northwiseHelp · Accounts and banks
YOUR MONEY,
IN ONE PLACE.
Every figure Northwise shows starts with your accounts. Add them by hand in a minute, or, when signed in, connect a bank and let Northwise keep them up to date.
Add an account by hand
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Open Accounts
In the menu, or under More on a phone. Overview’s Manage accounts goes there too.
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Choose “Add account”
Give it a name, pick its type (Checking, Savings, Investment, Credit card or Loan), its currency and today’s balance.
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Save
The account appears on Accounts and as a filter chip on Overview. A credit card or loan also appears on Debt Payoff.
Accounts in more than one currency are added up in your main currency for net worth.
Connect a bank
Connecting a bank needs a signed-in account; it is not available in local mode. Northwise uses Plaid to connect.
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Choose “Connect a bank”
It is the first Getting started step, and in Settings › Profile › Connected Banks. On Accounts, Bank connections takes you there.
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Sign in to your bank in Plaid’s window
You sign in with your bank, not with Northwise. Northwise never sees or keeps your bank sign-in, and the connection can only read: it cannot move money.
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Wait for the first update
Northwise says how many accounts and transactions it brought in. If the first update did not finish, it says so, and the reason is shown under Connected Banks.
A bank that is already connected is not added twice. If it needs signing in again, use Reconnect on it.
Banks during the closed test
Most test accounts connect to Plaid’s sample bank, which returns made-up records. A bank connected this way is labelled Sandbox connection — sample bank data.
A small number of invited testers can link one real bank. Real bank connections are limited during the test, and disconnecting one does not give it back. To repair a connection, use Reconnect rather than disconnecting and connecting again. Real bank access is not generally available yet.
How up to date your bank is
A connected bank is updated in three ways:
- when the bank tells Northwise there is something new (sample banks only);
- by a regular sweep, about every six hours;
- when you open the app, if the bank has not been updated in the last hour.
Sync now in Settings › Profile › Connected Banks asks for an update straight away. Each bank there shows when it last updated, and why if an update failed. If a bank goes a day without updating, Overview says so above the month outlook, and Ask Nova mentions the date its figures stop.
New records appear without reloading the page. Northwise waits if you are typing, have a form open or are waiting for an answer.
Reconnect or disconnect a bank
Reconnect
When the bank asks you to sign in again, or an update keeps failing, choose Reconnect on that bank. It opens Plaid’s window for the same connection, so nothing is duplicated.
Disconnect
Disconnect, after you confirm, ends the connection at Plaid and removes the accounts and transactions it brought in. Records you entered yourself stay.
Adding transactions yourself
Overview and Transactions both have Add transaction: a description, whether money came in or went out, the amount, a category and the account. Tick Recurring for one that repeats. Use it for cash, or for an account you track by hand.