Search for "LC discrepancy examples" and you will find the same list everywhere: late shipment, expired credit, description differs, inconsistent documents. True, and almost useless. A discrepancy is never an abstraction — it is a specific line of text on a specific document that fails against a specific line of the credit. Until you have seen the two lines side by side, "description of goods differs from the credit" tells you nothing about whether your invoice will pass.
Document examiners work exactly that way: field 45A of the credit on one side of the desk, your invoice on the other, comparing text against text under UCP 600 and ISBP 821. So this guide does the same. Below are ten worked examples — the most common refusal grounds in commercial LC practice — each showing what the credit required, what the presented document actually said, the verdict with the governing rule, and the fix.
One note before the gallery: every document extract here is illustrative. The company names — Meridian Textiles Ltd, Nordhaven Trading GmbH and the rest — are invented, and the wording is typical of real presentations without reproducing any real one.
The example gallery
Example 1 — Goods description on the invoice conflicts with the credit
Article 18(c) requires the invoice's goods description to correspond with the credit's. "Cotton/polyester 90/10" does not merely rephrase "100% cotton" — it describes different goods, so the data conflict is unarguable. Contrast the harmless version:
ISBP 821 accepts generally accepted abbreviations that do not change meaning — "PCT" for "%", "Ltd" for "Limited", "Int'l" for "International". Abbreviation is tolerated; substitution is not.
Example 2 — Late shipment: on-board date after the latest shipment date
Under Article 20(a)(ii) the on-board date is the date of shipment. 18 June is after the 15 June deadline: "late shipment". Note the trap in reverse — a B/L issued 18 June with an on-board notation dated 14 June is fine, because the notation controls.
Example 3 — Credit expired before presentation
Article 6(d)(i): a credit must state an expiry date for presentation, and a presentation after it is "credit expired" — one of the few discrepancies with no argument on either side. The only relief is Article 29(a): if 30 June fell on a day the bank was closed, expiry rolls to the next banking day.
Example 4 — Presentation outside the 21-day rule
"Late presentation" is independent of expiry: Article 14(c) runs 21 calendar days from shipment even when the credit itself has weeks left. And check field 48 first — credits frequently shorten the period to 15 or 10 days, which overrides the default.
Example 5 — Invoice amount exceeds the credit, no tolerance stated
The drawing overdraws the credit by USD 2,240. Article 30(b) does allow a ±5% quantity variance where quantity is not stated in packing units — but expressly "provided ... the total amount of the drawings does not exceed the amount of the credit". Money has no default tolerance unless field 39A grants one or the amount is qualified "about" (Art. 30(a), ±10%). Under Article 18(b) a bank may accept an invoice exceeding the credit if it honours no more than the credit permits — a discretion, never a plan.
Would your set survive this examination?
These ten cases are the common ones — an examiner checks dozens more points across your documents. Run your full set through an automated UCP 600 / ISBP 821 check: $25, plain-English report in ~10 minutes. Rules-grounded review, never a guarantee of acceptance.
Run a document checkExample 6 — No "freight prepaid" notation under a CFR sale
Under CFR the seller pays the freight, so a B/L marked "freight collect" states data that conflicts with the credit — Article 14(d)'s "must not conflict" test. Standard banking practice expects the transport document to be consistent with the freight-payment side of the stated trade term; where the credit's term is C&F/CFR or CIF, examiners look for "freight prepaid" or equivalent.
Example 7 — Certificate of origin consignee conflicts with the bill of lading
Baltica Imports appears nowhere in the credit or the rest of the set — data on one stipulated document conflicting with another. The nuance exporters miss: where the transport document is consigned "to order" or to the order of a bank, standard practice accepts a certificate of origin naming the applicant (here, Nordhaven Trading) as consignee. Naming the applicant is fine; naming a stranger is a conflict.
Example 8 — Insurance document dated after shipment
Article 28(e): the insurance document must be dated no later than the date of shipment — unless it shows on its face that cover is effective from a date no later than shipment. Issued 12 June against a 10 June on-board date, with no retroactive wording, this fails.
Example 9 — Insurance cover below 110% of the CIF value
Where the credit gives no indication of required cover, Article 28(f)(ii) sets the floor at 110% of the CIF or CIP value — here USD 60,500. A 105% certificate is USD 2,750 short: "insufficient insurance cover". The document must also be in the credit's currency (Art. 28(f)(i)).
Example 10 — A copy presented where the credit required an original
Article 17(a) requires at least one original of each stipulated document. Under Article 17(b) a bank treats as original a document bearing an apparently original signature, mark, stamp or label of the issuer, unless the document itself says otherwise — and 17(c) extends this to documents that appear written or typed by the issuer, on the issuer's letterhead, or stated to be original. A flat photocopy with a photocopied signature meets none of these. A copy freshly stamped and signed as true and correct, by contrast, can qualify.
All ten at a glance
| Discrepancy | Governing rule | Fixable before presentation? |
|---|---|---|
| Goods description on invoice conflicts with credit | UCP 600 Art. 18(c) | Yes — reissue the invoice |
| Late shipment (on-board date after 44C) | Art. 20(a)(ii); field 44C | No — amendment or waiver only |
| Credit expired before presentation | Art. 6(d) | No — extend before expiry or nothing |
| Presentation after 21-day period | Art. 14(c) | No — prevention only |
| Invoice amount overdraws credit | Art. 18(b); Art. 30(b) | Yes — restrict drawing or amend |
| Missing "freight prepaid" under CFR | Art. 14(d); ISBP 821 | Yes — carrier adds notation |
| Cert. of origin consignee conflicts with B/L | Art. 14(d); ISBP 821 | Yes — chamber corrects certificate |
| Insurance dated after shipment | Art. 28(e) | Yes — if cover truly ran from shipment |
| Insurance cover below 110% CIF | Art. 28(f)(ii) | Yes — insurer endorsement |
| Copy presented where original required | Art. 17 | Yes — obtain the original |
Read the pattern in the third column. Seven of the ten are curable paperwork problems — if you find them while the documents are still on your desk. The three that are not curable are all dates. Which points directly at how to spend your checking time.
The three habits that prevent most of these
1. Build a cross-document data matrix
Take one sheet. Down the side: every data point the credit fixes — parties, ports, goods description, marks, quantities, weights, currency, amounts, LC number. Across the top: credit, invoice, B/L, packing list, certificate of origin, insurance. Fill every cell from the documents themselves, not from memory, and read across each row for conflict. This is Article 14(d) turned into a table — it catches Examples 1, 6, 7 and every "inconsistent data" refusal in one pass. Remember the asymmetry: only the invoice must correspond with the credit's goods description (Art. 18(c)); other documents may use general terms so long as nothing conflicts (Art. 14(e)).
2. Draw the dates triangle before the vessel is booked
Latest shipment (44C), presentation period (Art. 14(c) or field 48), expiry (31D). The three interact: expiry overrides the 21 days, and the shipment date starts the clock. Work backwards from expiry, subtract real courier and issuance time, and treat the result as your true latest shipment date. The three incurable discrepancies in the table — Examples 2, 3 and 4 — all die here, weeks before any document exists.
3. Read 46A and 47A twice — once when the credit arrives, once with documents in hand
Field 46A lists the documents; field 47A holds the additional conditions where issuing banks hide the sharp edges — a shortened presentation period, a required legalization, a specific issuer for the certificate of origin, an insurance percentage above 110%. The first reading tells you what to order from carriers, chambers, labs and insurers. The second reading, set in hand, is where you catch that the credit said "2 originals" and the insurer sent one. Most "surprise" discrepancies were printed in the credit all along.
Ten examples down. Now check your actual documents.
Upload your credit and your document set and get every issue flagged with the UCP 600 / ISBP 821 rule it fails and what to correct — $25, report in ~10 minutes. A rules-grounded pre-check, never a guarantee of any bank's decision.
Run your document checkAll document extracts, company names and figures on this page are illustrative examples created for instruction; they do not depict any real firm, shipment or presentation. This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice, and does not predict or guarantee any bank's examination decision — always read your credit's own terms, which override the defaults described here. UCP 600 and ISBP 821 are ICC publications; OpenLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by the ICC. Incoterms® is a registered trademark of the ICC.