Connect a US bank or card

Connect a US bank or credit card once, and its transactions come into Pennyweight without you importing anything. Your AI starts the connection. You finish it in your browser, where Plaid handles the bank sign-in.

Before you start, turn on two-factor authentication. Pennyweight won't connect a bank without it.

How to do it

1. Ask your AI to connect your bank. If you have more than one ledger, name the one the bank belongs in. Your AI gives you a link to the Connect your bank page in the Pennyweight web app.
2. Open the link in a browser within about 30 minutes. Your AI treats the link as good for that long. After that, ask it for a fresh one.
3. Choose Connect with Plaid. Find your bank and sign in. Your bank login goes to Plaid, not to Pennyweight.
4. Wait for Connected. The page pulls in your transactions, then takes you to Settings → Accounts, where you can connect another bank.
5. Go back to your AI and ask it to confirm. It can check your connections and list the new accounts.

You can also start from the web app: Settings → Accounts → Connect with Plaid opens the same page.

What you'll see

Your AI replies with the link and a short note: open it in a browser, finish there, then come back. The connection can't be completed inside the chat, so your AI won't wait for one.

Once you're done, your AI can show each connected bank with its status and last sync time. Accounts you added yourself show as manual, with no bank connection.

Good to know

• Bank linking works for US banks and cards only. Outside the US, add a manual account and import statements. The connect page has an Outside the US? Add manually link for this.
• If two-factor is off, the page shows Two-factor authentication required with a button to set it up. See can't connect your bank.
• Pennyweight asks for up to about two years of history, as your bank provides.
• After the first pull, new transactions arrive in the background and land at your next session. See how bank sync works.
• Which ledger gets the bank. Your AI puts a ledger in the link: the one you name, or else the ledger it's working in. If the ledger it's working in is a demo ledger or no longer exists, the link uses your default ledger instead. Your AI learns which ledger the bank goes into, so it can tell you. It won't make a link for a demo ledger or for a ledger that's gone or being deleted. The page files the new accounts in the link's ledger, even in a new browser tab. The page has no ledger picker of its own. Opened from Settings, or from a link whose ledger was deleted since, the page uses the ledger selected in that browser tab, or your default ledger in a new tab. For how ledgers work, see workspaces and ledgers.
• Your AI can't preselect your bank. You choose it in Plaid.
• On a computer, if that bank is already connected in the same ledger, the page says so. Refresh the existing connection from its menu in Settings → Accounts instead of adding it again.
• The connection is read-only. Pennyweight can see your accounts and transactions but can't move money.
• After your trial, a ledger without its own subscription is read-only, and connecting a bank to it is paused until you subscribe that ledger.
• On a phone, the flow works a little differently. See connect a bank from your phone.
• To stop syncing a bank or remove it, see disconnect a bank vs delete an account.