Una+, Norman & bank connections

Una+ is our tier that includes bank connections. Connect an account and Norman — Una’s workhorse cousin — comes on board as a helper to catch you up on recent transactions, when you ask him to.

That last part matters, so here’s more information.

Norman catches you up — he doesn’t sync

Norman is a catch-up, not a sync. He doesn’t run in the background, he doesn’t quietly pour transactions into your budget, and he isn’t watching your account in real time. You stay the one in charge of what’s in your budget.

When you’ve had a busy stretch and fallen behind, you tap to send Norman, and he pulls in your recent transactions so you can review them. You check off what’s real, skip what isn’t, and you’re caught up. The logging is still yours — Norman just gathers the raw material so you’re not typing it all from memory.

This is on purpose. Manual entry is the practice here; Norman keeps a busy week from breaking that practice, without turning your budget into an automated feed you no longer recognize.

Connect a bank

Bank connections run through Plaid, the same secure linking layer most finance apps use. To connect, head to your connection settings (button below), pick your bank, and sign in through Plaid’s secure flow. Once it’s linked, Norman can fetch from it whenever you send him.

When a connection needs re-linking

Bank links don’t last forever. Now and then your bank will require a fresh sign-in — you’ll see a status like login_required on the connection. That’s normal and expected; it doesn’t mean anything is broken or that your data was lost.

To fix it, open your connections and re-link the account — you’ll go back through Plaid’s sign-in once, and Norman’s back in business.

On iPhone: if a re-link or connection step won’t complete in place, switch back to the Unicorn Money app to finish it. Some bank flows need the full app to hand off cleanly.

“Why isn’t my charge showing?”

The most common bank-connection question, and almost always the same answer: timing.

Norman reflects what your bank has settled, and he checks a few times a day — not in real time. So a charge can be real, and still not be visible yet, for a couple of reasons:

• It’s still pending. A pending charge is one your bank has authorized but not finalized. The amount can still change (think a restaurant tip or a gas-pump hold), so Norman waits for it to post before bringing it in. Once it settles, it’ll be there to review.
• Norman just hasn’t looked yet. Because he pulls on a schedule (and when you send him), a brand-new posted charge might land on his next pass rather than the instant it clears.

If a charge has been posted at your bank for a full day and still isn’t appearing, that’s worth a note to support.

For where Unicorn Money with Una+ sits relative to the base Unicorn Money plan and how you’re billed, see Billing & Subscriptions.