How to download electronic statements from your bank
You will need to download electronic statements from your financial institution before you can import these to Budgets GetReal. While you may be conversant with Internet Banking you may not have previously needed to download your statements. The following guide is designed to help you do this. The process is simple, however the details may change for each institution you use.
Firstly you must be registered for Internet banking and be able to log-in to your accounts using your web browser. If you can do this and see your account balances and transactions you usually have sufficient access. If you have not yet activated Internet banking you should contact your institution and arrange for this access.
We assume that you have logged into your financial institution and can see the main summary of your all accounts.
Finding the export link on your institutions site
Unfortunately all institution sites will be different in layout and functionality. You will need to look around the site to find the correct link. Usually is accessed through a link like one of the following.
Export Data
Download statements
Transaction history
View statements
If you can’t easily find the export link, or its not easily obvious in the site Help, then seek assistance from your Institution.
Selecting a date range to export - your first export
Most usually you will need to select an Account and view its transactions. You can also set the date range reported and this range usually determines the date range of transactions exported.
You will usually be offered a number of date range options - including specifically selecting a range, for a specified number of days before today and since your last statement. If this is your first export you need to get transactions from as far back as possible up to today. The more extensive your transaction history the more accurate the budgets you will be able to build from them.
Some institution allow you to go back several years. In this case you may not wish to have to import and categorize all these details into Budgets GetReal. Depending on your needs you may only want to categorize the last 3 months (usually representative of most budget transaction) or possibly since the start of the current financial year. If this is the case then download two files - one for the range you wish to import and the other for your records.
With Budgets GetReal there is no restriction on the order with which you import transaction. You may chose to import and categorize the last 3 months (to get a quick look at your finances and set a preliminary budget) and then go back and import previous details when the time allows.
Some institutions limit the number of days data that you can retrieve. Limits from 60 to 90 days are not uncommon. It is most important that you always download your statements within this limit to avoid loss of data. We suggest, as a minimum, you download all available electronic statements monthly - say when you get your credit card statements and before you pay these. By importing your statements before you pay these bills you can use the powerful facilities within Budgets GetReal to check aspects of your statements and suggest the best amount to pay off these accounts to meet your budgeting targets and avoid paying excess fees.
Note that Budgets GetReal allows you to enter transactions manually. You can use this facility to enter details off your printed statements prior to when electronic statements are available.
Selecting a date range - subsequent exports
If this is a second or later export there is no harm getting your transactions as far back as you can. Budgets GetReal incorporates rigorous checks to prevent the import of duplicate transactions on all file types - CSV, QIF and OFX. The risk is not of duplicates but that you miss transactions by not specifying an adequate export range. Selecting the maximum available (particularly if only 60 to 90 days are available) is the safest option.
Selecting the file format
When you then elect to export the selected transactions you will be also asked to select a file format. This is really the first decision you may to make. You will select the file type as follows:
1. When you first create your Account in Budgets GetReal you will be asked to select an Institution from a list of the most common institutions for your country / currency. If your institution is listed you may be given a specific recommendation to the format to use.
2. When you first try and Import a file for the Account you will generally see a screen like the following.
When you click on the “Open Wizard” button you will be directed to a screen explaining the best format to use. Depending on your selection you may need to configure the Import. In many cases there are templates available to you that will do this automatically for you.
Select the link Available templates. If your institution is listed you simply elect to Import the template. The screen above will change to tell you exactly what format to use and sometimes will also tell you how it is described on the website.
3. Where no downloadable template is available, or there is no specific recommendation on a format to use, you can choose any format.
The article What should my statement file look like? provides details on the supported file types, how to recognize them, and recommendations on which type to use.
Naming the downloaded file
The exported file will usually download with a generic name like “TransactionHistory.csv”. Usually CSV and QIF files do not contain the details of your account or the date range used in export. These details are only available for OFX files which are often not available. You must rename the file so it includes this information, optionally moving the renamed file to a separate sub-folder for each institution and/or account.
We suggest you use a name that indicates all the relevant details i.e. part of the Institution name, part of the Account name, the starting date, the ending date and the file format. Usually the file type will be included as type file suffix i.e. .csv or .qif or .ofx. Note that the file name limit for Windows and Mac OS X is 31 characters. Typical names could be
NABCheque_1Jan_30Apr08.csv
ANZBusiness_30Apr08.csv
By putting your files in institution sub-folders you could remove the institution part of the name and simply include the account, date and file type details. We do not recommend this since you will lose the essential information about the institution should you shift the file on your computer.
Checking the files downloaded - first export
It is sometimes necessary to check that the exported files are of the correct format. Institutions usually describe their file formats to be easily recognizable. Sometimes this description does not truly describe the actual file type exported. Some examples are:
1. “Statement download” sometime downloads the details in PDF format (not importable to Budgets GetReal). In this case there is usually an “Export Data” option to provide the data in CSV, QIF or OFX format.
2. Occasionally the term “Excel” or “Excel Spreadsheet” format provides the data in an XLS format. This also is not directly importable to Budgets GetReal.
You only need do this if you have difficulty importing your file. Read the article What should my statement file look like for details on how to check downloaded files.
