How to set up a bank feed
Bank feeds automatically import transactions from your bank account into your FreeAgent account.
Instead of downloading and uploading electronic statements, you can pull your bank transactions into FreeAgent automatically through a bank feed. There are two types of bank feeds in FreeAgent: Open Banking bank feeds, which connect directly to your bank, and bank feeds delivered by our third-party provider. The setup process for both is largely the same; follow the steps below to find out which type of feed is available to you.
Please be aware that you'll need to be registered with your bank for online banking to complete this process, and that you'll need to have any necessary security devices, like card readers, to hand.
1 Navigate to the 'Banking' tab and select 'Bank Accounts'
New to FreeAgent?
If you’re new to FreeAgent, you’ll see this screen. Simply select ‘Connect your bank’.
Existing FreeAgent users
If you’ve been using FreeAgent for a while, you’ll be taken to the 'Bank Accounts Summary' page. From here, select 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.
Once in the bank account, select ‘Enable Bank Feed’ .
2 Select your bank
Choose your bank from the 'Select your bank’ area, or if you can’t see your bank, navigate to the search box at the bottom of the screen.
3 Select the bank service
Your bank may provide separate bank services for their Business and Personal accounts. If this is the case, then you’ll be asked to choose which bank service you’d like to connect to. If you want to connect both account types, then you’ll need to repeat the process for each banking service.
Banks outside the UK are not covered by PSD2 regulations and so these bank feeds will be connected through our third-party provider, Yodlee. However, FreeAgent is unable to offer access to any EU bank services as a result of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the 1st January 2021.
How to set up an Open Banking bank feed
These steps show you how to set up an Open Banking bank feed. If your account is supported by a third-party provider feed, please scroll down, or follow this link. Steps 1 through 3 shown above are the same for both bank feeds.
Please be aware that you will need to be registered with your bank for online banking to complete this process.
For all other existing bank feeds, you should use the ‘Switch Bank Feed’ button. You can find out more about it in our ‘How to switch from your existing bank feed to an Open Banking bank feed’ article.
4 Give consent for the connection
Select 'Connect to my bank', this provides us with your consent to access your account details.
As part of the Open Banking Standard, we need you to give your explicit consent every 90 days to connect your bank account to FreeAgent. When it’s time to re-consent, we’ll let you know.
5 Authorise the connection with your bank
Next, you’ll be taken to your bank’s website to authorise the connection process. This process may differ from bank to bank, so please follow the prompts given to you by your bank to complete the connection setup with FreeAgent.
When you’re entering your account number and sort code, it’s important to make sure not to include any spaces or dashes between those numbers, or you won’t be able to complete the setup process.
6 Connection successful!
Your Open Banking bank feed is now enabled. You just need to confirm or select a FreeAgent bank account to associate with the feed, as well as your transaction start date. Please note that your transaction start date cannot be earlier than your FreeAgent start date.
And that’s it!
Select 'Show me my transactions' and you’ll be taken back to the main banking screen.
On the banking screen, you'll see that your bank feed is currently pending. Your feed should start pulling through transactions very soon, so hold tight!
If previously you had to select the green ‘Import new transactions’ button, you'll no longer see it. Your new feed will now import transactions automatically every night!
Please note that the remainder of this article only applies to setting up third-party provider feeds, so if you have an Open Banking feed, your setup is now done and dusted!
As you use the feeds on an ongoing basis, make sure to check your bank balance regularly against your bank account to make sure that everything lines up.
How to set up a third-party provider bank feed
With the introduction of new UK and EU banking regulations called PSD2, many of our third-party provider bank feeds are no longer available.
We support Open Banking feeds for most of the UK’s biggest banks, but there are some banks that don’t support Open Banking yet. If your bank isn’t supported, you'll need to manually upload bank statements or manually enter transactions.
For non-UK banks, please complete steps 1 through 3 above, and then follow the below steps to complete the connection through our third-party provider, Yodlee.
To find out more, check out our articles on Frequently Asked Questions and third-party provider security.
4 Enter your login details for this bank account
Fill in your login details then select the 'Next Step' button. Login details differ from bank to bank, so this screen could include other fields.
Depending on your bank's security setup, you'll see one of two possible screens next. Either you'll see the following:
This means that you don't need to answer any further security questions, and Yodlee is now finding your bank account. This could take up to 5 minutes - don't navigate away from this page as this will cancel your bank feed setup.
Alternatively, you'll see the following screen
Yodlee is now checking to see if your bank requires you to answer further security questions in order to enable your bank feed. You'll then be prompted to answer those questions, which may appear similar to this:
Followed by confirmation that Yodlee is finding your bank account:
If your login details are not accepted, double-check that you've picked the correct banking website as there may be multiple banking websites for your bank. If you're certain that this is correct, log in to your banking website directly to check that your banking website is allowing you to log in right now.
5 Confirm and enable your bank feed
Once Yodlee has found your bank accounts, confirm which one you want to enable your feed for.
Selecting 'Guess explanation for bank transactions' allows FreeAgent to guess explanations for your transactions based on previously explained transactions. Transactions imported via bank feeds will be marked for review and require an extra step of approval.
Almost there! Just select the 'Enable Bank Feed' button to finish.
That's it, you're done. What happens next?
You should see a new bank feed panel on your bank account page:
Once the first batch of transactions have been imported from your bank (which can take up to 24 hours), the bank feed panel will display the date and time of the latest and next imports:
If your bank requires you to answer extra security questions for your bank feed, you'll see an 'Import new transactions' button displayed in the bank feed panel. Selecting this button will import new transactions. If you don't see this button your bank transactions will be imported automatically every 24 hours.
Please make sure you click 'import new transactions' at least once every 30 days to ensure all transactions appear.
The bank feed panel will also let you know whenever there are technical problems preventing new transactions from being imported:
As you use the feeds on an ongoing basis, make sure to check your bank balance regularly against your bank account to make sure that everything lines up.
I need help with…
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- How to enable a Mettle bank feed
- How to enable a TransferWise bank feed
- Cater Allen Open Banking bank feeds
- How to view your active Open Banking bank feeds
- How to set up a bank feed
- How to disable a bank feed
- How to switch from your existing bank feed to an Open Banking bank feed
- How to switch from a Barclays BDS bank feed to an Open Banking bank feed
- How to re-consent your Open Banking bank feed
