Tracking spending across UK bank accounts

Katerina Galkina · EN · 07/10/2026

Define what you need to track

Decide whether you need a combined balance, category limits, shared household accounting or records for tax. A spreadsheet and monthly bank exports may be sufficient. An app does not necessarily need continuous access to accounts.

Collect statements for several representative months. Add annual costs separately, including insurance, travel, repairs and subscriptions. MoneyHelper’s free Budget Planner ↗ compares income and outgoings. With variable income, plan essential payments using a cautious figure rather than your best month.

Choose the connection method

Compare manual entry, CSV imports and Open Banking connections. Check support for your banks, joint accounts, credit cards and currencies. Ask about subscription costs, data exports, account deletion and what happens when a paid plan expires.

The FCA explains account information services ↗. A service gathering account information needs appropriate registration or authorisation, and access requires explicit consent. Check the legal entity and relevant permission rather than only the app’s brand.

Avoid double-counting

Transfers between your own accounts are not fresh income or spending. Repaying a credit card should not count again as purchases already imported from its statement. Refunds, shared purchases and foreign-currency transactions need checking when categories are assigned automatically.

Create categories for essential bills, daily purchases, irregular costs and savings. Review new transactions weekly and reconcile totals with the bank monthly. For a shared budget, agree who can see personal transactions and how joint payments are allocated.

Control access and use the results

Read which accounts and data the service receives, how long consent lasts and how to revoke it. Review connected apps through your bank. Do not give an app employee one-time codes outside the normal bank authentication process.

Judge the system by useful decisions rather than attractive charts: whether money lasts until payday, which subscriptions to cancel and how much to reserve for annual bills. If debts are overdue, budgeting is not a substitute for assistance. MoneyHelper’s planner links to free debt advice.