Powder Blue Inspector Not mocking, being totally sincere: you're gonna have to look for something else. YNAB is designed for manual entry with direct import being a safety net at best to aid in reconciliation (that's the official stance of the company). The expectation is that you will manually enter transactions as you go and then use either direct import or file based import as a back-up.

Transactions that are cleared (truly cleared, not pending and not post dated) at the bank come in usually first thing in the morning, and then about 8 hours later. Sometimes delayed. You cannot force it to happen. You can also pull a file from your bank and import the file, which is actually a pretty quick alternative.

If you want YNAB to bring all your transactions in for you, you're gonna be disappointed in the speed and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Powder Blue Inspector I recommend you use one of those other apps that does what you want.  YNAB is not going to do it .  

Hi Powder Blue Inspector !

We say within 24 hours because cleared transactions should import during the nightly refresh or the next time you log in (if it's been more than 8 hours since your last import). So, let's say the nightly refresh takes place at 5am, but your bank doesn't clear transactions until weekdays at 8am, those transactions should import anytime you log in after 1pm. Hiccups with direct import aren't uncommon, unfortunately, so we always leave space for delays or errors.

As for using MFA, some accounts are still able to automatically update. For those that need further authentication, you'll be prompted to re-authenticate your account when you login and transactions will import after that.

There will always be somewhat of a delay because we don't import pending transactions, which doesn't allow for real-time imports. And, since most banks only clear transactions once a day, increasing the import schedule isn't likely to bring in more transactions. We know this is can take some getting used to, but we hope you'll give it a fair try!

KnitPurlKnit I agree, it's all about balance, like much of life.  Sorry, but technology will never uncomplicate our lives.  That only sounds great in theory.  It's just a tool.  When I was in college I learned to use the little paper register that came with my first checkbook.  Didn't quite get the reconciliation part yet, but at least jotted down each check.  Then I discovered I could type it in something called Quicken instead (you mean it's not just made for old men on underpowered grey computers??).  I still have that entire transaction history, all typed in myself.  I do plenty of auto importing, and plenty of manual adjustments because I'm a big fan of ACCURACY and CONTROL.  I find I can only attain both those things using a blend of technology and human labor.  There's a synergistic effect which far surpasses what either can do alone.

wsalopek YNAB literally started as a spreadsheet. What you see now is just an evolution of that spreadsheet. And the spreadsheet was just a version of envelope budgeting which has existed for decades.

So yes, you could do all of this manually and if that works for you, go for it.

jenmas So in your opinion, what about YNAB is better than spreadsheets and envelopes?  That's the opinion/advice I need.  Thanks...

wsalopek It’s better because I don’t have time to build a spreadsheet that will handle my 3 checking 3 savings, 4 CD, 3 cash, 5 credit card, and 1 IBond accounts all on budget plus my 67+ categories. With geo tagging in the mobile app so I don’t have to type in payees when I’m on the go. That handles my 30+ scheduled transactions. That locks transactions after reconciliation so I don’t have to deal with them. Now in fairness, I am grandfathered into an older lower price and that definitely makes a difference. 

Hi Gold Sloth !

Thank you for sharing your feedback here! :)

Currently, we check for cleared transactions every morning and when you log in (if it's been more than 8 hours since the last import). We don't have an on demand option for a number of reasons - most banks only clear transactions once a day, so checking multiple times a day wouldn't bring in more transactions. Banks also tend to lock accounts if they receive too many requests. Our current schedule is meant to balance out not making bank requests too often while still catching cleared transactions without too much of a delay. 

We know direct import isn't perfect and we're working on ways to improve here. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Faness While I see that "checking too often" can be problematic, certainly no practical user is going to hit "refresh" over and over and over and over and over...I just want to hit refresh maybe once or twice per day...so I can work on my budget RIGHT THEN...instead of having to remember to keep checking the website till finally (and seemingly randomly) transactions are ready to import.

Hi Lavender Pony !

I completely understand what you mean. Todd, our CPO, went over this particular issue and our hope for improvement in this forum thread. We do want to improve getting those transactions to you when you want them, but it's going to be a continuous journey and not something we expect to have an immediate fix for. 

Gold Stallion Well said!
I hope the devs at YNAB actually listen to their PAYING users, otherwise, I'm staying with Mint.

Hi Gold Stallion !

Todd, our CPO, touched on this topic briefly in our Changes to Direct Import thread. This isn't something currently on our roadmap, but it could still take place in the future and you can submit a Feature Request to let our Product Team know you'd like to see it! :)

Cyan Saxophone I’ve been experiencing the same issues. It worked fine when I started in February, if occasionally a little delayed. Suddenly, I started having issues with my Discover accounts (2 of my 4 accounts) to the point that I just unlinked them and haven’t tried again in awhile. Every time I tried to link those accounts, I got fraud alerts and would have to work it out with Discover. Not worth the hassle. Now my other two accounts (Chase and BBVA) are so, so slow to update. I just checked my budget and FINALLY had more than a dozen transactions pending approval. It was all my transactions from May 14 to today. Luckily I put everything in manually, but, if I didn’t, my budget would have been off by nearly 20% of my net worth. I don’t mind putting everything in manually, but I do expect it to sync up AT LEAST once a day. Otherwise, why bother with linking accounts?

EP Precisely! I have linked accounts from a majority of the major banks and credit card issuers in both the US and Canada and all are having problems. I'm having the regular connection issues with Capital One and Discover, but never had more than a 10-hour wait to update or import CLEARED transactions from my bank accounts. I add them manually, but I am not understanding why it all of a sudden is taking 3-6 times longer than the normal "every 8 hours" timeline that is supposed to be in place for direct imports. The only thing I am seeing is that is seemed to begin slowing down immensely soon after the Plaid switch, but has only gotten worse and slower as time goes on and not better.

For example, I currently 24 have linked accounts that have not direct imported in the last 24 hours with 13 of those having not direct imported in the last 2+ days. I have accounts from issuers (e.g. AMEX) that updated 4 hours ago and other accounts from the same issuer that have updated in over four days. The accounts are under the same login with AMEX but only one of the accounts transactions have imported? This has nothing to do with pending and cleared transactions either, it is all about the little checkmark next to each account and the popup that tells me the connection status and "last updated" timeframe.

It just isn't making sense anymore. It used to be refresh after 8 hours and another update will come in. Now it's, refresh after 8 hours and pray something updates...when it doesn't refresh again...and keep trying until something refreshes randomly. I don't know what is going on but this has been an unbelievably annoying shift in functionality and predictability.

I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this newfound inconsistent and overbearing delay?

Hi Cyan Saxophone and EP !

Sorry for the troubles! If you report a Bank Importing Issue, our Direct Import Team can take a closer look at the delays you're seeing. I just checked my personal accounts and the longest delay I'm seeing is 13 hours ago, but that's from an account that updated yesterday evening and should update sometime today.

Faness thanks for the response! I reported my issue with BBVA. To be fair, I only have transactions 2-3 times/month on my Chase account, so I can't say whether or not that's having consistent issues - didn't report it, will monitor it more closely. I do know my last transaction took 5 days to show up in YNAB, but I'm not certain exactly how frequently that happens. I'll keep closer tabs on it in the future. I didn't bother reporting my Discover issues, as that seems to be pretty widespread/well-known, from what I can tell. 

I really hope this is prioritized. While I will probably continue to manually input transactions until I'm too old to see the computer screen, I am a very forgetful person and like to build fail-safes into my life. If I depend on YNAB as a fail-safe, I really need it to work consistently!

Cyan Saxophone holy smokes. Accounts on the SAME log-in aren't working at the same time? That's so frustrating! All my transactions are cleared, as well, but they take 3-5 days to show up in YNAB at this point... I read through a few other threads on this topic, including the explanation from YNAB as to why direct import takes longer than it used to. I totally understand the need to deal with issues on the bank's side, the need to space out imports a bit so as not to overload servers, the delay that (sometimes?) occurs over weekends - but 5 days is beyond any of that, as are the issues you're having across multiple banks/credit card issuers. Same with the long-lasting Discover issues. I love YNAB, despite this, but if it's going to be a feature I ever use, I need it to work consistently and accurately. If it's not reliable, I might as well unlink my accounts, so I don't get used to having a fail-safe that I can't rely on.

Forest Green Koala Can you report a Bank Importing Issue for that Chase account? Our team would be happy to look into those missing transactions. Some banks may hold transactions for a few days (like over the weekend), but once they're posted—I'd expect them within 24 hours.

Hi Slate Blue Yearling !

While manually refreshing accounts isn't an option, accounts should automatically update each morning, or when you log into your account (if it has been more than 8 hours since the last refresh). If you're seeing a delay longer than that, please report a Bank Importing Issue so our Direct Import Team can take a closer look at what's going on with your accounts. :)