Smart Transaction Matching: How It Works

When you have both planned budget entries and actual bank transactions, you need a way to reconcile them. Smart matching does this automatically.

The Matching Problem

Imagine you have a $150 entry on your calendar for "Electric Bill" on the 15th. Your bank shows a $147.23 charge from "CITY POWER CO" on the 16th. A human can tell these are the same transaction, but software needs to be smarter.

How Smart Matching Works

Smart matching uses multiple signals to find connections:

• - Amount similarity — within a configurable tolerance
• - Date proximity — transactions near the expected date
• - Vendor matching — learning which bank descriptions match which budget entries
• - Category alignment — same type of transaction
• - Historical patterns — learning from your previous matches

Confidence Levels

Each potential match gets a confidence score:

• - High confidence (90%+): Auto-merged, no review needed
• - Medium confidence (60-90%): Presented for quick review
• - Low confidence (<60%): Shown as a suggestion only

What You See

When you open your review inbox:

1. Auto-merged matches are already reconciled
2. Pending matches show the bank transaction and budget entry side by side
3. Unmatched items might be transactions you forgot to budget for

Over time, the system learns your patterns and auto-merges more accurately.