Question for current version of YNAB users

[netskyblue]

I'm trying the free trial of YNAB, got a second month free by using an affiliate link, so I've got 64 days to decide if it's worth my time.  I've always done my own budgeting in a spreadsheet, but I have this habit where I "fall off the wagon" as far as manually tracking/entering.  I'll do great for six months, maybe even a year, then go months where I can't bear to type it all in, and as the transactions pile up and it gets further and further along, it's so intimidating that I give it up for six months or a year, and start the cycle over.

I MUCH prefer YNAB's method of assigning money to a bucket as it comes in (compared to other budgeting methods) because this is the way I've always done it myself.  I'm also trying out Mint right now, and the auto-imports and setting up rules for classifying transactions is working great for me.  It's much less overwhelming. 

My problem is, YNAB doesn't have auto-import working for my bank (Mint does!).  It's a very small bank (two branches, that's it), and I did "suggest to add" it via their link.  Does anyone have any experience with YNAB actually adding a bank they've suggested?  Will I be waiting forever & hoping, or do they have a good track record of adding banks upon suggestion?  If I could get this one thing, it would be exactly what I want/need.

[zygote]

I don't know an answer to your specific question since my bank is covered by YNAB. However, I will say I have frequent connectivity issues. Sometimes it will go days without importing transactions. This is mostly okay because I manually enter things with the app as I make purchases, but I do forget sometimes. YNAB usually blames the banks, who are constantly changing their login procedures to prevent third parties from accessing your account. I get it from a security standpoint, but I do find it annoying. I wish I could just tell my bank to let YNAB in! I don't know if this issue would be any better with Mint. It's really too bad, because I love YNAB otherwise. It's my only complaint.

Anyway, my guess is that they spend enough time fixing issues with the banks they already support that they aren't in a hurry to add more, especially if it would only help a few users. But it doesn't hurt to try. Their support has always been really responsive to me. If you don't see your bank added soon, it might be worth contacting a human to ask how likely it is and what the timeline would be before you spend the money on a full subscription.

[Arbitrage]

I lose patience with all of these aggregators/auto-import features due to logins breaking.  I realize that it's probably not the fault of YNAB/Mint/Personal Capital and the like, but it's still a big annoyance.  My credit union login and a few others almost always fail, and also often fail when I'm trying to correct the information manually.

The other reason I don't like auto-import of transactions is because they can't bin them how I would like to track my spending.  We purchase all sorts of things from Amazon, and even Target/Walmart, that I don't want to bin together - groceries, household goods, clothing, bike stuff, entertainment, gifts, auto maintenance products, etc.  Granted, I could just resolve to manually sift through items from large stores like that, but...meh.  With the login problems, it's more trouble than the benefit. 

[Travis]

I lose patience with all of these aggregators/auto-import features due to logins breaking.  I realize that it's probably not the fault of YNAB/Mint/Personal Capital and the like, but it's still a big annoyance.  My credit union login and a few others almost always fail, and also often fail when I'm trying to correct the information manually.

The other reason I don't like auto-import of transactions is because they can't bin them how I would like to track my spending.  We purchase all sorts of things from Amazon, and even Target/Walmart, that I don't want to bin together - groceries, household goods, clothing, bike stuff, entertainment, gifts, auto maintenance products, etc.  Granted, I could just resolve to manually sift through items from large stores like that, but...meh.  With the login problems, it's more trouble than the benefit.

I've never liked the apps that use imported data.  They never categorize the expense properly.  The fact that I use Amazon for food, clothing, work related, birthdays, and Christmas is bad enough, but when my rent gets called "unknown" or "personal" I get frustrated.  So I do it manually in YNAB.  Aside from ensuring the data is accurate, it forces me to examine every penny that goes in and out of my household.

[WheresMyMule]

I found Mint to be much worse about having import problems than YNAB.

Can you download a .CSV file from your bank to make the reconciliation process easier?  YNAB was having some trouble with capital one a few months ago, so I just updated via transaction import for a couple of weeks while they fixed it.

[dacalo]

I was having some connection issues with one of our banks and YNAB promptly fixed it within a couple of days to my surprise, they were great. However, I wouldn't prevent lack of connection from using YNAB. You shouldn't be relying on that anyways (you should input manually) and check the balances. I do this anyways, so the connectivity adds little value for me.

[Izybat]

I've had problems with the auto-import in the past (not just with YNAB, but personal capital and quicken too). If I want to do it semi-automatically, I download the transactions from my bank, which allows me to choose the format to download in. CSV is the last resort, as they're not always set up identically, but if you can do it in quicken or other standard format, YNAB can just grab the file and upload it. As previous posters have said, you will likely have to go through manually (or at least scan) to make sure everything is categorized correctly if you do that.

Personally, I do everything manually in YNAB. It forces me to stay on top of it and really focus in on how we're spending money as we go, rather than after the fact.

[ToTheMoon]

I would not let the lack of auto-connectivity to your bank be the reason that you would walk from using YNAB. 

Pre-connectivity, I found that it would take me less than a minute to login to my bank account, download the .csv file, and have YNAB pull it in so that I could reconcile against the manual transactions I had entered.  This would take a minute or two to do every few days.  No issues.  I have actually found that since the auto-connectivity I have lost touch a bit with my budget.  My routine with it has changed and not necessarily for the better!

[FiguringItOut]

I've been using YNAB for many years now.  I started with YNAB4 and now use web version.
I have many bank and credit cards accounts, because I travel hack, and not a single one of them linked to YNAB.
I do everything manually.  By choice.  I find that it is not a hassle at all and it doesn't take a long time. I enter every single transaction manually, I can categories it anyway I want/need and not have to redo what was brought in automatically from syncing. I have few workarounds set up to how I do things that work for me and I feel 100% in control of where my money is and were it's going.  Short of about 1-2 times a year I loose track of some cash, usually less than $10 and only because I don't count change and the rounding adds up every so often, I have an eye on every dollar that I have coming in and coming out. I can live with less than $20 a year that accumulates in various change jars or at the bottom of my purse. 

I've tried Mint and Personal Capital before and it didn't work for me.  I personally need something very hands on, tangible, and very flexible.  YNAB was the answer. YNAB literally changed my life 8 years ago and brought freedom that I never thought was possible. 

[COEE]

I've used YNAB3 and YNAB4... both good products but eventually I got tired of manually entering everything.  I'd spend 4 hours on a Saturday entering everything in and categorizing stuff.  Took way too long and there'd always be a few transactions that I couldn't remember.  And I would lose time with my family on a Saturday.

Now-a-days the bank, EF, and retirement accounts are all flush, and I'm more interested in net-worth than tracking individual transactions so YNAB has lost a lot of its utility for me.  It was a life saver when trying to get out of debt - but that is behind us now.  I was also turned off by the new version with their monthly fee structure and online access.  For my consolidated finances I still prefer them to be on a desktop for security reasons.

Only thing I miss is not having my income vs. outflow each month.  Meh.