scan your bank statement.

Banque Nationale: PAIEMENT PRÉAUTORISÉ

Banque Nationale uses PAIEMENT PRÉAUTORISÉ, slightly different wording from Desjardins but the same underlying transaction type. The NB Assist mobile app may include a dedicated Abonnements (Subscriptions) view depending on the app version.

Credit Unions

Canadian credit unions vary widely in their statement format. Vancity (BC), Coast Capital (BC), Servus (Alberta), Meridian (Ontario), and Affinity (Saskatchewan) all use pre-authorized payment terminology, but the specific descriptor or indicator differs. The most reliable approach: check your credit union's statement legend or transaction-type help page for the specific labels used. The underlying CPA-PAD framework is the same, so chargeback rights apply regardless of how your credit union labels the transaction.

Why a Recurring Charge Might Be Missing the Tag

Even with all this labelling infrastructure in place across Canadian banks, recurring charges still slip through unflagged. The five most common reasons:

1. Custom merchant strings. A service that bills as MNGD-SVCS-12345 rather than its consumer name often misses the recurring tag, particularly for the first two or three cycles.
2. Annual subscriptions. A once-per-year charge has no monthly history for the bank's tagging system to learn from.
3. Aggregated billing. A single APPLE.COM/BILL line might bundle four subscriptions, but the bank only sees one charge from one merchant.
4. Rebrands and processor switches. When a company changes name or moves payment processors, the new descriptor often arrives without the recurring tag.
5. Refund-then-resume cycles. A chargeback that was processed without cancelling the underlying subscription can leave the next cycle untagged.

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What PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ Means Specifically on Quebec Statements

For Quebec residents, PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ is the canonical recurring-charge descriptor on Desjardins and Banque Nationale statements. The same transaction-type framework underpins all Canadian recurring debits. The Canadian Payments Association's PAD rules govern authorization, notification, and dispute rights. Quebec adds a layer through the Loi sur la protection du consommateur (LPC), which generally provides stronger consumer rights around recurring billing disclosure and auto-renewal consent than other provinces. Quebec residents who find a PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ charge they did not knowingly authorize have access to both the federal CPA chargeback path and provincial LPC remedies. See your rights in Quebec for province-specific guidance.

What to Do Once You've Found a Recurring Charge

Once you've identified a recurring charge, flagged or unflagged, the action path is the same regardless of which Canadian bank holds the account:

1. Confirm it's a charge you still want. If you can't remember using the service in the last 30 days, you probably don't.
2. Cancel through the merchant directly. Not through your bank. The bank stopping a charge does not cancel the subscription. See the SubSavvy cancel hub for service-by-service cancellation guides.
3. For Apple-billed services, cancel through Apple. Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. Same pattern for Google Play.
4. Watch your next statement. If the merchant attempts to bill again after cancellation, dispute the charge with your bank (TD, RBC, Scotia, CIBC, BMO, Desjardins, or BNC) using your cancellation evidence.
5. For Quebec residents, escalate to the OPC if the bank dispute fails. The Office de la protection du consommateur is the right venue for LPC-based claims.

Your Province's Cancellation Rights

Recurring-charge disputes are usually resolved at the bank level, but provincial consumer protection law provides backup leverage:

• Quebec: the LPC's distance-contract regime (sections 54.1+) provides the strongest protections in Canada. See your rights in Quebec.
• Ontario: the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 covers internet agreements and recurring billing. See your rights in Ontario.
• British Columbia: the BPCPA was strengthened in 2023 around auto-renewal disclosure. See your rights in BC.
• Alberta: the Consumer Protection Act covers unfair practices around recurring billing. See your rights in Alberta.

The codes and labels differ from bank to bank, but the underlying rights, and the underlying transaction type, are the same across Canada. Once you know what RCUR, PAIE PRÉAUTORISÉ, and the rest mean, your statement stops being a wall of text and starts being a manageable list of monthly commitments you can actually decide to keep or cut.