Most personal-finance apps open with the same request: enter your online banking username and password. It feels normal. It’s also the single biggest thing we decided not to do.
What auto-sync actually asks of you
When an app “connects to your bank,” it usually hands your credentials to a third-party aggregator — a company that sits between you and your bank, logging in on your behalf and pulling your transactions. That means:
- A third party holds keys to your accounts.
- Transactions arrive in your books without you ever looking at them.
- When the feed breaks or miscategorizes, you inherit the mess — often without noticing.
The convenience is real. So is the cost.
The manual-first alternative
KakeiMaple is manual-first. You import the statements your bank already gives you — CSV or PDF — and you reconcile them against your real balances. It takes a few quiet minutes a week.
In return:
- Your credentials never leave your hands. There’s no aggregator to breach.
- You see every transaction. Nothing enters your books unreviewed.
- Your numbers tie out. Reconciliation means your net worth is real, not approximate.
A few minutes that change the relationship
There’s a subtle thing that happens when you touch your own numbers each week: you actually understand them. The goal of KakeiMaple isn’t to automate your money away — it’s to give you a clear, honest picture you trust, because you built it.
That’s a trade we’ll make every time.