How to Check LC Documents Before Sending Them to the Bank

Your shipment is complete. The documents have arrived. The presentation deadline is approaching.

This is usually when someone opens the LC, keeps the invoice beside it, checks the Bill of Lading, looks at the packing list, and starts moving between PDFs trying to answer one question:

Are these documents safe to send to the bank?

The best way to answer that isn't to read every document from top to bottom repeatedly.

Check the transaction in a sequence.

Start here: don't check the documents yet

First, read the LC one final time.

Create a small control sheet containing:

Check	What to capture
LC amount	Amount, currency and tolerance
Applicant	Name and relevant details
Beneficiary	Name and relevant details
Goods	Description, quantity and units
Incoterm	FOB, CIF, CIP etc.
Shipment	From/to, latest shipment date
Presentation	Presentation period and place
Expiry	Date and place of expiry
Documents	Every document required
Special conditions	Additional documentary requirements

This becomes your reference point.

Otherwise, it is surprisingly easy to spend twenty minutes checking whether an invoice agrees with a packing list while overlooking that the LC required an additional certificate that nobody prepared.

Step 1: Is every required document actually there?

This sounds obvious. Do it anyway.

Suppose the LC requires:

• Signed commercial invoice — 3 originals
• Packing list
• Full set clean on-board Bills of Lading
• Insurance policy or certificate
• Certificate of origin
• Beneficiary's certificate confirming dispatch of documents to the applicant

You have:

• ✓ Invoice
• ✓ Packing list
• ✓ Bill of Lading
• ✓ Insurance
• ✓ Certificate of Origin
• ✗ Beneficiary's certificate

The five documents you have could be flawless.

The presentation can still have a problem because the sixth document is missing.

Also check the required number of originals and copies rather than merely checking that a document exists.

Practical check

Before examining content, answer:

Do I have every stipulated document, in the required form and number?

Only then start examining what those documents say.

Step 2: Check each document against the LC

Now take the documents one at a time.

Don't ask:

“Does this invoice look correct?”

Ask:

“Does this invoice satisfy what this LC requires from the invoice?”

That small change in thinking matters.

Commercial invoice

Look particularly at:

Issuer and buyer
Currency and amount
Goods description
Quantity and units
Price
Trade terms where shown
Signatures/certification where required
Any invoice-specific condition in the LC

Do not automatically assume that every word everywhere must reproduce the LC word-for-word. Documentary examination is more nuanced than a simple text-matching exercise.

The question is whether the document satisfies the credit and applicable documentary rules without creating conflicting data.

Transport document

Depending on whether you have a Bill of Lading, Air Waybill, multimodal document or another transport document, examine the requirements applicable to that document.

Typical areas deserving attention include:

Place/port of loading
Destination/port of discharge
Shipment/on-board date
Carrier and signature capacity
Consignee
Notify party
Freight indication
Transshipment requirements
Number of originals

A particularly important lesson: don't use the commercial invoice standard to examine the Bill of Lading.

Different documents have different functions and documentary requirements.

Insurance document

Where insurance is required, check more than whether an insurance certificate exists.

Look at:

Required amount of cover
Currency
Risks/clauses required by the LC
Effective date
Shipment details
Party entitled to claim / endorsement where relevant
Any specific wording or documentary requirement in the credit

Certificates and other documents

For certificates of origin, inspection certificates, quality/quantity certificates and beneficiary certificates, first ask:

Who does the LC require to issue it?

Then:

What does the LC require it to certify or contain?

A beautiful certificate issued by the wrong party does not solve the requirement.

Step 3: Now forget the individual documents. Check the story.

This is where many useful pre-presentation reviews begin.

Put the important transaction data side-by-side.

Consider this simplified shipment:

	LC	Invoice	Packing List	Bill of Lading
Quantity	1,000 cartons	1,000	1,000	1,000
Destination	Hamburg	Hamburg	—	Hamburg
Trade term	CIF Hamburg	CIF Hamburg	—	—
Freight	—	Included	—	Collect
Shipment date	Latest 10 Sep	—	—	8 Sep

At first glance, each document may look reasonable.

But read them together.

Why does a CIF transaction show Freight Collect on the transport document?

That deserves investigation before presentation.

It does not mean that every apparent commercial inconsistency automatically constitutes a documentary discrepancy. You still need to examine the actual credit terms, documents and applicable rules.

But it is exactly the kind of inconsistency that should trigger a question before the bank gets the set.

A useful habit

Create one transaction matrix and compare at least:

Names → amounts → currency → quantity → goods → ports/places → dates → Incoterms → freight → shipment references

Don't rely on memory while moving between PDFs.

Step 4: Build a three-date timeline

Some of the most painful documentary problems have nothing to do with spelling or amounts.

They come from time.

Put these dates on one line:

Latest shipment → Actual shipment → Last permissible presentation → LC expiry

For example:

Latest shipment: 10 September
Actual shipment: 8 September
LC expiry: 30 September
Presentation period: 15 days after shipment

The shipment was made before the latest shipment date.

Good.

But that doesn't automatically mean you can wait until 30 September to present.

The presentation-period requirement also has to be satisfied.

Under UCP 600, where the presentation includes original transport documents subject to the relevant transport articles, presentation must generally be made no later than 21 calendar days after shipment unless the credit stipulates another period, and in any event no later than the credit's expiry date.

So don't ask only:

“Has the LC expired?”

Ask:

“What is the last day on which this particular presentation can be made?”

Write that date down.

Step 5: Read the LC's special conditions again

This deserves its own step because it is where unusual requirements hide.

An LC might require something such as:

Certificate issued by beneficiary confirming one set of non-negotiable documents was emailed to applicant within three days after shipment.

Everything about the shipment can be correct.

The invoice can be correct.

The Bill of Lading can be correct.

But someone still needs to produce the required certificate — and the underlying action may itself have needed to happen within a specified period.

Look carefully at:

Additional conditions
Special documentary wording
Required certifications
Who must issue documents
Timing requirements
References that must appear on documents

Don't treat these as boilerplate.

Step 6: Separate a discrepancy from something that merely looks unusual

This is an important skill.

Suppose the LC describes the goods as:

PRIME QUALITY AISI 304 STAINLESS STEEL COIL SLITTED EDGE

and the Bill of Lading states:

STAINLESS STEEL

Your first instinct might be:

Mismatch.

But that conclusion could be wrong.

UCP 600 permits the description of goods in documents other than the commercial invoice to be stated in general terms, provided it does not conflict with the description in the credit.

ICC has considered precisely this kind of issue in documentary-credit practice: a more general goods description on a Bill of Lading was not, by itself, considered a discrepancy where it did not conflict with the credit.

The practical lesson is bigger than this example:

Document checking is not character-by-character matching.

Before declaring something discrepant, ask:

1. What does the LC actually require?
2. What type of document am I examining?
3. What do the applicable documentary rules require?
4. Is the information genuinely conflicting, or simply expressed differently?

This avoids two expensive mistakes:

missing a real discrepancy and creating a false discrepancy where none exists.

Step 7: Finish with an exception list, not another full review

After the first structured check, don't start reading everything again from page one.

Create an exception list.

For example:

Finding	Why it needs attention	Who should check
BL says Freight Collect	Appears inconsistent with transaction terms	Documentation / Forwarder
Applicant address differs	Need to determine whether difference matters	Documentation
Insurance shows 105%	LC requires different coverage	Insurance / Documentation
Beneficiary certificate missing	Required by LC	Documentation
Presentation deadline in 2 days	Immediate timing risk	Trade Operations

Now the team has five things to resolve.

Not 37 pages to reread.

This is also the approach behind Stavyx: examining documents in the context of the transaction and surfacing the exceptions that deserve attention, rather than treating every document as an isolated file.

Found something? The timing determines what you do next.

Before the document is issued

Usually the easiest stage.

Correct the instruction or document before issuance.

Document issued, but not yet presented

Determine whether it can legitimately be corrected, reissued or replaced by the appropriate issuing party.

Don't simply alter a third-party document yourself.

LC requirement itself is unworkable

The answer may not be “fix the document.”

The credit itself may need amendment.

Recognising this before shipment is far better than discovering it during presentation.

Already presented to the bank

The situation changes.

If the bank determines that the presentation does not comply, UCP 600 provides the framework for refusal, notice and possible applicant waiver.

At this stage, understand exactly what discrepancy has been raised before deciding whether to challenge it, provide replacement/corrected documents where possible, or pursue a waiver.

The five-minute final check

If the courier is waiting and you have only five minutes, don't randomly flip through documents.

Check these five things:

1. Completeness

Every document required? Correct originals/copies?

2. Critical LC terms

Amount, currency, parties, goods, shipment requirements.

3. Cross-document consistency

Do names, quantities, values, ports, dates and shipment information tell a consistent story?

4. Dates

Latest shipment, actual shipment, presentation deadline and expiry.

5. Special conditions

Any unusual certificate, declaration, issuer, wording or timing requirement forgotten?

If something looks odd, stop and investigate it rather than assuming it is harmless—or automatically assuming it is a discrepancy.

Three things to take back to your desk

If you change only three things in your next LC presentation, make them these:

Don't check documents independently.
Check the LC against each document, then check the documents against each other.

Create the presentation deadline yourself.
Don't rely only on the LC expiry date.

Maintain an exception list.
Once the basic check is complete, focus the team's attention on unresolved issues instead of repeatedly rereading the entire document set.

A good pre-presentation review should ultimately answer one simple question:

Do these documents, read together and against the credit, tell a transaction story that satisfies what is required?

That is a much better question than:

“Did someone check the documents?”

This guide is educational and does not replace examination of the specific credit, applicable ICC rules, international standard banking practice, contractual requirements or professional advice relevant to a particular transaction.