Bank feed not working? Import manually instead

Automatic PSD2 bank feeds regularly drop out. With manual importing you always keep your accounting up to date — regardless of whether the feed works. Below are the causes and the reliable alternative.

Why PSD2 bank feeds fail

Many accounting packages retrieve transactions automatically via a PSD2 bank feed. In theory that works seamlessly, but in practice it regularly goes wrong. The main causes:

90-day re-consent

Banks require renewed consent every 90 days via Strong Customer Authentication. If you forget to renew this, the feed stops silently and gaps appear in your administration.

Missing or delayed transactions

Not all transactions come through (on time). Sometimes bookings are missing or arrive with a delay, so balances temporarily do not match.

Unsupported account types

Savings accounts, credit cards, foreign bank accounts and payment providers (PSPs) such as PayPal, Stripe and Mollie are often not available via PSD2.

Outages

Outages at the bank, the package or an intermediary (aggregator) bring the feed down — sometimes for all users at once.

The reliable alternative: manual importing

When the bank feed lets you down, you are not dependent on a recovery. You can download the bank statement yourself and import it in a few clicks. This gives you full control over which transactions enter your accounting and when.

  1. Download the bank statement yourself — retrieve the statement from your bank in MT940, CAMT.053, CSV or PDF.
  2. Upload it to StatementBridge — go to StatementBridge and upload the file.
  3. Convert to the correct format — choose the format your accounting package expects (MT940 or CAMT.053).
  4. Import into your accounting — read the converted file into the correct journal.

This process takes less than a minute and works regardless of the status of the bank feed.

When is manual importing better?

Manual importing is not only a fallback — for some situations it is structurally the better choice. Use the guidelines below:

  • The feed regularly drops out — instead of granting consent again each time, you import yourself at a fixed moment.
  • The account type is not supported — you import savings accounts, credit cards, foreign banks and PSPs manually.
  • You need historical transactions — feeds often deliver only recent data; you download older periods yourself.
  • You are closing a financial year — for a year-end close you want to be sure that all transactions are complete.
  • You are switching to new accounting software — during a migration, manual import is more reliable.
  • For one-off or occasional administrations — a permanent feed is then unnecessary overhead.

The best of both

You do not have to choose between a feed and manual import. Use the PSD2 feed where it works reliably, and fall back on manual importing with StatementBridge for accounts that are not supported or when the feed drops out. This keeps your accounting complete at all times.

Import bank statement manually

Frequently asked questions

Why does my bank feed keep stopping after a few months?

PSD2 feeds require renewed consent every 90 days via Strong Customer Authentication. If you forget to renew this re-consent, the feed stops silently and gaps appear in your administration. By downloading the statement yourself and importing it manually, you are not dependent on this renewal.

Which accounts can I not import via a bank feed?

Savings accounts, credit cards, foreign bank accounts and payment providers such as PayPal, Stripe and Mollie are often not supported via PSD2. For these account types, manual importing is usually the only reliable way.

How do I import my transactions manually?

Download the bank statement from your bank in MT940, CAMT.053, CSV or PDF, upload it to StatementBridge and convert it to the format your accounting package expects. Then read the converted file into the correct journal.

When is manual importing better than a bank feed?

Manual importing is better when the feed regularly drops out, the account type is not supported, you need historical transactions, or for a year-end close or software migration. You can also combine the feed and manual import.

Is your bank feed letting you down?

Download your statement yourself and convert it to MT940 or CAMT.053 for your accounting. Free to try.

Import manually with StatementBridge

Related articles

Why bank feeds fail

The causes of failing PSD2 feeds and how to import bank statements anyway.

Download MT940 or CAMT.053 from ING

How to retrieve your bank statement from ING yourself to import manually.

Convert CSV to MT940

Convert a CSV export to MT940 for import into your accounting software.

Convert CSV to CAMT.053

Convert CSV files to the ISO 20022 CAMT.053 XML format for your accounting software.