Bank and Credit Card Account Overview

Adding your Bank and Credit Card Accounts to the REI Hub system helps you see where your funds are and track their flow through your business. In REI Hub, you can create either Linked Accounts or Manual Accounts.

Linked Accounts utilize secure Data Providers to connect to your financial institution and automatically import your transaction record. We recommend linking all accounts primarily used for your real estate investments. Using a dedicated business account is the best foundation for successful bookkeeping, and linking that account to your accounting software is the best way to ensure you don’t miss booking expenses and maximize your tax deductions!

After linking an account, you can view the imported transactions on your Import Feed. Access the import feed from either the Banking page or directly on the left-side menu. Imported transactions have the date, amount, description, and originating account. To become an official part of your records, these imported transactions must be ‘booked’ by adding the appropriate expense or revenue account.

Manual Accounts have no direct connection to your bank, so transactions must be added manually or uploaded from a bank export. Manual accounts work well for bookkeeping in batches with uploading or for accounts without a lot of transactions.

If you choose not to create bank or credit card accounts in REI Hub, the default account for payments and deposits is Owner Funds. You can think about Owner Funds as your personal money.

When you book an expense paid by Owner Funds, the outcome is the same as making an owner contribution to a business checking account and then paying the bill from that account. Investors can still keep accurate books using exclusively Owner Funds, but you lose many of the double-checks and automation that come from using designated rental accounts.

In terms of transitioning over from another accounting system, if that bank or credit card account exists in your previous system and is still in use, it should be created in REI Hub as well. If you do not have dedicated rental business bank accounts yet, read more on how to handle personal transactions within a rental bank account.