How-to guide: Pulling in your bank transactions
Finmo uses Open Banking to let you securely tag your bank transactions from our app or portal.
What’s Open Banking?
Open Banking is a secure, regulated system that lets you pull your live bank transactions into another app, like Finmo.
With Finmo, you can only view your banking activity from our app or portal. You can’t pay for anything or change anything in your bank account using Finmo. And we can never action anything in your account, either.
Alongside most major banks, some other companies that use Open Banking include Compare The Market, Experian, Klarna and PayPal.
You can read more about Open Banking here.
Pulling your bank transactions into your Finmo portal lets you:
- Tag income and business expense transactions as ‘business’ or ‘personal’
- Assign income and expense transactions to different income sources (if you have multiple ways of earning)
- Get an accurate tax bill estimate that updates in real-time
- Reduce the need for holding onto receipts
- Save time when it comes to doing your tax return
How to pull your bank transactions into Finmo on a laptop or computer (desktop)
- Log in to the Finmo portal
- Tap the settings cog icon on the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Tap ‘Bank Accounts’
- Select your bank
- Read the Finmo permissions page and tap ‘Allow’ if you agree
- Tap ‘Confirm’ to be redirected to your banking app
- Securely log in to your banking app
- Follow the instructions to connect your account
How to pull your bank transactions into Finmo on a mobile
- Log in to the Finmo app
- Tap the settings cog icon in the lower left screen
- Tap ‘Bank Accounts’
- Tap ‘Connect Bank’
- Select your bank
- Read the Finmo permissions page and tap ‘Allow’ if you agree
- Tap ‘Confirm’ to be redirected to your banking app
- Securely log in to your banking app
- Follow the instructions to connect your account
Frequently Asked Questions:
How does Finmo connect to my bank?
Finmo is regulated by the FCA – Financial Conduct Authority (Reference Number: 800637). Finmo automatically connects with your bank so when you make a transaction with your bank, the information is routed to Finmo. The important thing to note here is that Finmo has a read-only view to your transactions. We can’t actually do anything within your bank account. In short: we have no capability to create payments, affect changes or move money in any way.
What if I want to disconnect?
No problem. We know that Finmo may not be for everyone and the last thing you want is for your data to be somewhere you don’t want it. That’s why we make disconnecting your bank account really easy. Within the app, under Settings > Bank Accounts, simply click on your bank and tap Disconnect Account. Easy as that. Finmo will then delete the data we have on our system. One thing to be aware of is that when we delete your data, we (and you) wll lose any and all tags associated with those transactions.
Do you share my bank information with anyone?
We do not. Your transactions and any banking information we receive is not and never will be shared with anyone outside of the Finmo organisation. We also don’t know what your bank username and password are, as that information stays with your bank.
Do Finmo accountants look through my personal expenses?
They can if you want them to. One of the ways Finmo adds value and saves you money on your tax bill is helping ensure you catch all of your business expenses and claim the right ones. There may be transactions that you’ve categorised as ‘Personal’, for example, that may actually be wholly or partially claimable from a business perspective.
What if I have transactions that aren’t in my bank account?
No problem. In the Finmo app and on our web portal, you can add transactions manually. You can do this at any time, both during the years as transactions occur (recommended) or at the end of the year (there’s a whole section in this guide on this).
Should I keep my receipts?
HMRC says to keep a ‘record’ or your business transactions. One way to do this is through receipts. Another way to do this is via your Bank Account statement and transactions. For cash-based transactions and especially for all large purchases, Finmo does recommend keeping receipts or invoices. This way, you have an itemised list of what you’ve purchased. An example we use often is buying a computer for your work, which can be classed as a business expense if it’s going to be used for your business. Let’s say you purchased this computer at Curry’s. If HMRC asks for proof of the computer purchase, you could point to your bank statement, but your bank statement doesn’t show whether that purchase was a computer or a television. So, in this instance, it’s best to keep that Curry’s receipt.
If I don’t have my receipt, can I still claim the expense?
Yes. However, keep in mind that on the rare occasion you are audited by HMRC and you have no record of the transaction, they may not allow that particular business expense. In this case you would have to pay tax on that amount since you wrote it off previously.