How to download Ally Bank transactions

What Ally lets you download

• Formats: QFX and CSV. Those are the two formats Ally's help names; it doesn't list OFX or QIF.
• Accounts: Ally Bank's deposit accounts, such as Spending (checking), savings, money market and CDs. Ally credit cards are issued by Merrick Bank, and Ally Bank's help doesn't cover downloading their transactions.
• How far back: Ally shows up to 18 months of account activity online.
• Closed accounts: an account's information stays online for 60 days after it closes. If you close all your Ally Bank accounts, statements and tax forms from the last 7 years stay available, but those are documents, not transaction files.
• Phone app: Ally's help describes the download on the website and doesn't mention the app, so plan on using a computer.

Download the file

1. Log in at ally.com. Use a browser on your computer.
2. Select the account. Choose the account you want, such as your Spending account. Each account downloads separately.
3. Go to Transactions History. Scroll down to the account's Transactions History and select the download icon.
4. Save it as QFX. Choose the Quicken (QFX) file and save it. If you're asked for dates, start a few days before your last download; the overlap does no harm.

QFX is the one to pick

QFX is Quicken's version of OFX. It records withdrawals as negative and deposits as positive, and every transaction carries Ally's own ID. UrBudget keeps that ID, so when the next file overlaps this one, the rows you already have are recognized and skipped.

The QFX file is the safer choice. If you use the CSV, look at the preview before you import: a debit card purchase or a transfer out must show a minus sign. If UrBudget can't find the columns it needs, it says so before anything is saved.

Started with CSV and want to switch? Go ahead. The CSV rows didn't carry Ally's IDs, so UrBudget won't treat the QFX rows as duplicates of them, but it does offer each one as a match for the transaction with the same amount within 10 days. Pick the match and nothing is counted twice.

Import it into UrBudget

1. Choose the account. Select the Ally account in UrBudget's sidebar, then Import file.
2. Drop in the QFX file. UrBudget recognizes it from the .qfx ending. QFX dates can't be misread, so there's no date order to set.
3. Review the rows. Choose Preview transactions. Rows from an earlier download are listed as already imported and skipped. A paycheck or bill you already entered, for example through a scheduled transaction, is paired with its row from Ally instead of being added again.
4. Import and approve. Choose Import. New rows arrive unapproved, and spending without a category lands in Uncategorized until you give it one. Then approve them.

If something looks wrong

• "Choose a file containing 1–10,000 transactions." The dates you picked had no activity, which can happen with a CD, or the file has more than 10,000 rows. Download a different range.
• A transfer between two Ally accounts. Moving money from savings to Spending shows up in both accounts' files. Record it once as a transfer; when you import the second account's file, its row is offered as a match to that transfer.
• You need more than 18 months. Ally's online activity stops at 18 months, so a download can't reach further. Start your budget from a recent date, with each account's balance on that day.
• You're closing an account. Download its history first. Ally keeps a closed account's information online for 60 days.

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