r/ynab • u/hanumanuman • 1d ago
Bank Sync Syncing No Longer Accesses Password Manager ... Now What?
I rely heavily on sync instead of manual updates - automation makes al the difference in whether I can actually focus enough to use a softwrae like YNAB.
And with RBC, I have to reconnect every day, which was already painful.
But it just got way worse: now Plaid requires me to enter my userid and password for the bank every single time, and it won't fetch it from my password manager.
- So now I have to open the password manager, fetch that userid and password, validate that it's me trying to connect, etc.
- I was already calculating that I was losing hours each month to this syncing process, and this has doubled or tripled it. Especially because sometimes I lose attention mid-way through and don't respond to a notification, then RBC decides I'm suss and blocks me completely and creates even more hoops.
- Plus the sync is now often incomplete, so I'm having to make adjustments and/or do a bunch of extra work.
- The part that bugs me the most is that processes like these are positioned like they are to protect security. But it actually decreases it because I get less sensitive to "weird-looking" things happening, and I get so many messages asking "was this you that tried to log in?" that I could never tell if something problematic was happening or not.
- I've tried changing between Plaid and MX and they are both a problem.
It might be RBC, but I have the impression that all Canadian banks are a disaster in this area. I used to live in the US and YNAB was seamless there. In Canada, I'm not sure if there is any point in continuing to try - it's like they are actively trying to keep me from managing my money responsibly.
There has to be some better answer.
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u/oneesk019 1d ago
Yup, syncing is a mess because the banks don’t make it easy.
I import and reconcile once a week, which limits the annoyance.
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u/Actual_Mall7343 1d ago
canadian bank 2fa with plaid is absolute torture, switched to manual file imports for RBC because re-authenticating every 24 hours was driving me insane
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u/Lonely-Ad-8934 10h ago
Just a reminder, sharing your password with connectors (Plaid, MX, etc.) can violate your bank’s Terms of Service and leave you on the hook for fraud. With Open Banking coming to Canada in 2027 (read access first), you’ll be able to connect to YNAB more securely, with more reliable syncing, and without sharing your login details or running into 2FA issues.
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u/roweramo 7h ago
RBC was working just fine for me with cc until about 2 weeks ago. Then multiple verifications, and now I totally disconnected it. Im really frustrated.
My spouses TD credit card is great.
Our credit union chequing account has never been good.
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u/Bulky_Highlight_289 7h ago
RBC is notoriously one of the worst for Plaid and MX connections, and the daily reconnect loop is a known pain among Canadian YNABers. File-based import (downloading QFX/CSV from RBC and importing directly) is the workaround most people settle on, since at least it's predictable even if it's not automatic.
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u/hanumanuman 15m ago
Thank you all -great thoughts here. What's bugging me is that there's a monthly fee for most bank accounts now, but it isn't being used to invest in services for the clients, to provide what is basic in other countries. I'll hang out for a little longer, hopefully those new changes will make a big difference
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u/varkeddit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Canadian banks tend to not support aggregation tools. There’s a national rework underway but tbd on when that will result in practical changes. In the meantime, you could try associating YNAB and Plaid domains with your bank credentials in the PM—but fundamentally you’re working against RBC’s security protocols and they could end your relationship if they decide you’re a risk. Manual entry plus file-based import is probably your realistic option (or using an extension to add transactions to YNAB via email notifications).