Bank Import

Background

After establishing a link to your estate account's bank, you can:

• Download transactions from your bank whenever you want
• Accept, modify, or reject each transaction
• If you have already entered a transaction, EstateExec will suggest a merge

EstateExec uses Plaid to download transactions from your bank, and never has direct access to your banking credentials. Plaid connects to thousands of banks, and is embedded in thousands of apps.

Getting Started

To get started downloading transactions:

1. Open the Cashflow tab and use the asset selector in the top left to select the asset for which you wish to download transactions
2. Click the Import button at the top of the tab
3. Select your bank or financial institution from the Plaid dialog that appears
4. Log into your bank using the user name and password you already have for that bank
5. If you have more than one account at that bank, select the one that represents the estate account

You only need to link your bank once; future imports will use the established link to immediately download bank activity when you click Import. Of course, there may be times when your password expires, or other changes occur, requiring you to revalidate your link if requested.

Once you click Import, EstateExec will download all recent transactions from your bank and present an Import Transactions dialog that allows you to easily manage the downloaded transactions (please note that banks normally limit new data to the past 2 years).

Note that you can only link one asset to a bank: it's usually best to use this capability with the estate account, since presumably that's where most of the transactions you need to track will occur.

Connection Problems: If you have trouble connecting to your bank, see Plaid Connection Troubleshooting for suggestions, and if desired, click the Support button in the bottom right for help from Plaid with your individual case. Note that once you have successfully linked Plaid to your financial institution, Plaid may periodically connect to the institution in the background to keep things fresh at their end; this is normal behavior and nothing to worry about. See also Plaid Connections for some general background information.

Managing Downloads

The Import Transactions dialog shows transactions downloaded from your bank that you have not yet accepted (or deleted). Before showing you downloads, EstateExec analyzes them and attempts to classify them, as listed in the first column of the Import table:

• Exists - The transaction has already been imported (usually only if you are doing a Re-Import)
• Exists? - EstateExec thinks the transaction has already been imported (see Re-Import below)
• Matched - EstateExec has found an existing EstateExec transaction that it thinks corresponds to the download
• Matched? - EstateExec has found an existing EstateExec transaction that it thinks probably corresponds to the download
• Choose? - EstateExec can't decide between several potential matches, and wants you to choose one of the suggested matches (or none)
• New - EstateExec hasn't found a corresponding EstateExec transaction

For each such download, you can:

• Accept EstateExec's recommendation (e.g., import it as a new transaction, merge it with one you previously created manually)
• Edit the download to modify the suggested category, add a note, etc., and then save it as a new transaction in EstateExec
• Match the download via the Merge dialog, picking an existing transaction (suggested or otherwise) to merge
• Delete the download to basically ignore it

Order: It's best to handle the downloads in the order listed (with Matched downloads at the top, and New ones at the bottom). As you confirm or select transactions to merge with downloads, they become unavailable for other downloads in the table. Consequently, you may see some downloads that had a possible match convert to New as you work your way through the table, since you decided that the candidate transaction was a match for something else.

New Transactions: EstateExec attempts to analyze unmatched downloads to help you integrate them, trying to intelligently identify which ones are estate expenses, distributions to heirs, debt payments, and so on. You can always override EstateExec's suggestions by Editing the download, setting it to what you want, and saving it. You cannot change the amount of a download, but you can simply Delete it if you feel it is wrong.

As you handle each download, it will be removed from the table, Once you have handled all downloads, you are done (for now). You can come back in the future and press Import again to download any new bank activity that may have occurred.

In the Cashflow tab you can quickly identify which transactions have been downloaded by making the Bank column visible via the menu in the top right of the table.

Shortcuts

Select multiple rows using the checkmarks along the left of the table, then click Accept to accept everything selected in one swoop.

Single-click a row to edit the download as a new transaction (which may not be what you want if it is matched!).

Double-click a row for a default action that depends on the classification of the row:

• Exists and Exists? - Remove the download from the table (presumably it has already been imported)
• Matched - Accept the match by merging the two and removing the download from the table
• Matched? - Bring up the Merge dialog so you can see the suggested match(es) and decide what to do
• Choose? - Bring up the Merge dialog so you can see the suggested matches and decide what to do
• New - Bring up the Edit Transaction dialog so you can make desired changes and save the download as a new EstateExec transaction

Re-Import

Normally, EstateExec simply downloads any activity from your bank that has occurred since the last import session. However, there may be times when you want to re-import transactions from a certain date range (for example, you mistakenly deleted transactions you now want to see again). To re-import:

1. Click the Re-Import button at the bottom of the Import Transactions dialog
2. In the Re-Import dialog that appears, select the date range you want (note that most banks limit data returned to the past 2 years)
3. Click the Re-Import button at the bottom of the Re-Import dialog

Transactions which you have previously accepted will have an "Exists" or "Exists?" label. Simply double-click the rows or select them and press the Accept button to acknowledge they have been handled (or treat them however you want use the New or Match buttons). The reason EstateExec may sometimes be unsure if the transaction exists is that banks change transaction IDs whenever you link/unlink, so if this has happened, EstateExec will attempt to identify that the transaction was already imported based on other criteria such as date and amount (and this may sometimes occur even when not doing a re-import if you have re-linked).

Unlink Bank

You can link/unlink up to 5 times for any combination of financial institutions (the same bank or multiple banks) within a subscription period (one year).

To unlink your bank, either:

• Click Import on the Cashflow tab and then from the Import Transactions dialog that appears, click the Unlink Bank button at the bottom.
• Or, from the Overview tab click the Estate Actions dropdown and select Link to Bank. In the dialog that appears, just press Unlink Bank. This is the same as doing it from the Cashflow tab, but in this dialog you can see details about the currently linked bank and account.

One Year Free

Automatic downloads are an optional feature: you do not have to link to your bank. You can instead enter everything manually, or a mix of both. If you do decide to use automatic downloads, the first year is free, after which you can sign up for additional usage for $19.99 per year (after your free year).