What happens to your data when you close a bank account you connected

Closing a bank account ends the feed into the app and leaves the history where it is. Every transaction the app synced stays, with its categories and edits; the account stops updating, and its balance in the app freezes at whatever the bank last reported, which is zero if the account was emptied before it closed and a stale figure if it was not. The decision afterward is whether to keep the account in the app for its history or remove it, and the rule is simple: an account frozen at zero can stay, and an account frozen at a stale balance is removed, because a stale balance counts in net worth as money that is no longer there. Everything else, the other accounts at the same bank, the budget, the rules, continues untouched.

What the bank does, and what the app sees

When an account closes, the bank either stops listing it on the connection or keeps listing it with a zero balance and no new activity. Either way, the app receives no new transactions for it, and the last balance it received is the one it keeps. The other accounts at the same institution continue to sync on the same connection; closing one account does not end the connection.

If the closure came with a replacement, a new account number at the same bank, the replacement appears as a newly available account on the existing connection, and it is added from there rather than by connecting the bank again; see How to track a small bank or credit union that isn't supported for the case where the new account is somewhere the app cannot reach.

Keep it or remove it

The stale balance is the trap. An account closed with $2,400 in it, moved to a new account that was then connected, reads in the app as $2,400 in the old account and $2,400 in the new, and net worth is $2,400 too high until the old one is removed or zeroed.

Before you close the account

1. Move the balance out and let the app sync once, so the account's last reported balance is zero.
2. Move every autopay and deposit to the new account first, and check the bill calendar for anything still pointed at the old one; see How to make a bill calendar you'll actually look at.
3. Connect or add the new account so its feed starts before the old one ends and the history has no gap.
4. Decide the old account's fate in the app once it reads zero: keep it for the history, exclude it from the budget so it stops appearing in pickers, or remove it.
5. Close the account at the bank, and let the app's next sync confirm the account has stopped.

A worked closure, moving checking to a new bank

The transfer on day 20 is the step that makes the rest easy: it moves the money and leaves the old account at zero, so it can stay for its history without touching net worth. The two years of transactions under the old account remain, categorized as they were, and the cash flow and net worth history are continuous through the switch.

The history question

Keeping the old account keeps its transactions in the picture, which matters for anything that reads history: the budget's monthly averages, the cash flow comparisons with last year, and the net worth line. Removing the account removes its transactions from that history, and a year-over- year comparison then shows a household that appeared to spend half as much last year, because half its transactions were on the account that was deleted. Keep the account when the history is worth keeping, which it usually is for a primary checking account, and remove it when the account was minor or its balance cannot be zeroed.

Common mistakes

• Closing the account before moving the balance. The app freezes it at a stale figure, and net worth double-counts.
• Removing the account for tidiness. Two years of history go with it, and the comparisons that used it break.
• Connecting the bank again for the replacement account. That creates a second connection and duplicates; the replacement is added to the existing connection.
• Leaving an autopay on the old account. The payment fails the month after the closure.
• Confusing removing an account with removing the connection. The first removes one account; the second disconnects every account at the bank.

Common questions

What happens to my transactions if I close a connected account? They stay in the app, with their categories and edits. The account stops receiving new transactions, and its balance freezes at the last figure the bank reported. The history is removed only if you remove the account.

Should I delete a closed account from my budgeting app? Keep it if its balance reads zero and its history is worth keeping, excluded from the budget so it stops appearing in pickers. Remove it if it is frozen at a stale balance that you cannot zero, or if its history does not matter.

Why is my net worth wrong after closing an account? Because the closed account is frozen at the balance it had before the money moved, and the money is also counted where it went. Zero the old account if the app allows, or remove it.

Does closing one account disconnect my whole bank? No. The connection continues for the other accounts at the institution; only the closed account stops updating. Removing the connection, which is a different action, would disconnect all of them.

What if the bank replaced my account number? The new account appears as newly available on the existing connection; add it there. The old number's account is handled like any closed account: keep it at zero, or remove it.

How Zypper handles this

Zypper keeps the history and gives you the two actions. When an account closes, the rest of the accounts from the same bank stay connected; removing a single account deletes that account and its data from Zypper, while removing a connection disconnects the entire institution, and if an account merely is not useful for budgeting, excluding it with the Include in the budget setting keeps its history and its net worth contribution while its transactions stop reaching the budget. A replacement account at the same bank shows up as newly available on the existing connection, and Zypper notifies you; you add it from the connections settings, and nothing is added without you. See Editing and removing accounts and Adding newly available accounts for the details, or get started with Zypper to keep the history through the switch.