Connect a bank account via Plaid

Connecting a bank or credit card via Plaid lets transactions flow into PeakBooks automatically, so you're not uploading statements every month. Setup takes about a minute per account.

Before you start

• You'll need your online banking login (username and password).
• Plaid supports most U.S. banks and credit unions, plus many credit cards. If your bank isn't supported, you can upload CSV statements instead.
• PeakBooks never sees or stores your bank credentials — you enter them inside Plaid's secure popup, and Plaid hands us a token, not your password.

Connecting an account

1. Go to Settings  ›  Accounts and click Add account.
2. Pick Connect via Plaid. A popup will open.
3. Search for your bank and click it. If your bank shows multiple entries (e.g., "Chase" vs. "Chase Business"), pick the one that matches the type of login you use.
4. Enter your online banking username and password. Complete any MFA challenge your bank sends (text code, security question, etc.).
5. Select which accounts at that bank you want to sync. You can pick one or several. Each one will become a separate account in PeakBooks.
6. Click Connect. The popup closes and you'll see the new account(s) appear in PeakBooks.

What happens after

PeakBooks syncs Plaid-connected accounts automatically via webhooks the moment your bank posts a new transaction. As a safety net, we also re-sync every connection every six hours via a scheduled job — so even if a webhook is missed, the next sweep catches it.

You'll see new transactions appear on the Transactions view, ready to categorize.

Troubleshooting

Plaid asks for MFA every time

Some banks require re-authentication every 30, 60, or 90 days. When that happens you'll see a yellow banner at the top of PeakBooks. Click it to re-link the connection — your existing transactions stay in place, you're just refreshing the access token.

My bank isn't in the list

Plaid doesn't cover every bank, especially smaller community banks and some international institutions. Your options:

• Try searching for the parent company (some small banks are listed under their parent).
• Use CSV statement upload instead. You'll still get all your transactions in PeakBooks, just on a monthly schedule rather than automatic.
• Email support@peakbooksapp.com with your bank's name — we track requests and can sometimes work with Plaid to add coverage.

I see duplicate transactions

This usually happens if you connect a bank via Plaid and also upload a CSV statement covering the same period. PeakBooks de-duplicates by Plaid transaction ID, but CSV rows have no such ID — so the same charge can land twice. The cleanest fix is to use one source per account (Plaid or CSV), not both.

I want to disconnect

Go to Settings  ›  Accounts, click the account, and choose Disconnect. The historical transactions stay in PeakBooks — only the sync stops. You can reconnect later, or switch to CSV uploads.