Managing Accounts in Meridian

Accounts in Meridian represent your real-world financial accounts. This guide covers everything you need to know about setting up and managing your accounts.

Account Types

Meridian supports a variety of account types to match your financial situation:

Cash Accounts (On-Budget by Default)

These are your everyday spending accounts:

  • Checking - Your primary bank checking account
  • Savings - Savings accounts at banks or credit unions

Credit Accounts (On-Budget by Default)

  • Credit Card - Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.

Credit cards have special handling in Meridian. When you spend on a credit card from a budgeted category, the money automatically moves to a CC payment fund for that card. This ensures you always have money set aside to pay your bill. See the Budgeting guide for details on managing credit card payments.

Loan Accounts (On-Budget by Default)

These track debt you are paying off:

  • Line of Credit - Home equity lines, personal credit lines
  • Mortgage - Home loans
  • Auto Loan - Vehicle financing
  • Personal Loan - Personal loans from banks or other sources
  • Student Loan - Education loans

Tracking Accounts (Off-Budget by Default)

These accounts are tracked for net worth purposes but not included in your day-to-day budget:

  • Brokerage (Taxable) - Regular investment accounts
  • Brokerage (Tax-Advantaged) - IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar retirement accounts
  • Other Asset/Liability - Catch-all for other accounts like property value, vehicles, etc.

On-Budget vs. Off-Budget Accounts

Understanding this distinction is key to effective budgeting:

On-Budget Accounts

Money in on-budget accounts is included in your "On Deck" balance and can be assigned to budget categories. Use on-budget for:

  • Accounts you spend from regularly (checking, credit cards)
  • Accounts tied to your monthly budget
  • Debt you are actively paying off (loans, credit cards)

Off-Budget (Tracking) Accounts

Off-budget accounts are tracked for net worth but not included in your budget. Use off-budget for:

  • Investment accounts (you do not budget for stock purchases)
  • Retirement accounts
  • Assets like property or vehicles (for net worth tracking)

When you add an account, Meridian automatically sets the on-budget status based on the account type. You can override this by unchecking "Include in budget" during account creation.

Linking Bank Accounts

Meridian uses Stripe Financial Connections to securely connect to your bank and automatically import transactions.

How to Link Your Bank

  1. Click + Add Account in the sidebar
  2. Select Connect Your Bank
  3. Search for and select your financial institution
  4. Log in with your bank credentials (Meridian never sees your password)
  5. Choose which accounts to import
  6. Meridian auto-detects the account type based on your bank's data
  7. Enter or confirm the current balance for each account
  8. Click Add Accounts

What Gets Imported

When you link a bank:

  • Your account balance is imported
  • New transactions are synced automatically going forward from the link date
  • Meridian keeps track of when the balance was last verified
  • Transactions import with their original payee names, cleaned up for readability

Note: Meridian imports transactions forward from the date you link your account. Historical transactions before the link date are not imported. If you need historical data, use CSV import.

Automatic Transaction Sync

Once linked, Meridian automatically syncs your transactions:

  • When you first open the app
  • When you return to Meridian after being away
  • In the background - Meridian syncs your accounts every few hours, even when you are not using the app

Linked accounts show a connection indicator in the account header so you always know which accounts are synced.

Push Notifications for New Transactions

Want to know when new transactions arrive? Enable push notifications in Settings to receive alerts when:

  • New transactions are imported from your bank
  • Large transactions (over your chosen threshold) are detected
  • Account balances drop below your alert threshold

See Settings & Notifications for details on configuring alerts.

Smart Payee Matching

When transactions import from your bank, Meridian cleans up the payee names by stripping excess characters and formatting that banks add. This makes your transaction list cleaner and easier to read.

If a cleaned payee matches one you have used before, Meridian can automatically apply the same category you used last time.

Managing Bank Connections

To view and manage a linked account's bank connection:

  1. Click on the account in the sidebar
  2. Click Edit in the account header (or double-click the account in the sidebar)
  3. In the Edit Account modal, expand the Details section
  4. You will see the bank connection status and options to:
    • View when the account was last synced
    • Manually trigger a sync
    • Unlink the account from bank sync

You can unlink an account at any time. Your existing transactions remain in Meridian, but new transactions will no longer import automatically.

Balance Syncing

Some banks take time to provide balance information. If a balance is not immediately available, Meridian will:

  1. Show a loading indicator
  2. Periodically check for the balance
  3. Let you enter a manual balance in the meantime
  4. Auto-update when the balance becomes available (if you leave "Update my balance as soon as it is available" checked)

The Balance Verified Indicator

When viewing an individual account in the Ledger, you may see a green checkmark next to the working balance. This indicates that the balance has been verified by your bank through the linked connection.

Hovering over the checkmark shows when the balance was last verified, such as "Verified by bank 2 hours ago."

Understanding Account Balances

When you click on an account in the sidebar, the account header shows three balance figures:

Cleared Balance

The total of all transactions marked as "cleared." This should match your bank statement balance.

Uncleared Balance

The total of transactions that have been entered but not yet cleared. These are transactions that:

  • You have entered manually but have not cleared at the bank yet
  • Are pending at your bank
  • You expect to clear soon

Working Balance

The sum of cleared and uncleared balances. This represents your true current balance including all known transactions.

Formula: Working Balance = Cleared Balance + Uncleared Balance

Adjusting Balances

If your Meridian balance does not match your bank balance, you can create an adjustment:

  1. Click on the account in the sidebar
  2. Click Edit in the account header
  3. Click Adjust Balance
  4. Enter the correct balance
  5. Meridian will create an adjustment transaction to reconcile the difference

Adjustments appear in your transaction list with the payee "Balance Adjustment" so you can track when and why corrections were made.

Editing Account Details

To edit an account, double-click on it in the sidebar or:

  1. Click on the account in the sidebar
  2. Click Edit in the account header
  3. You can modify:
    • Account name
    • Notes
    • On-budget status
  4. Click Save to apply changes

When you rename an account, any related transfer payees update automatically to reflect the new name.

Closing Accounts

When you close a credit card or bank account in real life, you should close it in Meridian too:

  1. Click on the account in the sidebar
  2. Click Edit in the account header
  3. Check the "Close account" option
  4. Save the changes

Closed accounts:

  • Move to a "Closed" section in the sidebar (collapsed by default)
  • Retain all historical transactions
  • Are no longer included in your budget calculations
  • Can be reopened if needed

Reordering Accounts

You can drag and drop accounts within their groups in the sidebar to reorder them:

  1. Click and hold on an account
  2. Drag it to the desired position within its group
  3. Release to drop

Your custom order is saved and will persist across sessions.

Importing Transactions from CSV

After adding an account, you may want to import historical transactions:

  1. When adding an account manually, you will see an option to import after creation
  2. Alternatively, click on any account and click Import in the header
  3. Select your CSV file
  4. Map the CSV columns to Meridian fields (date, payee, amount, etc.)
  5. Review the preview
  6. Click Import to bring in the transactions

Meridian will attempt to auto-detect your date format and column mappings. If your CSV includes category names that match existing Meridian categories, those will be automatically assigned.

Exporting Transactions

To export transactions from an account:

  1. Click on the account in the sidebar
  2. Click Export in the account header
  3. A CSV file will be downloaded with all transactions for that account

Reconciling Accounts

Reconciliation is the process of formally verifying that your Meridian records match your bank. It locks cleared transactions so they cannot be accidentally changed, giving you a reliable historical record.

Why Reconcile?

Over time, small errors can creep in: a duplicate import, a manually entered transaction that never cleared, or an amount that was slightly off. Reconciliation catches these discrepancies before they compound. Once reconciled, transactions are locked, so you can trust that everything before that point is accurate.

Where to Find It

The Reconcile button appears next to the working balance in the account header for any bank-linked account. It shows as a pill-shaped badge:

  • Green with "Reconcile" when your Meridian working balance matches the bank balance
  • Amber with the discrepancy amount (e.g., "$12.50 off") when balances do not match

Click the badge to open the Reconcile dialog.

When Balances Match

If your Meridian working balance matches the bank balance, reconciliation is straightforward:

  1. Click the Reconcile badge in the account header
  2. The dialog shows a green "Balances Match!" confirmation with both balances displayed
  3. Review how many cleared transactions will be locked
  4. Click Reconcile to lock all cleared transactions

After reconciling, you will see a confirmation showing how many transactions were locked and the reconciled balance.

When Balances Do Not Match

If there is a discrepancy, the dialog helps you find and fix it:

  1. Click the Reconcile badge (it will show the discrepancy amount)
  2. The dialog shows both balances and the difference
  3. Review two lists:
    • Missing from Meridian - Transactions in the bank feed that have no matching transaction in Meridian. Click Import next to any entry to bring it in.
    • Only in Meridian - Manual transactions that are not linked to a bank record. Verify these are correct, or delete any that should not be there.
  4. After resolving discrepancies, you can either:
    • Close the dialog, fix remaining issues in the ledger, and reconcile later
    • Click Reconcile Anyway to lock cleared transactions despite the discrepancy (use this when you have verified the difference is expected)

What Happens to Reconciled Transactions

Once reconciled, transactions are marked with a lock icon and their status changes to "Reconciled." This means:

  • They cannot be edited or deleted without an explicit warning
  • They count toward your cleared balance
  • They provide a reliable checkpoint for your account history

Using Plutus AI for Reconciliation

You can also reconcile through Meridian's AI assistant. Open Plutus and say something like:

  • "Reconcile my checking account"
  • "Check if my savings account balances match"

Plutus will compare your balances and walk you through any discrepancies.

Tips for Reconciliation

  1. Reconcile regularly - Weekly or bi-weekly reconciliation catches problems early, before they become difficult to track down.

  2. Clear transactions first - Mark transactions as cleared when they appear on your bank statement. Only cleared transactions are locked during reconciliation.

  3. Resolve discrepancies before reconciling - It is better to find and fix the issue than to reconcile with a known difference.

  4. Do not worry about uncleared transactions - Reconciliation only locks cleared transactions. Entered or pending transactions are unaffected.

Best Practices

  1. Link your accounts - Bank syncing saves time and reduces data entry errors. Your transactions stay current automatically.

  2. Use meaningful names - "Chase Freedom" is clearer than "Credit Card 1"

  3. Keep balances current - Check your cleared balances against bank statements regularly

  4. Close old accounts - Keep your sidebar clean by closing accounts you no longer use

  5. Reconcile regularly - Use the Reconcile button to formally verify balances and lock transactions, preventing accidental changes to verified records

  6. Set up payee defaults - When you categorize a transaction from a payee, that category becomes the default for future transactions from the same payee