How bank connections work
Connect your US bank once and your books stay current: transactions flow in on their own and match to the receipts, expenses, and income you've already logged. Here's exactly what happens, and what happens to your data.
1You connect once, by signing in at your own bank
ClaryBook uses Plaid, the same connection service thousands of finance apps rely on. When you add an account, you sign in on your bank's own page via Plaid, ClaryBook never sees or stores your bank login. From then on, new transactions import on their own. No more downloading statements.
2What syncs: transactions and balances
Every transaction on a connected account flows into ClaryBook, with clean merchant names instead of cryptic bank descriptions. Account balances sync too, so your dashboard shows what's actually in the bank. And when you first connect, ClaryBook asks your bank for up to two years of history (as far back as your bank provides), so your books don't start from zero. Paid through Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, or the app stores? Those payouts show up in your bank feed, and when you log the income, ClaryBook matches it to the deposit.
3Categories you set once stick
A rental business gets a suggested category on each synced line, taken from Plaid's category for the transaction. A sole proprietor on Schedule C gets lines without a category today and picks one when filing them. File a synced line once (say, Shell as Car and truck) and ClaryBook learns the merchant: its next synced lines arrive with that category.
4Matched to what you've already logged
ClaryBook compares every imported transaction with the receipts, expenses, and income entries in your books. Confident matches apply on their own. Near-misses land in a quick review queue where you confirm or skip them one at a time, a few seconds each. Whatever's left gets flagged, so nothing slips through before tax time.
This morning · synced from your bank
5Pending charges stay out of automatic matching
Card payments often show up as "pending" first, and the amount can still change (think tips or fuel holds). ClaryBook's automatic matching skips pending transactions until they post, so an amount that can still move never settles a receipt on its own.
6If the connection needs attention, you'll know
Banks occasionally ask you to re-confirm access, for example after you change your online-banking password. When that happens, the account shows a Reconnect prompt in Settings. Re-confirming takes a minute, and nothing in your books is lost.
7Prefer not to connect? Import a CSV.
Bank connections are optional. You can always import a CSV export from your bank instead, the same auto-matching runs on those transactions too. Connected accounts and past CSV imports live side by side: ClaryBook detects duplicates, so work you've already reconciled is never lost.
Private by design
- Your bank login stays at your bank. You sign in on your bank's own page via Plaid, ClaryBook never sees or stores your credentials.
- Disconnect anytime. Remove a bank connection in Settings whenever you want. The transactions already in your books stay put.
- Delete anytime. Your data is yours, export everything, or delete your account and its data, whenever you choose.