Connect Your Bank

How to connect your bank account to Forbidden Finance using Plaid for automatic transaction syncing, including the step-by-step connection flow and security details.

Overview

Connecting your bank account enables automatic transaction syncing, so your spending, income, and balances update without manual entry. Forbidden Finance uses Plaid, a trusted financial data service used by thousands of apps, to securely connect to over 12,000 US financial institutions. Bank connections require the Starter tier or above.

Requirements

Tier: Starter or above (Free tier does not include bank connections)
Connection limits: Starter allows 2, Pro allows 5, Premium allows 10 bank connections
Supported institutions: Over 12,000 US banks, credit unions, and brokerages through Plaid

How to Connect Your Bank

Go to Accounts

Open the Accounts tab and tap Add Account or the + button.

Select Connect Bank

Choose Connect Bank (instead of Manual Account). This launches the secure bank connection interface.

Find your bank

Search for your bank by name. You see a list of matching institutions. Tap your bank to select it. If your bank does not appear, it may not be supported yet.

Authenticate with your bank

You are redirected to a secure login screen. Enter your bank credentials (username and password). If your bank requires multi-factor authentication (like a text message code), complete that step as well. Your credentials are sent directly to your bank through Plaid and are never stored by Forbidden Finance.

Select accounts to sync

After authentication, you see a list of your accounts at that bank. Select the ones you want to track in Forbidden Finance. You can choose checking, savings, credit cards, loans, or investment accounts depending on your tier.

Confirm the connection

Tap Connect to finalize. Forbidden Finance begins syncing your transactions. The initial sync pulls in recent transaction history, and future transactions appear automatically based on your sync schedule.

What Happens After Connecting

Initial sync: Your recent transaction history is imported automatically. This may take a few moments depending on how much history is available.
Ongoing sync: Transactions are synced automatically on a schedule based on your tier (daily for Starter, hourly for Pro, real-time for Premium).
Balances: Your account balance updates with each sync, reflecting the latest information from your bank.
Categories: Incoming transactions are auto-categorized using merchant information and your personal categorization rules.
Pending transactions: Some transactions may arrive as "pending" before your bank finalizes them. Pending transactions are included in your budget but visually marked, and the amount may adjust slightly when posted.

Security

Forbidden Finance takes your financial security seriously. Here is how bank connections are protected:

Plaid handles authentication. Your bank login credentials are transmitted directly to your bank through Plaid's secure infrastructure. Forbidden Finance never sees, stores, or has access to your bank username or password.
Encrypted tokens. After you authenticate, Plaid issues an access token that allows transaction syncing. This token is encrypted before it is stored and is only decrypted momentarily when syncing your data.
Bank-level security. Plaid is trusted by thousands of financial apps and uses bank-level encryption (AES-256) for all data in transit and at rest.
Revocable access. You can disconnect your bank at any time from within Forbidden Finance, which revokes the access token.

Key Details

Account types depend on your tier. Starter syncs checking, savings, credit card, loan, and money market accounts. Pro adds investment accounts. Premium includes all account types.
Multiple banks. You can connect accounts from different banks up to your tier's connection limit. Each bank counts as one connection, regardless of how many accounts you select at that bank.
Pull-to-refresh. Between scheduled syncs, you can trigger a manual sync by pulling down on the transactions list.

Tips

Connect your most active accounts first. Your primary checking and credit card accounts give Forbidden Finance the most data to work with for budgeting and recurring detection.

If you bank at a credit union and it does not appear in the search, try searching by the credit union's full name rather than an abbreviation.

If your bank uses security questions or a different MFA method, you may be prompted for those during the connection flow. Have that information ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to connect my bank?

Yes. Forbidden Finance uses Plaid, which is trusted by thousands of financial apps and connects to over 12,000 institutions. Your bank credentials are sent directly to your bank through Plaid and are never stored by Forbidden Finance. All data is encrypted in transit.