Simplify money management with a financial account aggregator
Discover how a financial account aggregator can streamline, consolidate accounts, and provide a clear overview of your financial health.
Seeing all your accounts in one place can make it easier to manage your money and meet your financial goals.
Keeping up with all your accounts can be daunting — credit, checking, savings, loans and other services often are spread across multiple financial institutions. It's easy to miss a transaction or a payment when you're trying to keep track of so many accounts.
Many banks, including USAA Federal Savings Bank, offer what's called account aggregation services. You can gather your online financial accounts into a single view instead of having to sign into multiple websites to see each account individually. This makes it easy to take control of your finances and manage them quickly and more efficiently by monitoring all of your balances and transactions in one place.
How does account aggregation work?
To view all your accounts in one place using an account aggregation service, first set up an online profile with all the accounts you'd like to include. Once you've authenticated and connected your accounts to the account aggregation service, you'll be able to sign into a single dashboard instead of multiple websites to see your financial situation. USAA will collect your balance information and other financial data from each account to display in your aggregated dashboard.
Take control of your finances with an account aggregator
It's easy to lose track of your finances, especially if they're spread over a variety of accounts. You can accidentally overspend from your checking account and incur hefty overdraft fees or miss a loan payment because you forgot it was coming due. Using an account aggregation service helps you take control of your finances and manage your savings, income and expenses all in one place.
At USAA, members can link to other financial accounts that list them as an account holder, including deposits and credit cards, payment accounts and investment accounts. This is done through the mobile app or online account dashboard (see the following chart). This makes it easier to keep an eye on their overall financial health and can help keep them on track to achieve their financial goals.
For example, if you're saving for a major purchase, like a house or a car, while also working to pay down debt, like a credit card balance, seeing your assets and liabilities side by side can help you keep your goals in mind if you encounter an unexpected bill or a surprise influx of cash.
Track your cash flow and maintain a budget by using an account aggregation software
Consistent cash flow tracking and assessment — how much money you're bringing in and where it's going — are key to meeting your financial goals.
One feature of the USAA spending analysis budgeting tool is the flexibility to categorize transactions based on your general spending habits. You can add additional categories to make the service even more personalized, giving you an accurate look at where your money is going.
This visual representation of your transactions across all your accounts can help you determine if you need to adjust certain spending areas to meet your goals or to keep your spending in line with your income — for example, spending less on food or dining and adding more to savings.
Account aggregation services can also be useful if you're thinking about working with a financial planner. You'll be able to pull up a clear, concise view of your financial situation — a more complete picture of your assets and debts — and share it with your planner. Some financial planners even offer their own account aggregation services.
Is account aggregation safe?
Using an account aggregation service is an easy, convenient and a secure way to manage your money. But just like any other time you share your information on the internet, there can be risks involved. Read your financial institution's terms and conditions to determine how it protects your data before you decide to proceed with aggregating your financial information. You should also review the terms and conditions for the aggregating service to understand what rights you would give the service.
Other things to consider when deciding whether to use an account aggregation service are the limitations. These services can only collect certain information, so you might not be getting a full understanding of your accounts.
Some services also won't be able to access all your accounts, so you might have to manage those particular accounts separately. And though you can view payment due dates with your account aggregation service, most services don't allow you to conduct transactions within the service. There, you'll have to log on to the relevant account to make a payment or transfer money or set up the account under your financial institution's bill paying service, such as our Pay Bills tool.See note1
The USAA Advice Center provides general advice, tools and resources to guide your journey. Content may mention products, features or services that USAA Federal Savings Bank does not offer. The information contained is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to represent any endorsement, expressed or implied, by USAA or any affiliates. All information provided is subject to change without notice.
Personal finance solutions
Video duration: 0 minutes, 54 seconds
Transcript date: Aug. 2, 2023
Introduction: Elapsed time 0 seconds [0:00]
USAA has made it easier to manage all of your finances and adding your non-USAA accounts is simple.
Adding a non-USAA account: Elapsed time 7 seconds [0:07]
First, select the "Add Account" button near the top of the page. Then, select "Add Non-USAA Accounts" followed by "Get Started."
You may have to provide your electronic signature for documents related to your accounts. Open your documents, check the box to agree and select "Submit."
Now, select or search for your bank, lender or credit card company. Enter your username and password.
Managing your account: Elapsed time 34 seconds [0:34]
Once you connect your account, you can close the small screen. Your non-USAA account should now appear on your homepage.
Now that your account is connected, you can view all of your transactions, place them in categories and even add memos or tags.
Managing your finances just got easier with USAA.
Description of visual information: [The trademarks, logos and names of other companies, products and services are the property of their respective owners. Information on non-USAA accounts is governed by the Non-USAA Account Access Agreement ("User Agreement"). USAA's personal financial management services are not sponsored or endorsed by any third party. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. NC] End of description.
End: Elapsed time 54 seconds [0:54]
Understanding your spending
Video duration: 1 minute, 21 seconds
Transcript date: Aug. 2, 2023
The spending chart: Elapsed time 0 seconds [0:00]
Description of visual information: [Understanding your spending: How to monitor your spending to stay on track] End of description.
The spending chart tracks your spending in every category over a single time frame.
Here, you can view any date range or view your income to see how it relates to your spending. The wheel makes it easy for you to identify your biggest expenses as well as dive into the smallest details.
Using the chart: Elapsed time 24 seconds [0:24]
Each category is represented by a different color. Select any category within the wheel to view amount spent. Click the category again to see a breakdown of spending within that category.
And simply select the middle of the wheel to view the list of transactions for a category.
Also notice the different colors in the amount column. Black for money spent. Green for money received. You can edit transactions in several ways, including changing a category, adding tags and memos, and flagging, excluding, or splitting a transaction.
The benefits of tracking your spending: Elapsed time 1 minute, 4 seconds [1:04]
Paying close attention to your spending each month can help you spend less than you earn.
Put leftover funds toward your financial goals, like paying off debt, saving, or investing for retirement.
Description of visual information: [The trademarks, logos and names of other companies, products and services are the property of their respective owners. Epic Bank is a registered trademark of MX Technologies, Inc. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association and used under license. Information on non-USAA accounts is governed by the Non-USAA Account Access Agreement ("User Agreement"). USAA's personal financial management services are not sponsored or endorsed by any third party. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal.] End of description.
End: Elapsed time 1 minute, 21 seconds [1:21]
Budget maintenance
Video duration: 2 minutes, 5 seconds
Transcript date: Aug. 2, 2023
Reviewing your budget: Elapsed time 0 seconds [0:00]
Description of visual information: [Budget maintenance: How to view and manage your budgets] End of description.
Once you have created an overall budget, review it a few times each month to help ensure spending stays within the limits you set for each category.
Remember, red bubbles show you've exceeded your budget. Yellow bubbles show you're near your budget. Green bubbles show you're under your budget.
Maintaining your budget: Elapsed time 22 seconds [0:22]
When necessary, maintaining your budget is easy.
You can add new budgets, edit current budgets, or delete budgets. To add a new budget from the main screen, click on add new budget and the plus sign of one of the available categories. Key in an amount and save.
To edit or delete a budget from the main screen, click on a current budget bubble, then select edit budget to either change your budget amount or delete the category from your budget.
You can also add a new sub-budget if you want to break down a large category for more detail. Select add new sub-budget and choose from the list of subcategories we already have or create your own. Once created, edit your sub-budget to add an amount or delete it.
Tracking your transactions: Elapsed time 1 minute, 15 seconds [1:15]
Now let's look at what you can do with your transactions.
You can complete specific tasks such as changing a category, adding tags and memos, and flagging, excluding, or splitting a transaction. Also notice different colors in the amount column, black for money spent, green for money received.
Finally, in the list view, you can see your total budgeted amount versus budget spent and income earned versus projected income for the month. Your budgets are also detailed in this view.
You can also review budgets from previous months.
Paying close attention to your budget each month can help you spend less than you earn, so try to avoid red bubbles.
Description of visual information: [The trademarks, logos and names of other companies, products and services are the property of their respective owners. Epic Bank is a registered trademark of MX Technologies, Inc. Information on non-USAA accounts is governed by the Non-USAA Account Access Agreement ("User Agreement"). USAA's personal financial management services are not sponsored or endorsed by any third party.] End of description.
End: Elapsed time 2 minutes, 5 seconds [2:05]
Trends overview
Video duration: 1 minute, 41 seconds
Transcript date: Aug. 2, 2023
Creating a budget: Elapsed time 0 seconds [0:00]
Description of visual information: [Trends overview: How to use trends to understand your spending habits] End of description.
The trends chart tracks your income and spending in every category and over multiple time frames.
You can view your income and spending trends over three, six, nine, or 12 months.
Hover over any color to see spending by month for that category.
Select any category for a breakdown of your spending by subcategory.
Hover over an individual dot to see your spending for a single month. And then select any dot to see your related transactions for that month.
How to edit transactions: Elapsed time 43 seconds [0:43]
You can edit transactions in several ways, including one, changing a category, two, adding tags and memos, three, and flagging, excluding, or splitting a transaction.
You can also see all this data in the list view.
Tracking your income: Elapsed time 1 minute, 14 seconds [1:14]
The black line is your income. Just as with spending, hover over the income line to see income by month.
Compare your income to your spending each month. Ideally, your spending should stay below your income line.
Put leftover funds toward your financial goals, like paying off debt, saving, or investing for retirement.
Description of visual information: [The trademarks, logos and names of other companies, products and services are the property of their respective owners. Epic Bank is a registered trademark of MX Technologies, Inc. Information on non-USAA accounts is governed by the Non-USAA Account Access Agreement ("User Agreement"). USAA's personal financial management services are not sponsored or endorsed by any third party. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal.] End of description.