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How to Connect Your Bank Account

Securely link your bank accounts to Cake Budget for automatic transaction syncing

Last updated: October 10, 2025

Connecting your bank account to Cake Budget enables automatic transaction syncing, real-time balance updates, and intelligent budget automation. This guide covers everything from your first connection to managing multiple banks.

What You’ll Accomplish

By the end of this guide, you’ll understand how to:

  • Connect your first bank account securely
  • Add additional bank accounts or institutions
  • Reconnect when credentials expire
  • Manage and remove bank connections
  • Understand what data is synced and how often

Prerequisites

  • ✅ A Cake Budget account (free trial or paid subscription)
  • ✅ Online banking credentials for your bank
  • ✅ Budget Pro: Connect up to 2 bank institutions (5 accounts total)
  • ✅ Family: Connect up to 5 bank institutions (12 accounts total)

Security First

How Plaid Works

Cake Budget uses Plaid, a trusted third-party service used by thousands of financial apps including Venmo, Acorns, and Betterment.

Key Security Features:

  • Bank-Level Encryption: Your credentials are encrypted with 256-bit encryption
  • Read-Only Access: Cake Budget can only view your data, never move money
  • No Storage: Your bank credentials are never stored on Cake Budget’s servers
  • Compliance: Plaid is SOC 2 Type II certified and complies with industry standards
  • Secure Authentication: Supports multi-factor authentication (MFA) when your bank requires it

What Cake Budget Can See:

  • ✅ Account balances
  • ✅ Transaction history (up to 2 years)
  • ✅ Account names and types
  • ✅ Institution information

What Cake Budget CANNOT Do:

  • ❌ Transfer money between accounts
  • ❌ Initiate payments or withdrawals
  • ❌ Change account settings
  • ❌ Access other sensitive information

First-Time Connection (During Onboarding)

When you first sign up for Cake Budget, you’ll be guided through connecting your first bank account.

Step 1: Start Onboarding

After creating your account:

  1. You’ll be directed to the welcome screen
  2. Click “Continue” to begin the onboarding flow
  3. The system walks you through automated envelope budgeting concepts

Step 2: Bank Connection Step

You’ll reach the “Connect Your Bank” step:

  1. Click “Connect Bank Account” to open Plaid
  2. The Plaid connection window appears

Note: If you already have a bank connected (e.g., connected during signup), this step auto-skips and marks as completed.

Step 3: Choose Your Bank

In the Plaid window:

  1. Search for your bank using the search bar
  2. Select your institution from the results
  3. Popular banks appear at the top for quick access

Pro Tip: Use specific names like “Chase” instead of “JP Morgan Chase” for faster results.

Step 4: Enter Your Credentials

  1. Enter your online banking username/password
  2. Complete any security challenges your bank requires:
    • Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
    • Security questions
    • SMS or email verification codes
  3. Select which accounts to connect (checking, savings, credit cards, etc.)
  4. Authorize the connection

Important: Use the same credentials you use for your bank’s website or app.

Step 5: Initial Sync

After successful connection:

  1. Plaid immediately syncs your data:
    • Account balances (current and available)
    • Transaction history (up to 180 days)
    • Account names and types
  2. Processing takes 30-60 seconds depending on transaction volume
  3. You’ll see a success confirmation when complete
  4. Onboarding continues to the next step (creating slices)

What Happens Behind the Scenes:

  • Transactions are automatically categorized
  • Account balances are stored
  • A safe-to-spend calculation is generated
  • You’re ready to start budgeting!

Adding Additional Bank Accounts (After Onboarding)

Need to connect another bank or credit card? Here’s how to add more connections.

From Settings

  1. Navigate to Settings in the main menu
  2. Click on “Accounts & Institutions” section
  3. Look for “Connected Institutions” list
  4. Click “Connect Bank Account” button
  5. Follow the Plaid flow (same as Steps 3-5 above)

Connection Limits by Subscription Tier

Budget Pro ($10/month):

  • 2 bank institutions
  • Up to 5 accounts total
  • Example: Chase (checking + savings) + Bank of America (credit card)

Family ($20/month):

  • 5 bank institutions
  • Up to 12 accounts total
  • Example: Multiple banks, credit cards, and savings accounts

What Counts as an “Institution”:

  • One institution = All accounts at that bank
  • Example: Chase with 3 accounts = 1 institution, 3 accounts

Selecting Specific Accounts

When connecting an institution through Plaid:

  1. Plaid shows all available accounts at that bank
  2. Check the boxes for accounts you want to sync
  3. Uncheck accounts you want to exclude
  4. You can modify selections later by reconnecting

Common Exclusions:

  • Business accounts (if budgeting personally)
  • Joint accounts managed by someone else
  • Investment accounts not used for daily spending
  • Inactive or closed accounts

Reconnecting Expired Connections

Bank connections expire periodically due to security policies. Cake Budget automatically detects this and prompts you to reconnect.

Why Connections Expire

Common Reasons:

  • Bank password changed: You updated your online banking password
  • Security policy: Your bank requires periodic re-authentication (every 90-180 days)
  • MFA changes: New multi-factor authentication requirements
  • Bank system updates: Institution upgraded their systems

How You’ll Know

Notifications:

  • Email alert: “Action Required: Reconnect Your Bank”
  • In-app banner: “Connection issue with [Bank Name]”
  • Settings indicator: Red warning icon next to the institution
  • Webhook notifications: System automatically detects issues

Reconnection Steps

  1. Navigate to Settings → Accounts & Institutions
  2. Find the institution with a warning icon
  3. Click “Reconnect” button next to the institution
  4. Plaid window opens with your bank pre-selected
  5. Enter your current credentials (updated password if you changed it)
  6. Complete any MFA challenges
  7. Authorize the connection
  8. Immediate sync restores transaction flow

Important: Reconnecting doesn’t duplicate transactions or accounts—it simply restores the connection.

Managing Connected Institutions

View and manage all your connected banks from the Settings page.

View Connected Institutions

Settings → Accounts & Institutions shows:

  • Institution name and logo
  • Connection status (Connected, Needs Reconnection, Error)
  • Number of accounts linked
  • Last synced date (timestamp of most recent data sync)
  • Action buttons (Reconnect, Remove)

Remove an Institution

To disconnect a bank entirely:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Accounts & Institutions
  2. Find the institution you want to remove
  3. Click “Remove” or trash icon next to the institution
  4. Confirm the action in the popup

What Happens:

  • ✅ All accounts from that institution are removed
  • ✅ Future transactions stop syncing
  • ✅ Historical transactions remain in your history for record-keeping
  • ✅ Slice balances are preserved (money doesn’t disappear)
  • ✅ You can reconnect the same bank later if needed

When to Remove:

  • Closed your account at that bank
  • Switched to a different bank
  • No longer want automatic syncing
  • Reached your institution limit and need to add a different bank

Remove Individual Accounts

You can also remove specific accounts without removing the entire institution:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Accounts & Institutions
  2. Expand the institution to see individual accounts
  3. Click “Remove” next to the specific account
  4. Confirm the action

Use Case: You have 5 accounts at Chase but only want to budget 3 of them.

Transaction Syncing Explained

How Often Transactions Sync

Real-Time Syncing (Webhook-Based):

  • Instant updates when new transactions post at your bank
  • Webhook notifications trigger immediate syncs
  • No waiting for scheduled updates
  • Available to all tiers (including free trial)

Backup Syncing (Safety Net):

  • Daily sync at 3:00 AM as a safety net for missed webhooks
  • Only syncs accounts that haven’t synced in 1+ hour
  • Ensures maximum 1-hour staleness even if webhooks fail

Automatic Syncing:

  • Happens multiple times per day via webhooks
  • No manual intervention needed
  • Always stays current without you doing anything

What Gets Synced

On Every Sync:

  • ✅ New transactions (purchases, deposits, transfers)
  • ✅ Modified transactions (pending → posted, amount corrections)
  • ✅ Removed transactions (bank reversals, corrections)
  • ✅ Account balances (current and available)
  • ✅ Transaction details (merchant, amount, date, category)

Initial Import (First Connection):

  • Up to 180 days of transaction history
  • All transactions are imported at once
  • Marked as “initial import” to suppress email notifications (rules still run)

Balance Updates

Balance syncing is smart:

  • Included in every transaction sync (no extra API calls)
  • Updated whenever transactions change
  • Cached for 8 hours to optimize cost
  • Webhook-triggered syncs bypass cache for real-time updates

Troubleshooting

Issue: “Unable to Connect to Your Bank”

Possible Causes:

  • Incorrect username/password
  • Bank is undergoing maintenance
  • MFA challenge timed out
  • Bank not supported by Plaid

Solutions:

  1. Verify credentials: Test your login on your bank’s website first
  2. Try again in a few minutes: Bank systems may be temporarily down
  3. Check Plaid status: Visit status.plaid.com for known issues
  4. Contact support: Some banks require special setup

Issue: “Connection Requires Attention”

Possible Causes:

  • Password expired or changed
  • Bank requires periodic re-authentication
  • MFA setup changed at your bank

Solutions:

  1. Click “Reconnect” in Settings
  2. Update your credentials if you changed your password
  3. Complete new MFA challenges if your bank added security

Issue: “Transactions Not Syncing”

Check These:

  1. Connection status: Is the institution showing as connected?
  2. Last synced time: When was the last successful sync?
  3. Subscription status: Is your trial/subscription active?
  4. Bank account: Did the transaction actually post (not just pending)?

Solutions:

  • Wait a few hours for next automatic sync (happens 3-5 times daily)
  • Reconnect if the connection shows as expired
  • Wait 24 hours for pending transactions to post

Issue: “Duplicate Transactions”

Why This Happens:

  • Rare race condition during concurrent webhook processing
  • Database constraint prevents most duplicates

Solution:

  • Cake Budget automatically prevents most duplicates
  • If you see a duplicate, use the transaction menu to delete one
  • System learns from corrections

Issue: “Missing Transactions”

Common Reasons:

  • Transaction is still pending (not yet posted)
  • Transaction occurred before you connected the account
  • Bank delayed posting the transaction
  • Transaction was from an account you didn’t select

Solutions:

  • Wait for posting: Pending transactions appear once they post
  • Manual sync: Force a sync to catch recent transactions
  • Check account selection: Verify you selected all desired accounts in Plaid

Privacy & Data Usage

What Cake Budget Does With Your Data

Used For:

  • ✅ Automatic transaction categorization
  • ✅ Budget tracking and slice allocations
  • ✅ Safe-to-spend calculations
  • ✅ AI-powered financial insights (if enabled)
  • ✅ Funding schedule detection

NOT Used For:

  • ❌ Selling to third parties
  • ❌ Advertising targeting
  • ❌ Credit checks or lending decisions
  • ❌ Any purpose outside of budgeting

Data Retention

While Connected:

  • Transactions stored indefinitely for historical tracking
  • Account balances updated in real-time

After Disconnection:

  • Historical transactions remain (for your records)
  • No new data is synced
  • You can delete historical data if desired

Account Deletion

If you delete your Cake Budget account:

  • All bank connections are immediately severed
  • All transaction data is deleted within 30 days
  • Plaid connection is permanently revoked

Pro Tips

💡 Connect During Business Hours: Initial connections work best when banks aren’t doing overnight maintenance (avoid 11 PM - 6 AM).

💡 Start with Your Primary Account: Connect your main checking account first, add others later as needed.

💡 Use Strong Banking Passwords: Since you’ll reconnect periodically, use a password manager to store complex credentials securely.

💡 Enable MFA at Your Bank: Multi-factor authentication adds security and is often required by banks anyway.

💡 Check Connection Health Monthly: Proactively reconnect before connections fully expire to avoid gaps in transaction data.

💡 Connect Credit Cards Too: Budgeting works best when you track all spending accounts, not just checking/savings.

💡 Exclude Unnecessary Accounts: Don’t connect investment accounts or business accounts unless you need them for budgeting.

Common Questions

Q: Is it safe to give my bank credentials to Cake Budget? A: Your credentials go directly to Plaid (not Cake Budget servers) and are encrypted with bank-level security. Plaid is used by thousands of financial apps and is SOC 2 certified.

Q: Can Cake Budget transfer money from my accounts? A: No. Cake Budget has read-only access. We can only view transactions and balances, never move money.

Q: How many banks can I connect? A: Budget Pro: 2 institutions (5 accounts). Family: 5 institutions (12 accounts).

Q: What if my bank isn’t supported? A: Plaid supports 10,000+ banks. If yours isn’t available, you can manually enter transactions or request support for your bank.

Q: Will connecting my bank affect my credit score? A: No. Cake Budget only views transaction data. No credit checks are performed.

Q: Can I temporarily pause syncing? A: Yes. Remove the institution and historical data remains. Reconnect later to resume syncing.

Q: What happens if I change my bank password? A: You’ll need to reconnect in Cake Budget. The app will detect the expired connection and prompt you to update.

Q: Do pending transactions show up? A: Yes. Pending transactions appear and are marked as “pending” until they officially post.

Q: Can I connect accounts from multiple countries? A: Cake Budget currently supports US banks only (via Plaid US).

Need More Help?

Remember: Bank connections are the foundation of automated budgeting. Once connected, Cake Budget handles the rest—syncing transactions, updating balances, and keeping your budget accurate in real-time.

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