If you're having trouble linking your financial institution through Plaid, don't worry! Many connection issues can be resolved with a few simple checks. If you’re seeing an error message in the NerdWallet app, then read more about those error messages in our article, I tried to link a bank account to my NerdWallet account, but am getting an error message. What should I do?

Before trying to link your account, log in directly to your bank or financial institution's website or mobile app.

Check that:

If you can't access your account directly, Plaid won't be able to connect either.

Many banks require you to explicitly allow third-party services like Plaid to access your account information. You can do this by logging directly into your account on your financial institution’s website.

Look for settings such as:

If access has been revoked, re-enable it and try linking again.

Recent changes to your:

can sometimes interrupt account connections.

If you've recently updated or changed any of these, log in directly to your bank and complete any required security verification before attempting to reconnect.

Some VPNs, ad blockers, or privacy-focused browser extensions can interfere with the linking process.

If you're using any of these tools:

Plaid bank account linking requires the NerdWallet mobile app — it cannot be initiated from a desktop or mobile browser.

If you're having trouble in the app:

Before spending time troubleshooting further, check whether your financial institution is currently experiencing a known Plaid issue.

Sometimes financial institutions make changes that affect their connection with Plaid. This can happen because of server issues, system upgrades, security changes, or a decision by the financial institution itself to limit or stop data sharing.

If Plaid is unable to maintain a reliable connection, the institution may be temporarily—or in some cases permanently—removed from the list of available institutions until the issue is resolved.

If you can’t find your bank in the list, then you can read more with our article. I'm trying to link one of my bank accounts to my NerdWallet account, but I'm unable to find it on the list.

Plaid maintains a public status page here:

👉 https://dashboard.plaid.com/activity/status

You’ll need to sign up for a free Plaid account, then search for your financial institution and review any active notices.

Common status messages include:

The institution is not providing the data Plaid needs to support account connections or updates.

New account connections may fail.

Existing linked accounts may stop updating balances and transactions.

Transactions may appear later than expected.

The institution is experiencing a higher-than-normal rate of connection failures.

In many observed cases, persistent connection issues have been caused by a known institution outage. For example, some customers experiencing connection failures with Truist were affected by an active Plaid "Insufficient Data" issue that could be verified on the status page.

If your institution has an active status notice:

Unlinking and relinking your financial account should not be used as a first troubleshooting step. If the app gives you the option to Fix or Reconnect your existing connection, follow those prompts instead.
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In some situations, unlinking and relinking may be necessary. Before doing so, it's important to understand that removing an account can permanently affect the financial history you see in NerdWallet.
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When you relink an account, it may be treated as a new account connection. Additionally, some financial institutions may not resend all of your historical data. As a result, you may experience:

Historical data lost as a result of unlinking and relinking can't be restored.

If you've tried the other troubleshooting steps in this article and your account still isn't updating correctly, we recommend contacting NerdWallet Support before unlinking and relinking.
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If your financial institution doesn't update reliably or can't be linked, you may also consider adding the account manually. Keep in mind that manually added accounts don't update automatically, so you'll need to update their information yourself.

When you link your account, you may notice that the account number displayed doesn't match the account number you see at your bank.

This is often due to a security feature used by some financial institutions. Instead of sharing your actual bank account number, the institution provides a Virtual Account Number (VAN) or Tokenized Account Number (TAN) through a secure connection.

These virtual numbers help protect your sensitive banking information by ensuring that your real account number is never shared with third-party applications.

As a result, some apps may display the last four digits of the VAN or TAN rather than the last four digits of your actual bank account number. This can make it appear as though the wrong account is connected, even when it isn't.

The good news is that this is normal and should not affect:

The financial institution automatically translates the virtual account number back to your real account behind the scenes, so funds continue to route correctly.

No. Plaid does not hold or transfer customer funds. Plaid simply helps financial apps securely access account information from participating institutions.

Even after you log in, updates depend on:

Some institutions update more frequently than others.

Your financial institution decides how much historical information to share. Some institutions provide months of history, while others provide only recent transactions—or none at all after a relink.

It can sometimes take a while for an account to connect. If you’ve waited for more than 24 hours and your account still has not connected successfully, please try unlinking your account and trying one more time.

If you’re still experiencing trouble with this, please reach out to us and share your bank name and the type of account you’re trying to add, and our support team will take a look! Be sure to include any screenshots or error messages you see as well.

If:

…and you're still unable to connect, ask to be helped by a teammate in our chat and provide:

The more information you can provide, the easier it will be to identify the issue.