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ClearCheckbook News & Updates

New iOS and Android app updates coming soon! Looking for Beta Testers

8/9/2024 in ClearCheckbook Updates

We've made some big improvements and updates to the iOS and Android apps and have been testing them internally for a while. We've opened both apps for beta testing and would love to get your feedback.

Both of the apps have some slight UI tweaks, better syncing stability as well as an addition of a Reconcile feature and the Estimate Future Balances tool.

You can join the beta testing for iOS and Android respectively through the links below:

Welcome Intuit Mint customers!

11/8/2023 in ClearCheckbook News

With Intuit shutting down Mint, we've had a lot of people find ClearCheckbook to replace their financial management software. We know it's always difficult transitioning from a software you're familiar and comfortable with to a new one, but we hope this blog post makes that transition to ClearCheckbook easier.

First off, welcome to ClearCheckbook! We've been helping people manage their finances since 2006 and have grown tremendously over the years, due in large part to feedback and suggestions from our customers. ClearCheckbook is free to sign up and use, but we do have a Premium Membership option that gives you access to over 70 features, tools and settings that aren't available with the free membership. Here are some common questions and answers from Mint customers:

Can I import my Mint data into ClearCheckbook?
Yes! You can import QIF, OFX and QFX files into ClearCheckbook with the free membership (premium members can import CSV files too). We have a tool for importing transactions and you can learn more about how to use the Import Transactions tool in our Importing Transactions knowledge base article.

Can I connect my bank accounts to ClearCheckbook and have my transactions automatically download?
Yes! We offer bank connections via Plaid. These connections allow for your transactions to download automatically from your bank and credit card accounts into ClearCheckbook. You can learn more about connecting your accounts and syncing transactions in our Sync with Banks knowledge base article.

Does ClearCheckbook have any budgeting features?
Yes! We have two different budgeting tools available. One is a standard budgeting tool where you enter the budgeted amount and we track the amount spent via your transactions. The second is an envelope budgeting system where the funding and amount spent values are both taken from your transactions. You can learn more about the standard budgeting tool in our Budgets knowledge base article and you can find out more about the envelope budgets in our Envelope Budgets knowledge base article.

Does ClearCheckbook have a Net Worth tool?
Yes! We will calculate your net worth and track it over time based on your account balances, debts, investments and other assets. We have both a Dashboard gadget as well as a graphical report that shows your net worth over time. You can learn more about the Net Worth reports in our Net Worth Reports knowledge base article.

We also have an extensive knowledge base that covers just about every tool, feature and setting on ClearCheckbook. We encourage you to check it out if you have any questions as you get set up and start using ClearCheckbook. Some helpful knowledge base articles to help you get started are:

  • Getting Started - This article walks through how our various accounts, categories, budgets, recurring transactions, etc all work together. This will help you familiarize yourself with how ClearCheckbook works compared to Mint.
  • Adding Transactions - You can manually add transactions, import them, have them automatically synced from your bank or schedule recurring transactions. This article explains all these options.
  • Transaction Register - Our transaction register is where you can see all of your transactions in one place. You can perform reconciliations, view specific types of transactions or transactions for specific accounts.
  • Reconciliation Methods - We have two ways of reconciling your transactions and accounts. Which one you decide on will depend on what you're used to doing and what makes the most sense to you.
If you have any other questions as you get set up, please don't hesitate to reach out! You can contact us through our Contact Form at any time. The Contact Us link is also available at the bottom of every page.

Jiving gets a new name: Clearing

2/27/2023 in ClearCheckbook Updates

The term Jiving has been replaced with Clearing to help avoid confusion about the reconciliation process.

When ClearCheckbook was first founded back in 2006, we had used the term Jive (a homonym for jibe/gibe, to be in accordance), but over the years this has lead to a lot of confusion about what it actually meant and what the purpose was. To make things a little clearer, we're changing Jive/Jiving/Jived to Clear/Clearing/Cleared. This will make it more apparent what the term is and help make the reconciliation process easier for new customers.

Nothing has changed as far as the process for clearing your accounts and transactions go, it's just the naming that has been updated. If you're used to the jiving process, just keep an eye out for the updated terminology.

The website has been updated and we'll be working on getting the mobile apps updated soon.

Improved stability for bank connections and transaction syncing

9/16/2022 in ClearCheckbook Updates

We've updated the way you connect your financial institutions and authorize accounts for transaction syncing. This update improves connection reliability and makes it easier to authorize multiple accounts at one time.

Connection & Account Authorization Updates:

There are now two ways to make bank connections and authorize your accounts and which method you choose depends on whether or not you've already created the accounts in ClearCheckbook. This Choosing a connection method section of our knowledge base better explains the process.

The gist of the update revolves around how the bank connections and account authorizations are made. First and foremost you need to make a connection to your bank by entering your login credentials through the Plaid Link process. After that, you select which accounts you authorize ClearCheckbook to access. After that has been done, you can assign which authorized accounts are paired to which ClearCheckbook account.

This pairing process is handled in the new Bank Connections section in the Manage Accounts settings (more information on pairing can be found in Step 2 of the Connecting an existing account knowledge base article.)

Repairing Duplicate Connections:

If you have existing accounts connected to the same institution, you'll see a new alert that appears above your Accounts List in your Account Settings page. Because of the way we had been handling bank connections in the past, each account you authorized would create a new connection to that institution. If you had multiple accounts connected to the same institution, this caused duplicate connections since each account had a unique connection. This wasn't an issue until some institutions, namely Chase, would reject all but one of these connections.

By repairing the connection, you're combining all of the unique connections for that institution into one connection that contains access to all accounts. While it isn't mandatory at this time to repair these connections, we highly recommend doing so to prevent any interruptions to your syncing in the future.

To repair duplicate connections, all you need to do is click the green Repair Connection button next to the connection name. After authenticating with your bank, you'll be asked to select all of the accounts you authorize ClearCheckbook to access. Select the accounts you currently have connected and then finish the process.

Updating Legacy Connections:

If you've made connections prior to this update, they will most likely stay connected and continue syncing your transactions. However, we recommend repairing these "legacy" connections to ensure uninterrupted transaction syncing. You can easily repair these connections from the Bank Connections section in your Account Settings.

The legacy connections will appear under a "Legacy Connections" header and there will be a "Repair Connection" link next to each connection. Simply click on that link to reauthorize which accounts ClearCheckbook has access to. You only need to do this one time for each institution you've made a connection with.

New Feature - Connecting multiple accounts at one time:

This feature has been requested for quite some time and we finally got the implementation working correctly. You now have the ability to connect to a bank, authorize multiple accounts and then have all of those accounts created in ClearCheckbook. Once done, they will immediately start syncing transactions. This eliminates having to add each account one at a time which was a time consuming and repetitive process.

If you want to connect multiple accounts from a bank, you can follow the instructions outlined in the Connecting new accounts section in our knowledge base.

We Updated the Bill Tracker Interface and Added an Update

5/10/2021 in ClearCheckbook Updates

The Bill Tracker got a slight user interface update and we also added a new "Autopay" flag when adding and editing bills.

Bill Tracker Interface Update:

The update to the Bill Tracker interface will help make finding information about the bill much easier on quick glance. For example, this will save you from having to click through a bill to see which account it's set to pay from.
Here's a sample of what the new Bill Tracker page looks like:
Bill Tracker - List of Bills

The bills are now separated between overdue and paid/upcoming bills. If you don't have any overdue bills, the paid/upcoming bills will take the full width of the screen.

Autopay flag

In an effort to help you keep track of which bills are on autopay and which you need to manually pay, we added an autopay flag when you add or edit a bill. If you check the Autopay checkbox, a new icon will appear next to the account name the bill is being paid from.

You can see the icon in the screenshot below next to the Checking account name in the Paid and upcoming bill:
Bill Tracker - Bill Gadget

The new autopay flag will be available on the mobile apps in the next update.

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