Simple Personal Finance Tracking with GnuCash

Re:Simple Personal Finance Tracking with GnuCash by TeMPOraL on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @04:20AM (#23244556)

It's not about the format, it's about the access. I'd be fine with a CSV of my bank transactions, even the completely broken pseudo-CSV that my bank outputs. What I need is the ability to pull that CSV with an API call automatically, instead of having to log in to the bank (which takes almost a minute and involves retyping numbers from a mobile device), and navigate to the right place to find the CSV download (which takes another minute).

Basically, the bank UX sucks for my needs - and I'm guessing, for most people's needs[0]. Cynic in me says that the reason I can't get an API access is because somebody then would make an interface that doesn't suck, and the banks would lose the best place they can upsell people with financial products.

[0] - There's a reason why "preview your balance and last transaction" feature shows up in mobile banking apps these days.

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Re:Simple Personal Finance Tracking with GnuCash by xupybd on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @05:33AM (#23244931)

The other thing you need is a transaction I'd. Transaction amounts can change over time. I got caught by this when I tried to build my own tracking tools. Credit card transactions in foreign currencies commonly change over time. My balances never added up and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out most banks support ofx. That has IDs so you can track the changes.

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