Why We Don't Do Live Bank Integration (And What You Give Up For That Choice)

Most European budgeting apps advertise live bank integration as an obvious upgrade: connect once, and every new transaction appears automatically. No CSV uploads, no manual entry, no friction.

We deliberately don't offer it. This post explains exactly why — including what you actually give up by using an app like Okidoky instead of one that does connect.

What live bank integration actually means

Under the EU's PSD2 directive (in force since 2019), licensed banks must expose an API that authorised third parties can use to read transactions on your behalf. That sounds simple, but what actually happens is more layered:

  1. You authorise the app. You're redirected to your bank's screen, where you log in and grant access. The approval is usually valid for 90 or 180 days before it has to be renewed.
  2. The app doesn't talk to your bank directly. Most finance apps use a third-party aggregator — companies like Tink (owned by Visa), Plaid, Nordigen, or Budget Insight — as a layer in between. Your data typically passes through that aggregator's servers, not straight from your bank to the app.
  3. Access is continuous, not one-shot. As long as the authorisation is alive, the aggregator (and whoever they sell or share data with, per their privacy policy) can pull transactions, balances, and sometimes identity data on a schedule.

This is a real convenience — you genuinely don't have to do anything to keep the ledger current. But it's not nothing, either.

Why we chose not to build this

Three reasons, in order of weight:

1. The aggregator problem

When you authorise a live bank feed inside a finance app, you are not just trusting that app — you are trusting the aggregator behind it, and that aggregator's sub-processors, their data retention policy, their insurance posture, and their jurisdiction of incorporation.

Some aggregators are reputable and well-audited. Others have a thinner paper trail. Either way, you've added a party that sees every transaction you make, for as long as the authorisation is alive. For a household budgeting app that exists to help you see your spending — not broker your data — that felt like the wrong trade.

2. The permanent-access problem

A CSV export is a one-time snapshot. Someone who steals your phone or compromises your Okidoky account can see transactions you already imported — but they cannot pull more, and they cannot see balances in real time.

A live bank feed is different. If the app's credentials are compromised, the attacker gets a live window into your bank for as long as the authorisation lasts. You can revoke it, but only if you notice in time. For an app used by people who are already financially anxious (many Okidoky users are recovering from debt, for example), that permanent-access shape is the opposite of calm.

3. The "simple tool" promise

Okidoky is a household ledger. It is not a financial coach, not a bank, not a categorisation AI. Part of what keeps it simple is that it doesn't try to be authoritative about what's in your bank account — it's a record of what you decided to track. Adding a live feed would blur that: suddenly the app "knows" things you didn't tell it, and every categorisation disagreement becomes an argument with software.

There are apps that make the opposite trade and do it well. We'd rather be clear about what Okidoky is, and recommend those other apps when live integration is what you actually want.

What you give up by using Okidoky

We want to be fair to the alternative. Here's what you lose by choosing a CSV-import-only tool like ours:

  • A few minutes of admin per month. Downloading a CSV from your bank and importing it takes roughly five minutes monthly for most people. For ING and KNAB customers, Okidoky recognises the format automatically; other Dutch banks need a one-time column mapping on first import.
  • Real-time balance awareness. Okidoky doesn't know what's in your bank right now — only what you've imported. For some people (especially anxious spenders), that's a bug; for others (especially people recovering from checking-account-compulsion), it's a feature.
  • Automatic catch-up after a gap. If you don't open the app for a month, you'll need to import that month's CSV manually. A live feed would have done it silently.

These are real trade-offs. If any of them feels disqualifying, an app with live integration is probably a better fit for you. Common ones in the Netherlands: YNAB, Grip, and Moneybird all offer bank-connection features, with different privacy policies and different aggregator relationships.

What CSV import actually looks like

Since the CSV workflow is the main thing you'd be using, it's worth being concrete:

  1. Log in to your bank's website (not the app — desktop banking usually has a better export interface).
  2. Find "export" or "download transactions". At ING this is under "Downloaden" inside a specific account. At KNAB it's under the "Transactie-overzicht" menu.
  3. Choose CSV as the format. Set a date range — most people do "since last import".
  4. Open Okidoky → Bank Import → upload the CSV. ING and KNAB are auto-detected; for other banks, map your columns (date, description, amount) once; the mapping is remembered next time.
  5. Preview, confirm, done.

On a modern laptop this takes about three minutes for a month of transactions. On a phone it's slightly more fiddly because bank apps make export harder, so most people do it at a computer once a month.

A fair comparison

To keep this post honest, here's the same situation for someone using a live-feed app:

  • Setup: 10 minutes once (authorise aggregator, grant bank access).
  • Monthly effort: Zero — until the authorisation expires (every 90–180 days) and you have to re-authorise. Many people notice this as "my transactions stopped appearing" and quietly give up on the app.
  • Privacy posture: Your data flows through the aggregator continuously for the duration of the authorisation. Read the aggregator's privacy policy, not just the app's.
  • Control when something goes wrong: Revocation is the bank's responsibility — you can revoke via your bank's PSD2 settings, which varies per bank.

Neither model is universally "better." They're different trades for different priorities.

Our actual position

We're not anti-PSD2. It's a genuinely useful directive that has forced banks to open up APIs that used to be closed. We're glad it exists.

We just think that for a simple household ledger, where the whole point is calm and clarity, the trade is not worth it for us. If we ever build live integration, it'll be in a version labelled as such — so anyone who chose Okidoky specifically for the CSV-only model doesn't wake up one day to find the shape of their tool has shifted.

Until then: CSV import, manual entry, and a deliberately narrower scope. Less magic, more ownership.

Try Okidoky free — no credit card at signup, CSV export always available if you ever want to leave.