Take control of your finances!
- Track your finances
- Set budgets and goals
- Receive bill reminders
- Simplify tax season
- Included with any Mechanics Bank personal account via Online Banking
Adding and managing accounts at other institutions
I see my Mechanics Bank accounts listed in FinanceWorks. What other accounts can I add?
FinanceWorks maintains links with many other financial institutions in the United States. If you have accounts at any of these participating financial institutions, you can add them here. Start by typing your other financial institution's name in the search box, and a wizard will walk you through the process.
I want to add my car loan at another institution, but all I see are my checking and savings accounts. How do I add the car loan?
Most financial institutions allow you to add multiple kinds of accounts – including car loans. If you don't see your car loan here, that's likely because your other financial institution has opted not to make it available.
How much account history is stored?
The number of days stored in history will vary by financial institution. Generally, up to 90 days of history are immediately available. However, history may be available up to 24 months.
Can I add accounts at investment firms?
Yes, there are some firms that you can add. Please note that with investment accounts, you won't be able to see every detail of your holdings in each security; you can only track some limited transactions and your balances.
My account information doesn't seem to be updating automatically. Why not?
FinanceWorks will refresh your account information automatically. You may also click on the "Refresh" button on the top of the page.
I changed my Online Banking password at my other bank/credit union. Do I need to change it in FinanceWorks?
Yes, you must change your Online Banking password for each account held at the bank/credit union that you view in FinanceWorks. If you don't, FinanceWorks can't refresh that account information. Go to each applicable account and click on the "Change Sign-in Information" link.
How does FinanceWorks handle Multifactor Authentication (MFA) at my other financial institution?
FinanceWorks will request the MFA required by your other financial institution. This may be an answer to a challenge/secret question, entering a passcode provided by your institution or other MFA required element.
How often is my account information from other financial institutions updated?
FinanceWorks obtains transactions nightly. The exact time varies daily.
I see that my account information from my other financial institutions is not displaying my transactions from today in FinanceWorks. How do I view my most current transactions (from today)?
If you want to view transactions from today, click on "Refresh this Account." All your accounts at that financial institution accessible by the same sign-in information will be updated at the same time. You can also click the refresh button on the home page (under Accounts) to manually refresh all accounts.
Why are there transactions on my institution's website that aren't in FinanceWorks yet?
There can be a one-day delay, depending on when your credit union/bank makes transactions available.
Bills and reminders
I see the Reminder section – can I pay my bills through FinanceWorks?
Yes, click on the Make Payments link under Other Tools to access Bill Pay. The Reminder section in FinanceWorks is a great way to remind you to set up or pay those bills! This list will build based on past transactions. You can delete reminders for payments that FinanceWorks thought were regular payments. And you can add your own bill reminders.
Can I set up bill payments here?
Yes, click on the Make Payments link under Other Tools to access Bill Pay.
There are reminders that I didn't add – why are they there?
FinanceWorks creates reminders for you based on past transactions that regularly occur. If an existing reminder isn't needed, you can delete it.
Goals
How does FinanceWorks select the categories to display when I first click the Goals tab?
FinanceWorks selects your four (4) most active categories. Any categories that are for fixed expenses, like Rent, are not selected. You can add and delete any categories you wish.
How is the average calculated?
FinanceWorks goes back three (3) months from today's date, then starts at the first of that first month. It adds up spending for that category, then divides by the number of months that actually had activity. "Target" would be a better way to think of this.
What do the colors mean on the graphs?
Black bar = today's date. Gray bar = how much you've spent in relation to your budget. Green bar = amount remaining to spend.
Managing transactions
Can you explain Projected Balance to me? Are my reminders included in it?
With Projected Balance, you can enter upcoming transactions to see what you'd have left in an account if expenses or deposits scheduled through today would clear your financial institution immediately. Because reminders are also part of Upcoming Transactions, they are included in Projected Balance.
How is Projected Balance calculated? Can I edit it?
Projected Balance is calculated by taking your current balance and adding or subtracting any upcoming transactions you've entered. You can't edit it per se, but you can change it simply by adding transactions.
How do I view my transactions?
Click on the account name hyperlink to view transactions for one specific account. Click the Transactions tab to view all transactions. You can also select your date range.
How do I categorize my MasterCard® bill when I pay it from my checking account? It seems that that expense will get counted twice in my spending reports – once from my MasterCard account and once from my checking account.
You're correct that FinanceWorks will double those expenses. To keep that from happening, you should categorize the checking account expense as "Transfer Out." FinanceWorks will then exclude that expense from your spending reports.
If I return an item I purchased, how do I categorize the refund so my spending reports are accurate?
You should categorize the return as an expense, with the same category as the purchase. So if you bought a lawn mower and then returned it, by categorizing both the purchase and the refund as "lawn and garden" expense, they will cancel each other out in your spending reports.
How do I remove a duplicate transaction?
Click on the transaction you want to delete within the list of transactions for that account, then click the Delete link at the top of that table.
I want to edit multiple transactions at once – I need to re-categorize all my past Home Depot transactions to be "lawn and garden" instead of "household."
First of all, remember that if you change one transaction now to "lawn and garden," all future expenses will be categorized the same. In addition, whenever you re-categorize a transaction, FinanceWorks asks if you want to re-categorize all past transactions to that payee. To re-categorize multiple transactions at once, go to Trends, select your desired date range and check the boxes for the desired accounts. Below the pie chart, click the View by Payee radio button. In the table, click the Payee that you want to re-categorize, and select the new category from the dropdown. Click anywhere else on the page and then answer the prompt to keep your changes.
Can I download my transactions directly into Excel?
Not directly. You download them first into .csv format, then import into Excel. When you use the download feature, it downloads all transactions in the selected date range, regardless of whether they've been previously downloaded.
Net worth
How is Net Worth Calculated?
It takes into account all your accounts (both at your host financial institution as well as accounts at other financial institutions that you've set up to display in FinanceWorks), plus any Properties you've entered, such as your car and house.
Is there a limit to the number of Properties I can add? Do they have to be actual properties?
There's no limit. You can even have multiple properties of the same type, such as multiple cars. And they do not have to be actual properties. For instance, you can add a personal loan that's not tracked in FinanceWorks.
Tracking spending
How do I to track my spending using the pie charts?
There are multiple pie charts you can look at. For instance, you can look at the spending for one account by going to that account and clicking the Pie Chart tab. However, you may want to track your spending across all accounts. On the Home tab, you'll see a pie chart for your spending in the period you selected. To drill down, click on the Trends tab at the top. This displays the same pie chart; however, in this view, you can click on a "piece" of the pie, then click View Transactions on the table below for that category and look at the details for that spending.
How do I see a year's worth of data in my spending report?
How long have you been using FinanceWorks?
If your answer is anything less than 9 months: When you first started using FinanceWorks, up to 90 days of your account history displayed immediately. In order to get a year's worth of spending report data, you must use FinanceWorks for an additional nine months. Remember that some of the accounts you added at other financial institutions may not have started off with 90 days, so it may take longer to build up to a year's worth of data for them.
If your answer is anything greater than 9 months: Go to the Trends tab. You can drag the start and finish dates of the adjustable bar across the top of the screen and set the start date to a year ago. A pre-set list of date options can also be chosen from the dropdown menu.
Can I add my own spending categories?
Yes. Simply click on the + Add link next to the word Category wherever you see it.
I don't understand how the spending totals are calculated – can you explain those to me?
The totals are based on which accounts you have selected (check the boxes next to the desired accounts on the left hand side of the Home screen) and which timeframe you have chosen (use the slide bars across the top or choose a pre-set time from the dropdown menu).
Your taxes
How does FinanceWorks help me with my taxes?
FinanceWorks helps you prepare for taxes in two ways. Tax Watch is available to you throughout the year, and a link to TurboTax Online Banking is available from December 15 to April 16.
How does Tax Watch help me prepare for taxes?
Tax Watch by default displays your information on Charity/Donations and Childcare/Daycare, with all those transactions for this calendar year listed out already. You can add additional categories by clicking on the Find More tab. Keep in mind that the history in Tax Watch only goes back as far as your history in FinanceWorks. So if you started using FinanceWorks partway through a tax year, the tax information in Tax Watch may be incomplete. Instructions at the bottom tell what you should and should not use this tool to track, mainly deductions for which you receive a tax form. Consult your tax advisor.
General questions
It seems like it takes a long time to access FinanceWorks through Online Banking. Why?
If this was your very first time logging into FinanceWorks, it is slow because it's compiling all of your account information. If it's not your first time but it's been awhile since you logged in, it will take some time to compile the transactions that occurred since your last login. We recommend you log in about once a week to keep the login process fast.
I didn't log out of FinanceWorks, but when I try to view my accounts, I get a timeout error. Why?
FinanceWorks times out after 20 minutes of inactivity. Remember it's a single sign-on product through Online Banking, so if you've gone back to your Online Banking session and are working there, you will time out of FinanceWorks after 20 minutes.
I don't want to use FinanceWorks anymore. Can I unenroll myself?
Yes, you should because then FinanceWorks will stop trying to aggregate your information from all your financial institutions. Login to FinanceWorks and click the Settings link in the upper right. You can unenroll yourself from this screen.