At Plaid, we enable you to share your data with the apps and services you want, protect against fraud and abuse, and enhance your overall digital finance experience. The most common way you'll encounter Plaid is through another app or service you have chosen to use.
From within an app or service you can start the process to connect your financial accounts; this may start with an “Add bank account” or “Connect account” button or prompt. This varies by app; for more help on connecting accounts to an app or service, please reach out to their team. Whatever the entry point, you’ll end up in Plaid’s account connection flow, which will guide you through the process to connect your accounts to your chosen application using Plaid.
Plaid’s connection flow typically involves the following steps:
- Select or search for your financial institution
- Enter your credentials to authenticate your financial accounts
- Complete a security verification step
- If asked, select the specific financial account(s) you’d like to connect
- Complete the connection to your chosen application
If you run into issues along the way, the app or service you’re using is the best place to start. They can guide you through options and alternatives to use their products and if further investigation is needed, they should have access to the details associated with your connection attempts. As a supplement, you can always check out the Connecting Financial Accounts section of our Help Center for self-guidance!
You also have the option to use the Plaid Portal to view and manage the connections you’ve made using Plaid. This will require that you create a Plaid Portal account; for more information on the Plaid Portal see: What is the Plaid Portal?