Connect Your Accounts in Monarch

You’ll get the most out of Monarch when you connect all your financial institutions and accounts, letting your information sync in one easy-to-access place. This gives you a clear, up-to-date picture of your finances, making it easier to set realistic budgets, track your goals, and plan for the future.

A financial institution could be your bank, credit card company, loan provider, or investment platform. Within each institution, you might have multiple accounts—like checking and savings at your bank or several credit cards from the same company, such as American Express. Once you connect an institution, you can choose which accounts to add to Monarch.


Table of Contents


Data providers

Monarch uses three main data providers to securely connect financial institutions to your Monarch account: Plaid, Finicity, and MX. They default to suggesting the provider that should have the best connection for you, but also offer the ability to choose a different provider if needed. 


Some types of accounts have a specific, direct connection (like homes through Zillow or cars through Vinaudit) that are used instead of one of the other three primary data providers.


  • If you are experiencing issues with the connection to your financial institution and want to try a connection with a different data provider, or if you have a preference between Plaid, MX, or Finicity, you can attempt to connect with a different data provider.
  • Go to Profile > Settings > Institutions > Click "Add account" and search for your financial institution's name or website. If an alternate data provider is available, you'll see a clickable icon to the right of the institution's name

Adding your accounts

  • Start by searching for and adding your financial institution(s).
    • Please note that once you add your bank, Monarch will receive a specific length of historical data from your bank - some banks provide more history than others, so you may see anywhere from a few months worth of history to a few years worth of history. 

How to add your account

  1. Click the "Add account" button on the web app or the "+" icon in the mobile app. Both are at the top right of the Accounts section.
  2. Search for your institution by typing in its name or website. (e.g. American Express or americanexpress.com)
  3. Follow the steps and enter the information to connect to your institution. You may also be asked to answer security questions or enter security codes, like MFA.

Monarch supports over 10,000 different financial institutions through data providers. If you can't find your institution, you may need to add the account manually. 


Once your bank has been added, you can review the imported transactions to ensure the categories are set correctly. Doing this will help ensure that the numbers are accurate in your budget.


Special Account Types

Real estate has a unique setup where you can track your home's or property's market price using Zillow. The value Zillow uses is an algorithm called "Zestimate" and is based on similar homes bought and sold recently in your area. If you don't wish to use Zillow, you can create a manual account for your home to add its value to your net worth.


  1. Click the "+ Add account" button on the Accounts page.
  2. Select "Add assets such as property, vehicles, & crypto."
  3. Select “Zillow.”
  4. Search the home address, select the correct option and then choose the Type of home. (Primary Home, Secondary Home, Rental Property)
  5. Click Save, and the home will be added.

Manual investment holdings are almost like a hybrid of manual and connected accounts. The account itself is manual, so it doesn't require your investment website username/password. However, the holdings (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, crypto, etc.) have their prices updated dynamically, which means the balance of the account and the value of any investments are updated automatically.


To add a manual account

  • Click the "+ Add account" (on web) or "+" button (on mobile) on the top right of the accounts tab.
  • Select "Add manual account” at the bottom.
  • Select "Investments" (or account type if not investment)
  • Set the name of the account and the account type (e.g., 401k, Brokerage, IRA, etc.).
  • Choose what to track manually:
    • Track holdings manually lets you search for any security and enter a quantity to have the account balance tracked automatically as the price changes with the market. You will need to edit if you buy or sell a holding in the account. The balances will always reflect the latest market price of all your holdings. 
          • Once you have clicked "Next," you'll be promoted to search for your holding by name and to enter the quantity. Once saved, you'll be taken to the new account page, where you can continue to add holdings by clicking "Add Holding."
    • Track balances manually if you wish to simply track the balance of the account by manually updating the balance without specifying any holdings in the account. The balance will not change unless you manually change the balance.


At any time, you can access the Institution Settings page to view a list of your accounts or make changes to them.


Updating login settings

Sometimes, your financial institution may require you to update your login settings to verify your account.

On the Institution Settings page, you can update your login settings.

  1. Find your institution, select "...," and then select "Update login settings."
  2. This will walk you through updating your credentials and refreshing your connected accounts.
  3. You can also use this to pull in newly opened accounts or accounts that have yet to sync.

Troubleshooting

If you have issues with an account connection, please review Monarch's list of popular institutions and recent United States and Canada connection status updates.

Note that some institutions or accounts (like store brand cards, mortgages, and some banks in Canada) are difficult to connect to or keep synced once connected due to their institution settings or lack of support for third-party aggregators.  

While Monarch is always working to provide consistent and reliable institution connections, there are times when you may experience an error, delayed data, or other connectivity issues. Some of the most common issues and solutions are below.


Connection Help

  • Adding an account fails.
    • Try using a different browser or use the app instead of the web and vice-versa.
    • Make sure you’re selecting the correct financial institution. Try searching for it by typing in the website for that institution, like chase.com, to verify.
    • Ensure you are able to login to your bank's website successfully, as their login site may have changed or may be down.
  • My credentials are wrong.
    • Sign in to your bank in a new tab, then try again in Monarch.
    • Sometimes the financial institution has a temporary error, and waiting 24 hours can help.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
  • I received an error.
    • Ensure you are able to login to your bank's website successfully, as their login site may have changed or may be down.
    • Wait 24 hours and try connecting to this institution again.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
    • If that doesn't work, try adding the institution through another data provider available.
  • I have to reconnect the account frequently.
    • Some institutions require frequent authorizations to maintain connections due to security settings at the bank level.
    • This can also be due to maintenance or issues with the institution, including their own choice to disconnect to discourage users from accessing account information with a third party.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
  • I am not receiving the security codes.
    • Try logging into your bank website to ensure that you receive the security code if they send it to you directly. If not, you may need to contact your bank or update your settings.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
    • Disconnect and reconnect to this institution using a new data provider connection.
  • My bank uses multi-factor authentication (MFA)
    • Some institutions will have a settings or preference to disable access to all 3rd party apps like Monarch. If you have configured multi-factor authentication, the settings for enabling access to other apps is usually in the same part of the institution's website as that. Monarch recommends granting access.

Transaction Help

  • Transactions are missing.
    • If this is a new account, please know that the amount of history Monarch receives from each institution may vary - some banks will send only a few months, while others may send several years. Monarch cannot control how much history they receive from the bank. If you want a more complete picture of your finances, you can manually import old transactions and account balances.
    • We recommend allowing 24-48 hours for transactions to appear in Monarch. If they have not appeared yet, check to see if they have posted to your account - some institutions will not send pending transactions, and only share the transaction once it has posted.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
    • If they do not start populating, you can try adding the institution through another available data provider available to see if they are able to pull a more complete list of transactions.
    • If none of the available connection options work to pull in the transactions, then you can import a .CSV of your transactions to keep your account up to date.
  • Transaction values are wrong.
    • Verify the transaction is not pending (as the final amount may update when the transaction posts) and correct on your bank's website.
    • Disconnect and reconnect to this institution using a new data provider connection.
  • I see duplicate transactions.
    • See: Troubleshooting Duplicate Transactions
    • Ensure you only have the account connected once by checking your accounts page. If the account is connected more than once, you may need to delete one.
    • You can delete duplicate transactions from your account using the "edit multiple" option.
    • If this is a persistent issue, try adding the institution through another data provider available.
  • I have a new or replacement card for a connected account.
    • First, rename the old account (i.e. "Bank - Old") and hide it. Then, go to your Institutions settings page, go through the "Add Account" flow and log into this institution again and select the accounts that are missing. If you add these and start to see duplicate accounts, you can delete the duplicates with bulk editing.
  • The categorizations of my transactions are wrong.
    • You can recategorize transactions as many times as you want. You can also create a rule to continue applying a specific category to a specific merchant.
    • Rules are automations that run every time new, non-pending transactions are received from an account connection.
      • Navigate to Settings > Rules.
      • Select Create rule.
      • Set your If transactions matches criteria...
      • Then set your Then apply these updates...
      • Select Save to save your changes.
  • My import file didn't work as I expected.
    • Make sure your import file is formatted as outlined here to make sure it can pull in your data correctly. Hint: delete any header rows.

Account Help

  • My account balance is wrong.
    • If you have recently connected your account and see an incorrect balance, be sure that your balance matches up to all of your transactions that are not pending.
    • If it is still incorrect, try clicking "Refresh all" at the top of the account page.
    • Try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
    • If the balance is inverted, you can fix it by following the steps found here.
  • Transactions no longer sync to this account.
    • It is recommended to wait 24-48 hours to see if transactions pull in, but you can also manually refresh an account by clicking "Refresh all" at the top of the account page.
    • If they do not start populating, you can try re-adding your login information by going to your account settings and clicking the three dots to the far right of the account name and selecting "Update login settings."
    • Try adding the institution through another data provider available.
    • If that fails to fix the issue, you can import a .CSV of your transactions to keep your account up to date.
  • I'm missing an account.
    • Go to your Institutions settings page, click the three dots to the far right of the institution name, and go through the Update Login settings flow in order to log in to this institution again and select the missing account.
    • If you add these and see duplicate accounts, you can delete the duplicates.
  • I see duplicate accounts.
    • You can always delete the duplicates.
    • For Chase accounts, there is an issue where multiple Chase credentials are clashing, causing one to be in an unhealthy state and causing persistent disconnects or duplicates. Learn more about how to merge your accounts together.
  • This account type is wrong.
    • Sometimes when connecting new accounts, there will be some incorrect account-type information from banks. You can update the type and invert the balance if needed. Learn more here: Fixing Inverted Balances.
    • If you continue to have trouble connecting your account to Monarch (or keeping it connected in Monarch), you can also create a separate manual account.

If you continue to have trouble connecting your account to Monarch (or keeping it connected), you can also create a manual account.