# Reading the discrepancy note your bank sent back with your documents

> Banks return export documents with a short note written in their own shorthand. What each phrase on it means in plain words, which ones you can still correct, and which ones now depend on your buyer.

- Source: https://www.lexiplatform.com/articles/documents/bank-returned-export-documents-discrepancy
- Published: 2026-07-27  ·  Last updated: 2026-07-27
- Next scheduled review: 2026-09-15
- Reviewed by: Dipender Bhamrah
- Publisher: LEXI Platform Pvt. Ltd.

## 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](https://www.lexiplatform.com/articles/documents/letter-of-credit-discrepancies-that-stop-payment).

## 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](https://www.lexiplatform.com/articles/documents/fields-that-must-match-across-export-documents) 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](https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=10395) — checked 2026-07-27
- [International Chamber of Commerce — Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600)](https://iccwbo.org/news-publications/news/iccs-new-rules-on-documentary-credits-now-available/) — checked 2026-07-27
- [Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs](https://www.cbic.gov.in/) — checked 2026-07-27