[Feature] Bank Sync - Recognise transfers between accounts

[daniel-tp]

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• Would you like to implement this feature?

Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?

I have set up bank sync via GoCardless for 2 accounts. I quite often do transfers between these accounts but when syncing these accounts to Actual, they are not recognised as transfers and have to be manually changed into transfers (Which usually creates a mess of duplicates as well).

It is possible to create rules that make certain payees into transfers, but this usually still doesn't connect transfers together.

This was initially proposed in #724 (comment) but that was closed with the main bank sync feature was completed.

There was also a PR created but never merged: #766

Describe your ideal solution to this problem

I would propose functionality to automatically recognise transfers going between accounts (Same amount, similar date) and connect them together. I realise this can't always be perfect but it would be better than having nothing.

Teaching and learning

Hopefully this would be automatic, and just makes the Actual bank sync feature more seamless. Perhaps documentation on what to do when matching up transfers fails and possibly makes duplicates?

[github-actions]

✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨

This repository uses lodash style issue management for enhancements. That means enhancement issues are automatically closed. This doesn’t mean we don’t accept feature requests, though! We will consider implementing ones that receive many upvotes, and we welcome contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help you make a successful contribution).

The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+

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[M123-dev]

For me this is a core feature, not only normal transfers but also payments like

Main Bank Accout -> Paypal -> Outgoing

It would be nice if they were combined.

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Here some interesting information about transactions merging #669

[lucharo]

For me this a core feature too. Duplicate transfer transactions between accounts are very cumbersome to handle manually and prone to error.

[darianf01]

I would add to this wish another point. Some transfers are charging fees, but the fee is not added as separate transaction. For example, paying from source AccountA 102cocos (2cocos for transfer fees) but depositing in the destination AccountB 100cocos. The payment appears as 102cocos in AccountA. Would be nice if such transfers can still be automatically matched.

[CelestialStreamer]

I have about a dozen automatic transfers a month, and I usually make at least another dozen more a month manually transferring (usually paying off credit card). I'm new to using Actual and found it tedious to make sure all my accounts (25+) were all correct (reconciled). I haven't even re-synced with SimpleFIN for fear of making a lot of work for me to do.