Connecting a bank means transactions arrive on their own, every day, instead of being typed or imported.
Connecting
- Open Connections.
- Click Connect a bank.
- Choose your bank and sign in through the secure window.
- Pick which accounts to bring across.
Sign-in happens with Plaid, not with Earmarkr. Your bank credentials are never sent to us and we never see them. Earmarkr receives an access token, which is encrypted at rest.
The first sync backfills about a year of history, so your budget starts with real data. After that it syncs daily.
Your accounts after connecting
Each bank account becomes an Earmarkr account, with a type guessed from its name. Check the types — the type drives the arithmetic:
- Checking / savings / cash → on-budget, funds your categories
- Credit card → the reserve model applies
- Loan / mortgage → off-budget tracking
- Investment → off-budget tracking
Fix any wrong type on the account's detail page. Once you set it by hand, sync won't change it again.
For a connected account, the balance comes from the bank rather than a made-up opening transaction, so there's no phantom starting balance to reconcile.
Syncing
Connections sync daily, automatically. To pull immediately, open the connection and click Sync now.
Sync activity shows each run: how many transactions arrived, and anything that needs attention. Two categories, deliberately distinguished:
- Errors (red) — something failed and needs you.
- Notices (neutral) — informational, e.g. a provider limiting how much history it returns per request. A run with only notices is a successful run.
When a connection needs reauthorization
Banks periodically expire access — after a password change, or on their own schedule. The connection is marked needs reauthorization and stops polling.
Open Connections and reconnect. Nothing is lost; syncing resumes where it left off.
If your bank isn't supported
Two options:
SimpleFIN — an alternative provider that covers some banks Plaid doesn't. Under Advanced on the Connections screen.
File import — download OFX, QFX, or CSV from your bank and import it. Repeatable monthly, with duplicates matched automatically. See importing from a file.
You can also keep accounts entirely manual. Everything works the same; you enter transactions yourself.
Duplicates after connecting
If you'd been entering transactions by hand and then connect the same account, the first sync backfills history that may overlap what you typed.
Earmarkr matches manually-entered rows against incoming bank transactions on amount and date and links them rather than duplicating. Where it can't, you'll get two — delete the manual one.
To avoid this entirely, connect the account before entering much by hand.
Sync doesn't overwrite your work
Anything you've edited is protected. If you fix a payee, set a category, or reconcile a transaction, a later sync leaves it alone. It'll still flip a pending transaction to posted and update the amount when it settles.
What we can and can't do
Connections are read-only. Earmarkr can see balances and transactions. It cannot move money, make payments, or change anything at your bank.
To disconnect, open the connection and remove it. Your transactions stay — the account becomes manual.