External Accounts are the bridge between Sequence and the rest of your financial world.
They let you connect checking, savings, or investment accounts outside of Sequence so you can move money in and out seamlessly.
How we connect to them
We connect to your accounts through four secure data providers: Plaid, Finicity, Method, and Spinwheel.
These providers partner directly with banks to retrieve your balances and account details, then pass that data to us.
That means Sequence never interacts with the banks directly - we rely on these providers for secure, reliable connections.
When are the balances updated
Balances are pulled once every 24 hours, and we also refresh them automatically right before a date-based rule runs.
If you ever want the latest numbers on demand, just click into an external account and select Refresh all account balances in the top-right panel.
Understanding balances in Sequence
When you look at an external account in Sequence, you’ll see two types of balances:
Available balance (default view):
This is the amount currently available for withdrawal.
For depository + investment accounts, this number includes funds that may already be invested but are technically withdrawable.
Current balance (shown when you click into an account):
This reflects the total account balance, including funds that aren’t available to withdraw at the moment.
This split helps you see both what’s usable now and what’s held in total.
Types of external accounts
When you connect an external account, it will fall into one of four categories:
Depository: Traditional checking or savings accounts.
Liability: Any type of debt account (like credit cards, loans, or mortgages).
There are actually two types of liability accounts — check out the Liability Accounts page for details.
Investment: Brokerage or retirement accounts where you hold investments.
These accounts are often treated as destination only, meaning Sequence can send funds in but not pull funds out. Why? Check out the Investment Accounts page for more.
Destination: Accounts you add manually by entering the routing and account numbers.
These might be accounts you own that couldn’t connect through our providers, or they could belong to employers, contractors, or family members.
Important: Destination accounts can only receive funds — you can’t pull money back out of them.
How transfers work
Balances come through our data providers, but transfers themselves always move through ACH.
If a balance is unavailable, transfers can still continue only when two conditions are met:
The funds are being pushed to an external account (since without the balance, we can’t safely pull money out).
The rule doesn’t depend on the destination account’s balance (for example, a top-up rule that checks the balance of the external account first).
In short: we view the account balances through our data providers but we make the transfers directly through ACH.
Adding your external accounts is what makes Sequence special.
It’s not just an intricate banking system - it’s a way to bring all your disparate accounts under one roof, so you can actually make them work together.
Next, we’ll start exploring each type in detail — beginning with Depository Accounts.