Adding your first financial institution is Step 1 of the setup guide. There are two ways to do it: connect via Plaid for automatic syncing, or add a manual institution if you’d prefer to manage things yourself.
Option A — Connect via Plaid
Plaid lets ClearCash connect directly to your bank to pull in your accounts and transaction history automatically.
- Tap Add Your Bank from the setup guide card on the home screen.
- The Plaid connection flow opens. Search for your bank by name.
- Log in with your bank credentials. This is handled entirely by Plaid — ClearCash never sees your username or password.
- Select which accounts to link and confirm.
- ClearCash creates your accounts and starts importing your transaction history.
Once connected, your accounts sync automatically and your transaction history is kept up to date.
Plaid supports thousands of banks and credit unions. If your bank isn’t listed, you can add it manually instead.
Option B — Add a manual institution
If you’d rather manage your data yourself, or your bank isn’t supported by Plaid, you can add a manual institution.
- Tap Add Your Bank from the setup guide card, then choose the manual option.
- Enter the institution name (e.g. “Chase Bank” or “My Credit Union”).
- Save — the institution is created and you move to Step 2 of the setup guide.
From there, you’ll add your accounts manually and enter transactions by hand or by importing a CSV file.
Manual accounts → · Importing transactions from CSV →
After connecting
Once your institution is added, the setup guide advances to Step 2 — Set up your accounts. If you connected via Plaid, your accounts are imported automatically with no further action needed. If you added a manual institution, you’ll create your accounts yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ClearCash see my bank login credentials?
No. Plaid handles the authentication entirely. ClearCash only receives read-only access to your account data — it never sees your username, password, or security questions.
Can I connect more than one bank?
Yes. Once setup is complete, you can add as many institutions as you like from the Accounts section. Each one goes through the same Plaid or manual flow.
What if my Plaid connection stops working?
Your account will show a Reconnect Required status. Tap the account to go through the Plaid flow again and restore the connection. This typically happens when you change your bank password. See Connected accounts →
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