Description
Plaid serves as a critical intermediary that allows SoftLedger to establish secure, automated bank connections and retrieve transactional data directly from financial institutions. By maintaining these relationships with banks, Plaid enables SoftLedger to deliver up-to-date balances and transaction feeds without requiring manual uploads. However, because the banking infrastructure can be inconsistent and occasionally outdated, disruptions may occur, leading to interruptions in data sync. This article explains how to identify and resolve these common issues, including how to gather the necessary information and open a support ticket with Plaid to ensure timely maintenance and restoration of your banking connections within SoftLedger.
Status of Bank Connection or Linking Bank Issue
Below are some common types of issues in this category:
An institution displays as available, but when attempting to authenticate through Plaid, there is some form of error
A linked bank from Plaid to SoftLedger has been established, but there is some form of sync error
A linked bank from Plaid to SoftLedger has been established, but there is some form of authentication error (e.g. Multi-Factor Authentication Required)
For this kind of issue, send a note to support@softledger.com or open a new chat from the Resource Center with the below information, obtainable on the Bank Accounts page (expanding to see all columns):
Acc TypeAccount IDIDProviderProvider IDStatusA screenshot of this detail when clicked in can be helpful
Bank Feed Transaction Issue
Below are some common types of issues in this category:
Transactions appeared in the past, but there are transaction currently not displaying in the feed (and there is no sync error as described in previous section).
Transactions appear currently, but not all transactions as those displayed in the institution's individual portal (and there is no sync error as described in previous section).
Transactions appear with inconsistent information (e.g. dates, descriptions, amounts, etc.) then of the information that appears within the institution's portal.
For this kind of issue, send a note to support@softledger.com or open a new chat from the Resource Center with the below information, obtainable on the Bank Accounts page (expanding to see all columns):
Acc TypeAccount IDIDProviderProvider IDStatusA screenshot of this detail when clicked in can be helpful
As well as an example transaction detail for Plaid to use as a sample for investigation with the institution:
Transaction DateTransaction AmountTransaction DescriptionIf possible, a screenshot or excel file with the detailed transaction information
With the described information in this article, send a note to support@softledger.com or open a chat from the Resource Center and a member of the SoftLedger team will assist in your troubleshooting with Plaid.
If looking to troubleshoot directly with Plaid, this is a link to their knowledge base articles, where they have an AI Agent available to ask questions.
Relinking Plaid Bank Accounts from Errors or New Credentials
When a bank connection through Plaid becomes permanently broken (for example, the bank or Plaid removes the connection), the normal credential refresh may not work. In these cases, the Relink on Plaid feature allows you to establish a new connection to the same bank while preserving all existing transactions, journal entries, and reconciliation data.
This typically happens when:
A bank account shows an ITEM_NOT_FOUND error
Refreshing credentials doesn't resolve the issue
The bank provider (for example, American Express) has cut the connection on their end
To relink with plaid, from the status popout on an errored bank, you will see a "Relink on Plaid" button:
Or you can find as a warning when attempting to delete a bank account:
Then, follow the prompts to access you bank via your credentials and connect from the bank connections to the existing bank accounts you had already set up:
Note: After relinking, you may see a small number of duplicate transactions around the date of your last synced transaction. This is expected—the new connection may pull some transactions that overlap with what was already synced from the old connection. These transactions can be hidden from the Bank Transactions table.