Reading the discrepancy note your bank sent back with your documents

Published 27 July 2026

What does the discrepancy note from my bank actually mean?

The note lists, in banking shorthand, each way your documents failed the examination. Phrases about wording, arithmetic, signatures and missing copies are document problems you can correct and present again. Phrases about dates, shipment and quantity describe something that already happened, and those need your buyer to waive them.

You send the document set to your bank. Days later it comes back with a note listing what is wrong, in six or seven words per line, in terms nobody explained to you. The note is the only thing standing between you and payment, so it is worth being able to read it.

This is a guide to the phrases themselves. For how a documentary credit works and why a discrepancy matters at all, start with what a discrepancy does to the bank's obligation to pay.

What a valid note has to contain#

A refusal under a letter of credit is a single notice. The bank cannot raise one point this week and another next week: every discrepancy it intends to rely on has to be in that one message, and the message has to say what the bank is doing with your documents. It also has to reach you inside a fixed window after presentation. A bank that misses either requirement is barred from arguing later that your documents did not comply, so read the note for its date and its completeness before you read it for its contents.

What the phrases mean#

What the note says	What it means	Can you correct it?
Late shipment / shipment effected after latest date	The on-board date on your transport document falls after the last shipment date the credit allows	No. The date is fixed by the carrier's record
Late presentation / documents presented after 21 days	The set reached the bank outside the presentation period	No
Credit expired / L/C expired	Presentation was made after the credit's expiry date	No
Goods description not as per LC	Your invoice describes the goods in different words from the credit	Yes. Raise a fresh invoice in the credit's wording
Documents inconsistent with each other	Quantity, weight, marks, ports or value differ between two documents in the set	Yes, once you decide which figure is the true one
Presented short of originals	Fewer originals than the credit stipulated	Yes, if the issuer of that document will produce more
Document not signed as required	A required signature is missing, or a certificate came from a party other than the one the credit named	A signature, yes. A wrong issuer, only if the named party will issue
B/L not marked on board	The bill of lading does not show the goods loaded on the named vessel, with a date	Yes, if the carrier will add a dated on-board notation
Consignee / notify party not as per LC	The transport document names a different party from the credit	Sometimes, if the carrier reissues before the goods arrive
Claused / unclean B/L	The transport document carries a notation about the condition of the goods or the packing	No. It records what the carrier saw
Insurance amount insufficient	Cover is below what the credit requires. Where the credit is silent the minimum is 110 per cent of the CIF or CIP value	The amount, yes, by endorsement. A cover date later than shipment, no
Transhipment effected	The goods were transhipped where the credit prohibits it	No
LC overdrawn	The amount drawn is more than the credit allows	Not by correction. It needs an amendment or a waiver
Partial shipment effected	Part of the quantity went, where the credit requires shipment in full	No

On a documentary collection rather than a credit, the wording is looser. "Not as per collection instructions" means the set does not match the instruction your own bank was given, which is usually correctable. "Drawee refused acceptance" means your buyer declined, and that is a commercial problem rather than a paperwork one.

What to do the same day#

Check the note's date and completeness first. A late or partial notice changes your position before you have corrected anything.

Draw a line down the note. Wording, arithmetic, signatures and missing copies go above it: those are document problems, and while the credit and the presentation period hold, a corrected set is simply a fresh presentation. Dates, shipment, transhipment and quantity go below it. Nothing you produce fixes those.

Correct everything above the line in one pass. Fixing one document and creating a new disagreement with another is the most common way a resubmission fails, so run the fields that have to agree across the whole set before you send it back.

Ask your buyer to waive what is below the line, before their bank asks them. A buyer approached directly, with the reason and the fix, usually agrees. A buyer who first hears about it from their own bank has been handed a decision instead of a request.

Sources

Reserve Bank of India — Master Direction on Export of Goods and Services — checked 27 July 2026
International Chamber of Commerce — Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600) — checked 27 July 2026
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs — checked 27 July 2026

Last verified 27 July 2026 by Dipender Bhamrah. Rules and rates change. If something here no longer matches what your bank or customs broker tells you, treat their answer as current and tell us so we can correct the page.

Revisions

27 July 2026 — Flagged for review ahead of the RBI Master Direction being superseded on 1 October 2026.

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