Connecting your bank with Plaid

Basic and above. Bank linking and bank sync are not on Free. Basic is $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr. Premium is $19.99/mo or $199.99/yr. On those plans, Fiscal Flowcast uses Plaid to connect a US bank, credit union, or brokerage and import balances and transactions. Free accounts add accounts and transactions by hand.

What is Plaid?

Plaid is a trusted financial data platform used by thousands of apps. When you connect an account through Plaid, you sign in with your bank's own credentials on a secure flow. Plaid never stores your banking password; they use it only to establish a secure connection so we can read your account and transaction data (with your permission).

What gets synced

When you connect through Plaid, Fiscal Flowcast syncs the following from your bank or credit union:

Accounts: Your linked accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, and some investment accounts) are discovered and created in Fiscal Flowcast. You see them in Accounts like any other account.
Transactions: Past and new transactions are imported and kept in sync. We avoid adding the same transaction twice, so your transaction history stays accurate. You can use these for budgets, reports, and forecasting.
Balances: The current balance for each linked account is updated when we sync, so your dashboard and net worth reflect up-to-date numbers.

Syncing can happen automatically on a schedule or when you click Sync now. See Bank connection status and syncing for more on how and when we sync.

How to connect an account

Make sure you're signed in and in the main app (dashboard area).
Go to the link-account page: from the Accounts page (sidebar or bottom nav), click the Link external account link. You can also open the Accounts page first, select the entity you want (e.g. your personal finances), then click Link external account — that entity will be pre-selected on the link page.
On the link-account page, select or confirm the entity you want to add the account to (if you have more than one). You must have an entity selected to start the connection.
Under "Link bank account", click Connect. The Plaid window will open.
Search for your bank or credit union by name in the Plaid window.
Select your institution and complete the sign-in steps (you may be asked for your bank username and password, or multi-factor authentication).
Choose which accounts to link (e.g. checking, savings).
Confirm; your accounts and recent transactions will then sync to Fiscal Flowcast and you'll be returned to the Accounts page.

Security and privacy

Your bank credentials are not stored by Fiscal Flowcast or Plaid in a way that allows anyone to log in as you.
We only receive the data you consent to (account names, types, balances, and transactions).
You can disconnect an account at any time from Accounts or your connection settings; that revokes our access to that connection.

Supported institutions

Bank linking is for US banks and credit unions via Plaid. If your institution doesn't appear in the search, it may not be supported yet (or may be outside the US); you can still add that account manually and enter or import transactions yourself.

Disconnecting an account

From the Accounts page (sidebar or bottom nav), open the connected account or connection and choose Disconnect or Remove connection. This stops future syncing and revokes access. Your existing transactions and account record in Fiscal Flowcast remain unless you delete the account itself.

Troubleshooting: errors when using Link external account

"Bank linking is not available right now" – The service is not configured on this environment. Contact support or your administrator.
"Not authorized to link accounts for this entity" – You don't have access to the selected entity. Choose an entity you own or have been invited to.
Connect is disabled or nothing happens – On the link-account page, select an entity in the header first. The Link external account flow only works when an entity is selected. You can select one on the Accounts page before clicking the link, or on the link-account page itself.
If you see a different error message, note it and try again. If it persists, contact support with the message you see.

See also Bank connection status and syncing and Managing your accounts.

Bank connection status and syncingBasic and above: connection status, manual sync, and reconnect. Free has no bank linking or sync.
Managing Your AccountsAdd, edit, and organize your financial accounts including checking, savings, investments, and loans.
Importing Financial DataLearn how to import transactions and account data from CSV files.

Connecting your bank with Plaid