How do I set up a bank connection with Plaid?

Plaid, one of our third party connectors, can help you get your expenses automatically imported from your bank accounts, credit cards, and PayPal accounts (crypto, investment, loan, and line of credit accounts will not be imported). These transactions are imported into your account through a mix of data sharing methods like Open Banking and data extraction depending on the financial institution.
All accounts you set up will appear in the Bank Connections section, and any newly imported expenses (up to 90 days of activity) will appear in the Expenses section for you.
 
The below steps are for specific users in certain supported countries. If you’re not sure which bank connection partner to use, look for your supported country here.

Bank Connections can pull up to a maximum of 90 days of activity, if you're looking to import older transactions, review How do I import expenses from a file? instead.
 
 

Add a Bank

  1. Before beginning, ensure you’re using the correct steps by confirming which partner supports connections for your country here
  2. Using a web browser, select the Bank Connections section
  3. Then select the Connect My Bank button
  4. Read the Before You Connect pop-up about selecting the accounts to start importing transactions, then select Let’s Go to continue
    Before you connect message specifying to select accounts.
  5. A pop-up will appear letting you know about Plaid linking to your bank, select Continue to confirm
    Details about Plaid connection in pop-up.
  6. Select your bank or enter in your bank’s name in the search bar
  7. Make sure the result matches the URL you normally log into your bank with online, and select the result
  8. Enter your bank’s login credentials and select Submit
    RBC bank account with login credentials fields to enter.
  9. Plaid will send your credentials to the bank and authorize with their servers, this can take a few minutes
  10. Verify your identity if prompted to by answering any security questions - select the Next or the Answer button as needed
  11. Once all verification is complete, Plaid will send this over to your bank, this can take a few minutes
  12. Next, scroll and select the account(s) you want to import transactions from
  13. Select Continue
  14. A pop-up will ask you to how far back to import expenses from - choose between Today, 7 Days ago, 30 Days ago, 90 Days ago, or Custom
    Dropdown for date ranges to bring in expenses from.
  15. Then select Done.
Your account(s) will now be connected, and take up to 30 minutes to initially import new transactions (up to 90 days of activity) into your Expenses section. The connection(s) will refresh every 4-12 hours or so for new expenses, depending on the bank.
 
To look for expenses that have not been assigned a category, select the Advanced Search button and choose Uncategorized Expenses in the Category field, and select Apply

Advanced search box with uncategorized expenses selected as an expense category to filter results by.

We recommend checking your bank connections on a regular basis to ensure your expenses are consistently importing with no errors or actions required by you.
 

FAQs

How do I troubleshoot my bank connection to bring in missing or new expenses?
  1. Select the Bank Connections section
  2. Under the bank account that's experiencing an issue, select the Reconnect link. Stay on the page or leave it open and come back later to review the results of the new reconnection attempt.
    Reconnect link next to bank account.
 
How do I disconnect my bank?
Note that disconnecting a bank will not remove expenses that have already been imported in for that account. To disconnect, follow these steps:
  1. Select the Bank Connections section
  2. Then select the bank itself to show the connected accounts
  3. Next to the account you want to remove, select the Disconnect link.
    Disconnect link next to bank account.
If you're trying to re-add this bank, there is a chance of duplicate expenses being imported in again upon connection. We recommend checking your Expenses section afterwards to delete any duplicates that appear.
 
Can I use bank connections to add other logins to other accounts from the same bank?
Currently Plaid can only store one set of login credentials for one financial institution at a time. If you have multiple logins with the same financial institution, Plaid will only be able to connect to one of your logins.