Why am I asked for person bank login details?

Simon79

We are looking to start using wave, but scared as it asked for my business banking login details. Not even my own bank asks for that. Neither does stripe who tells me when money passes thru. Is this real? Do you really give your most personal bank login details???

Samd

Hey @Simon79 - I definitely understand the concern. If you wanted to have a look at our security page you can find more details there!

In terms of whether it is a necessary step, it will depend on what section of Wave you are entering these details in. If it is for the bank connection to import transactions - this is entirely optional (though required if you want import bank transactions this way).

For payments, we use your bank login portal to verify the account we are sending money to, which erases the issue of potential typos or incorrect account numbers when keyed in manually. Wave doesn't store your login or password however, it rather opens up a portal directly to your bank login. So Wave doesn't get the credentials themselves, but rather information back from the bank that the account exists or does not exist and is valid for accepting payments.

You can however get around this part and key in your details manually instead, much like a void check or direct deposit request. If you search for 'X' when trying to add your bank, or clicking 'Other Institution', you will be prompted to manually enter your account details. The one limitation is Wave will not know whether this account exists or is correct until we send money over, and if there is an error it gets bounced back to us. When this happens, we reach out asking you to try updating your account for re-attempt. This process however can take a number of business days because there is no direct communication between Wave and the receiving bank.