How to set up a Direct Bank Feed

Direct Bank Feeds automatically import transactions from your business bank account into your FreeAgent account. This article explains how to set up a Direct Bank Feed for a NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland Business account. Please be aware that you will need to be registered for NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland online banking to complete this process.

If you’re switching to a Direct Bank Feed from an existing Yodlee bank feed, please check out our guide to switching.

1. Head to the ‘Banking’ tab

New to FreeAgent?

If you’re new to FreeAgent, you’ll see this screen. Simply click ‘Enable a bank feed’.

Existing FreeAgent users

If you’ve been using FreeAgent for a while, you’ll probably be taken to the Bank Accounts Summary page. From here, click to enter the bank account you want to enable the feed for. If you’ve had a bank feed set up in the past, you’ll need to follow these instructions to make sure it’s correctly disabled.

Next, select ‘Enable Bank Feed’ at the top right of the screen.

2. Select your bank

For a Direct Bank Feed, make sure you choose one of the direct partner icons at the top of the screen. If you have a Barclays Business Account, the setup process is slightly different.

3. Enter your Account Number + Sort Code

It’s important to double check that you’ve entered these numbers correctly. When you’ve finished, click ‘Connect to your bank’.

4. Enter your 10 digit customer number

You’ll now be taken to your business banking login page - just like logging in to your online banking. Once you’ve carefully entered your 10 digit customer number, click continue.

5. Enter your pin and password

Again, just like your regular online banking login, enter the requested digits from your security pin number, and password. When you’ve finished, click ‘login’.

6. Accept terms and conditions

Now your bank will request your approval before connecting your feed. Scroll to the bottom of the box to finish reading the terms and conditions. You’ll then be able to select the checkbox confirming that you’ve read them, and click ‘Allow’.

7. Setup successful

And that’s it! Your direct bank feed is now enabled. If you’d like FreeAgent to guess the explanations for your bank transactions, keep the box at the bottom of the screen checked. If you’d rather not see these suggestions, uncheck this box. Then click ‘continue’.

8. Back to Banking

You’ll now be taken back to your banking screen. As you can see on the right hand side, your bank feed is currently pending, and it usually takes around 48 hours for your feed to start pulling through transactions.

It’s important to remember that transactions will only pull through from the time in which the feed is no longer pending. Transactions prior to this date can be brought in via a statement upload.