Linking feed accounts to existing accounts

Once you've connected your feeds to your bank, you need to link your feed accounts in PocketSmith.

If you've already got some existing accounts that belong to the same bank as the feed you've just connected, this guide is for you! You might have existing accounts that were previously linked to a feed from another data provider, or accounts which have been imported when you were setting up your PocketSmith user account for the first time.

Will I lose any transaction data when linking to an existing account?

When you link a feed account to an existing account in PocketSmith, the most recent day of posted transactions, and up to 6 days of pending transactions will be removed and replaced when the accounts are linked.

This ensures that the most recent day of posted transactions in the account is complete. If your last day of posted transactions wasn't removed, then it may result in an incomplete record of all transactions on that day. For example, if you uploaded a transaction file at midday, then all transactions after midday would be missed - unless the last day of transactions is replaced with the feed transactions.

The removal of up to 6 days of pending transactions ensures that you aren't left with permanently pending transactions, which would never be replaced with their posted counterpart transactions when those arrive.

Suggested links between feed accounts and existing accounts

When you're on the account linking page for a feed, PocketSmith tries to suggest existing accounts that should be linked to the feed accounts found. It does this by looking for similarities between account names, account numbers, and bank names.

When there is a suggested link between a feed account and an existing account, the existing account will automatically be chosen in the dropdown and "Link to [existing account name]". If you open the dropdown, these will appear as a "suggested" existing account to link to, indicated by the below tag alongside the account:

In cases where a suggested account link can't be made, but you do have an existing account that should be linked to the feed, you're able to specify the correct existing account by using the dropdown.

Steps to link your accounts to suggested existing accounts

You'll have suggested existing accounts if you're relinking accounts that have previously been linked to a feed, or you've imported accounts with account names and numbers similar to your feed accounts. The below walks you through linking these accounts.

1. From the Feeds page (Manage > Feeds)
2. Find the feed in the sidebar
3. Click LINK ACCOUNTS 
4. When all accounts have a suggested link found, you'll see that the dropdown on the right side of the page is automatically set to "Link to..." the matching account.

5. If you open the dropdown next to a given feed account, you'll be shown the "suggested" label. For example, the "Mortgage 746833" account below shows the "suggested" label within the account.

   We recommend checking the linked accounts for accuracy before proceeding.

6. Once you're happy that each feed account is going to be linked with the correct existing account, click the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the page to complete the linking process.
7. Your accounts will now be linked, and new transactions will flow in for the linked accounts, without affecting any older transactions.

Steps to link your accounts when there are no suggested existing accounts

In some cases, you might have existing accounts that should have been suggested for to link to a feed account, but they aren't due to some differences in account name, account number, or bank name. PocketSmith tries to cast a wide net to find the correct existing account to suggest a link with, however sometimes this isn't possible. The below steps discuss the process of selecting an existing account that isn't being automatically selected.

1. From the Feeds page (Manage > Feeds)
2. Find the feed in the sidebar
3. Click LINK ACCOUNTS

4. Find the account and click to open the drop-down and find the account to link

   If you don't find a matching existing account and can't find any, you might want to consider choosing "Create new account in PocketSmith".

5. Click SUBMIT when happy with the linked accounts