How to redact a bank statement (and a payslip)

A landlord asks for proof of income, and the easiest thing to send is a bank statement. But they need your income, not every transaction on it. To redact a bank statement, keep what proves the income, cover everything else, and mark the copy for the person you send it to. The same goes for a payslip. Here is what usually stays, what goes, and how to do it without uploading the file.

What the receiver needs to see

Usually, that is your name, the income and the period it covers. Ask them first. A good request already says it, such as “your name, your employer and your net monthly income from the last three payslips”.

German data protection authorities say the same for landlords. Their guidance for tenancy applications (DSK, in German) says income can be proven shortly before the contract is signed, with a payslip, a bank statement or a tax assessment, each with the details that aren’t needed blacked out. Behind it is the GDPR’s data minimization rule: personal data must be limited to what the purpose needs (Art. 5(1)(c)).

If you collect these documents yourself, see what a landlord needs from tenants.

What to cover when you redact a bank statement

Keep the account holder’s name, the bank’s name, the statement period and the incoming payments that show your income. Cover the rest:

• Other transactions. Who you pay and what you buy says a lot about you: health, family, habits.
• Balances, unless they asked for them.
• Account and card numbers, or all but the last few digits, if they need to see that the account is yours.
• Customer or reference numbers that link to your banking.

What to cover on a payslip

Keep your name, the employer, the pay period and the net or gross pay they asked for. Usually cover:

• your tax and social security numbers;
• your date of birth and home address, if they already have them;
• your bank details;
• deductions and other entries that say more than your pay, such as union dues or garnishments.

Find every account number at once

A statement repeats the same numbers on every page. With search and cover, a Pro feature, you search for an IBAN pattern, a name or a number, and Dress Docs finds every instance in a PDF with a text layer. A statement downloaded from online banking often has one. You review each match before it is covered. See how to redact every instance in a PDF.

A scan or a photo of a payslip has no text layer, so cover it by hand. The free editor does that.

Mark the copy, export, check

Add a watermark with the recipient, the purpose and the date: what to write is in how to watermark an ID copy, and it works the same for income proofs. Then export. Each page becomes one flat image with the covers in it, and the metadata is removed.

Are you the one asking for income proofs? The request kit has a ready message that asks applicants for exactly this. Sending one yourself? Open Dress Docs.