A financial account aggregator, or an “open” banking app, connects financial account information from multiple institutions, banks and credit unions.
In other words, it’s a tool that pulls in your account info from different places (bank, credit card, loans, investments) and shows it all in one dashboard or app.
If you’re someone who has multiple financial accounts from several banks, then a financial account aggregator could make it easier to manage all your accounts.
Financial aggregator apps are often offered by financial technology (fintech) companies. Compare these top aggregator apps that could help organize your finances:
Financial aggregators securely pull data from different financial institutions and display it in one place. These apps connect to your chosen accounts with secure Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which ensures that your login details are never stored by the app itself.
Once connected, the app consolidates your financial data, giving you a complete overview of your spending, savings, debts and investments across all accounts. With this aggregated data, you can track trends in your spending habits, like identifying recurring expenses or noticing areas where you can cut back.
Financial aggregator apps use a few key technologies to keep your accounts and information safe.
Financial aggregators can make it easy to manage multiple accounts by securely pulling all your data from different places and showing it in one spot. These apps connect to your bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments using secure APIs, so your login info is never stored by the app. Plus, many financial aggregators let you set up budgets and savings goals by categorizing your spending.
Aggregator apps can be great for managing your bank accounts, but what if your bank account isn’t great? Compare our editorial picks for the best checking accounts and best savings accounts in the market.
Most aggregator apps support linking checking and savings accounts, credit cards, loans and investment accounts. Whether or not your specific bank account will sync can depend on the aggregator app itself, and many apps use Plaid, Finicity, TrueLayer or MX (sometimes more) to link accounts.
Typically, yes, these apps are safe. Financial aggregators use secure connections, like encryption and two-factor authentication, to protect your data. These apps also usually only have “read-only” access to your accounts, so they can pull in your transactions but can’t make any changes or transactions on your behalf.
Yes, you’ll typically need to provide your login details when setting up the connection. However, due to security measures, login info isn’t stored by the app itself.
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