Balance off
The balance in my checking account and the amount in YNAB is slightly off and I'm not sure why.
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Something is wrong in YNAB, that's why. 😉
I say that cheekily but that's actually the only reason they will differ. You might have messed up your starting balance, if you're new, or you might have messed up putting in a transaction, or you might have made an unnecessary reconciliation adjustment. You might also just be looking at the wrong bank balance!
We need more info in order to help. Best way to fix this is to go line by line through your account in YNAB and ensure that every transaction matches to the penny and is recorded correctly until you find the mistake.
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Okay, thank you. Yes, I'm completely new to this--just set it up yesterday. :)
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Purple Mermaid Welcome! Glad you're here! Since you just started yesterday this sounds like possibly an issue with your starting balances. Did you add a lot of historical transactions or are you dealing with a relatively small register right now?
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Janelle at YNAB hi! It's off by a dollar and some change. Is there a way to fix that? Can I change the amount in YNAB? I have a pretty small register right now (we get paid tomorrow) and only added a few transactions.
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Purple Mermaid
When balances don't match, it can take some investigation to discover why. This process is called reconciliation.
Since we don't have access to your bank information (which we shouldn't have!), we can't compare transactions and help find those errors – but we do have resources for you. In our Help Docs, you can follow step-by-step instructions on how to reconcile your accounts.Make sure to check out the video near the bottom!
Since your register is pretty short at the moment, it should be relatively easy to find the difference.
Here are a few things that could be throwing off your balance in YNAB:
- missing transactions that need to be entered
- an incorrect starting balance
- transactions that are cleared at the bank that don't have the green "C" in YNAB
- inverted numbers (entering $20.54 instead of $20.45)
- entering a transaction as outflow instead of an inflow
The more often you reconcile, the quicker it will be to find any discrepancies. If it's a small amount, we do recommend making a balance adjustment — it keeps you focused on making good decisions with your budget. :) -
Faness at YNAB Thank you!
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My YNAB is off by -2 grand! My bank statement comes in once a month but my I try to keep up with my expenses by downloading from my bank every couple of days. I can't balance then because it is never in sync and by the end of the month it is even worse. I just went through my entire Sept. statement - everything was listed in YNAB and the statement.
I had already reconciled in the middle of the month - probably incorrectly - so I subtracted what was before that reconciliation from the bank's balance to find where I am out now and it was even worse. I decided I would delete the reconciliation from a few weeks ago to try and fix it (I was behind in doing anything, so am playing catch up) and now I am off even worse than before.
It seems that my bank balance is never the same as YNAB though. I do have to download my bank to YNAB as there isn't a direct link but there must be something else I am doing wrong. Really frustrated.
I was so happy to get everything organized and get my spending plan together for the next three months and then I tried to balance my checking account today and had to give up. This is why I have spent years NOT doing this!
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Navy Blue Mare Don't reconcile in the middle of the month and to the statement. It's very possible you are double counting some charges by trying to reconcile them twice. Do one or the other.
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