Keeping your data current

Start with the fact that clears up most confusion. Your banks update on their own, a few times a day. When your bank reports something new, we hear about it, and your transactions update without you doing anything. If a bank goes quiet, Home tells you instead of showing old numbers. And Accounts shows when we last checked, like “Last checked 7:05 AM.”

Pressing Sync doesn’t make your bank check right now. That’s worth knowing, because most people assume the opposite. Your bank shares new activity on its own schedule. That’s often one to four times a day, and for some banks only once. Both the automatic updates and the Sync button get whatever your bank has sent since last time. Neither can make it send anything sooner. So if a charge from an hour ago is missing, nothing is broken. Your bank just hasn’t sent it yet.

Three different problems that look the same

“My data is wrong” almost always turns out to be one of these three. Each one needs a different fix:

• It hasn’t updated lately. Press Sync. If the numbers move, that was it. Nothing was ever broken.
• Your bank needs you to sign in again. Banks end access from time to time, and some do it every 90 days. That’s their rule, not something you did wrong. The Accounts page says which bank needs you, in amber. On Accounts → Banks, that bank’s card says Sign-in needed and has a Reconnect button. Reconnect it there, and nothing is lost.
• Your bank never sent its first transactions. This is rarer. Its card on Banks says “No transactions have arrived from this bank yet.” Remove the bank and connect it again.

Balances and transactions can disagree briefly

Your balance is the money your bank has cleared. Pending is what’s on its way but hasn’t cleared. Available is your balance with pending counted, the way your bank shows it. Between a charge being approved and clearing, your balance and Available can differ. Neither number is wrong. That gap closes on its own. See Your first transactions.

Removing a bank deletes its data

Know this before you reach for it as a fix. Remove bank disconnects the bank and removes it from Above Money. It also deletes that bank’s accounts, all their transactions, and any debts from it for good. That includes rates and names you changed yourself. The app asks you to confirm first. If the numbers are just out of date, press Sync or reconnect instead. The record you’ve been keeping is worth protecting.