Connecting Your Bank Accounts

What is Bank Synchronization?

Bank synchronization (bank sync) is a Premium feature that automatically imports transactions from your financial institutions directly into Purpose Budget. Instead of manually entering every transaction, your purchases, deposits, and transfers appear in your budget automatically - usually within 24 hours.

Benefits of Bank Sync

• Save time: No more manual entry for every transaction
• Never miss a transaction: All spending and income automatically captured
• Auto-detect recurring bills: Purpose Budget identifies patterns in your transactions
• Accurate balances: Always know your real account balances
• Reconciliation made easy: Compare budget vs. actual spending effortlessly
• Better insights: Reports and analytics based on complete transaction history

How Bank Sync Works

The Technology Behind It

Purpose Budget partners with Plaid, an industry-leading financial data aggregation service. When you connect your bank, here's what happens:

1. You authenticate with your bank: Enter your online banking credentials through Plaid's secure interface
2. Plaid establishes connection: Creates a secure, read-only connection to your financial institution
3. Data flows to Purpose Budget: Transactions are imported and matched to your budget categories
4. Daily syncs: New transactions automatically appear each day

Connecting Your First Bank Account

Ready to set up bank sync? Here's the complete step-by-step process:

Supported Financial Institutions

Major Banks (Fully Supported)

• Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank
• Capital One, US Bank, PNC, TD Bank
• American Express, Discover, Barclays
• Ally Bank, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, SoFi

Credit Unions

Most credit unions are supported through Plaid. Search for your credit union by name during connection.

Online Banks

• Chime, Varo, Current, One Finance
• Simple (now part of BBVA), Aspiration
• Discover Bank, Synchrony

Investment Accounts

• Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Schwab
• Robinhood, E*TRADE, TD Ameritrade
• Betterment, Wealthfront, Acorns

Managing Connected Accounts

Account Sync Status

In the Accounts section, you'll see sync status for each connected account:

• 🟢 Synced: Connected and up-to-date (last sync within 24 hours)
• 🟡 Syncing: Currently fetching new transactions
• 🔴 Needs Attention: Connection error - re-authentication required
• ⚪ Manual: Not connected to bank sync

Manual Sync

While accounts sync automatically daily, you can trigger a manual sync:

1. Go to Accounts page
2. Find the account you want to refresh
3. Click the refresh icon next to the account name
4. Wait for sync to complete (usually 10-30 seconds)

Disconnecting an Account

If you need to remove a bank connection:

1. Navigate to Accounts
2. Click on the connected account
3. Click "Account Settings" or gear icon
4. Select "Disconnect from Bank"
5. Confirm disconnection

Note: Disconnecting stops new transactions from importing but doesn't delete existing transactions or the account itself.

Troubleshooting Connection Issues

Common Issues and Solutions

Security and Privacy

How Your Data is Protected

Encryption:

• 256-bit SSL encryption (same as banks use)
• Data encrypted in transit and at rest
• Purpose Budget never stores your bank credentials

Read-Only Access:

• Plaid connection can only view transactions
• Cannot transfer money, pay bills, or modify accounts
• No access to perform any account changes

Compliance:

• Plaid is SOC 2 Type II certified
• Compliant with banking regulations (GLBA, FCRA)
• Regular third-party security audits

Revoking Access

You can revoke Purpose Budget's access to your bank data at any time:

Method 1: Through Purpose Budget

1. Go to Accounts
2. Select connected account
3. Click "Disconnect from Bank"

Method 2: Through Plaid

1. Visit my.plaid.com
2. Find Purpose Budget in connected apps
3. Click "Remove"

Method 3: Through Your Bank

1. Log into your bank's website
2. Find "Connected Apps" or "Third-Party Access" in settings
3. Remove Plaid/Purpose Budget authorization

Best Practices for Bank Sync

Initial Setup

• Connect all active accounts: Include checking, savings, and credit cards you use regularly
• Review historical imports: Plaid usually imports 30-90 days of transactions initially
• Categorize everything: Take time to properly categorize imported transactions
• Set up transaction rules: Create rules to auto-categorize future transactions from common merchants

Daily Workflow

• Check for new transactions: Review imports daily or every few days
• Categorize promptly: Don't let uncategorized transactions pile up
• Verify amounts: Ensure imported amounts match receipts for important purchases
• Monitor sync status: Re-authenticate if connection errors appear

Maintenance

• Update credentials: If you change your bank password, update connection in Purpose Budget
• Reconcile monthly: Compare your budget to bank statements to catch any missed transactions
• Remove closed accounts: Disconnect accounts you've closed at the bank
• Review match suggestions: If you manually entered a transaction before it imported from Plaid, Purpose Budget will suggest matches (see Smart Transaction Matching below)

Smart Transaction Matching

When you manually enter a transaction and it later imports from your bank via Plaid, Purpose Budget intelligently detects these potential duplicates and suggests matches. This prevents double-counting while preserving your categorization work.

How It Works

Purpose Budget compares your manual transactions against Plaid imports using a confidence scoring system:

• Date proximity (40 points): How close are the transaction dates? Same day = full points, decreasing over 14 days
• Payee similarity (35 points): Fuzzy matching between your entered payee and the bank's merchant name (e.g., "Netflix" matches "NETFLIX.COM")
• Amount match (25 points): Only transactions with exact matching amounts are considered

Confidence Badges

Potential matches are shown with color-coded confidence badges:

• 🟢 Green Badge (≥75%): High confidence match - very likely the same transaction
• 🟡 Yellow Badge (60-74%): Possible match - review the details before confirming

Matches below 60% confidence are not shown to avoid false positives.

Confirming a Match

When you confirm a match:

1. The Plaid transaction data (date, merchant name, bank details) replaces your manual entry
2. Your category assignment is preserved - you don't lose your categorization work
3. The match is recorded in the transaction history for your records
4. The manual transaction is removed, preventing duplicate counting in your budget

When Manual Entry + Bank Sync Work Together

Many budgeters prefer to enter transactions immediately at the point of purchase for real-time budget awareness, then let bank sync import the "official" record later. Smart matching makes this workflow seamless:

1. You purchase coffee and immediately enter "$5.50 - Starbucks - Dining Out"
2. Two days later, Plaid imports "STARBUCKS #12345 - $5.50"
3. Purpose Budget suggests a match (high confidence - same amount, similar payee, close dates)
4. You confirm the match with one click
5. Result: Official bank data with your "Dining Out" category preserved

Credit Cards with Bank Sync

Credit cards work seamlessly with bank sync, and Purpose Budget's automatic credit card protection (Total Debt mode) applies to synced transactions just like manual ones. Here's what makes CC sync special.

How Credit Card Sync Works

When you connect a credit card via Plaid, it works just like connecting a checking or savings account:

• Purchases import automatically: CC transactions appear within 24-48 hours of posting
• Total Debt protection applies: When a CC purchase syncs, funds automatically move from your spending category to your CC Payment category
• Exact bank data: Merchant names, dates, and amounts come directly from your bank
• Balance tracking: Your CC account balance stays in sync with your actual card

Understanding the CC Payment Flow with Bank Sync

Here's what happens when you use your credit card and then pay the bill, with both accounts connected via Plaid:

Payment Pair Linking

When you pay your credit card, two transactions occur: an outflow from your bank account and an inflow to your credit card. Purpose Budget automatically detects and links these payment pairs:

• Amount matching: Both transactions must have the same amount
• Timing correlation: Transactions typically sync within 1-3 days of each other
• Visual indicator: A link icon appears on both transactions showing they're paired
• Auto-categorization: The checking account outflow is automatically assigned to the correct CC Payment category

Credit Card Sync Best Practices

1. Connect all your credit cards: Get the full picture of your spending and debt. Each card gets its own Payment category.
2. Review imported CC transactions within 24-48 hours: Categorize new purchases promptly so your budget stays accurate.
3. Create transaction rules for common merchants: Set up rules to auto-categorize Amazon, gas stations, and other frequent purchases.
4. Don't manually enter if bank-synced: Avoid duplicates by letting Plaid import your CC transactions automatically.
5. Check for unfunded badges weekly: Even with auto-sync, you still need to ensure your spending categories have enough budgeted.

Mixed Mode: Manual Entry + Bank Sync for Credit Cards

Some budgeters want real-time awareness of their CC spending before Plaid syncs. You can do both:

1. Make CC purchase: Enter it immediately in Purpose Budget for instant budget impact
2. 1-2 days later: Plaid imports the official bank record
3. Smart matching suggests: Purpose Budget detects the potential duplicate
4. Confirm the match: Keep your category, use the bank's data
5. Result: No duplicate, no lost categorization, real-time awareness preserved

Bank Sync vs. Manual Entry

When to choose bank sync: You want to save time, have many transactions, or want automatic recurring bill detection

When to choose manual entry: You prefer privacy, have few transactions, or want to be extremely intentional about recording spending

Frequently Asked Questions