If you connected a bank account to fund a True Link Visa® Prepaid Card by logging in to your bank (through Plaid, a service that connects your bank account instantly), some banks now require that connection to be renewed from time to time. This is a new requirement from those banks, not a change to your True Link account. When a bank connection is about to expire, we'll let you know by email and on your dashboard so you can reauthorize it before any transfers are affected. Reauthorizing usually takes less than a minute, and your scheduled transfers stay exactly as they are.
In this article, you'll learn how to tell when a bank connection needs to be reauthorized, how to reauthorize it, and what to do if the connection has already expired.
Before you begin
- Only the person who originally connected the bank account can reauthorize it. Your bank requires the same person who first logged in to renew the connection. If someone else on your account connected the bank account, the Update connection button will be disabled for you, and the message on the bank account tile will tell you who needs to take action. If that person is no longer available, you can connect a new bank account yourself, or contact our Customer Support team for help.
- Have your online banking login handy. You'll sign in to your bank the same way you did when you first connected the account. Your bank username and password are not shared with True Link.
- This applies only to bank accounts connected by logging in to your bank. If you connected your bank account by entering your account and routing numbers and confirming two small test deposits, there is nothing to reauthorize and you won't see these messages.
- Funding several Cards from the same bank account? You only need to reauthorize the bank account once. Reauthorizing it from any one cardholder's Funding tab renews the connection for every Card it funds.
How you'll know a bank connection needs to be reauthorized
We'll reach you in three places, starting about 30 days before the connection expires:
- Email. We send reminders to the person who connected the bank account, with a copy to the primary administrator, about 30 days, 7 days, and 1 day before the connection expires, and again if it does expire. Each email names the bank account, the cardholder, and the expiration date, and includes an Update Connection Now link that takes you straight to the cardholder's Funding tab.
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A banner at the top of the cardholder's dashboard. Everyone on your account will see this banner. It reads "Your bank connection will expire soon" before the expiration date, and "Your bank connection has expired and funding is suspended" after it. Click Go to Funding tab to get to the bank account.
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A "Needs verification" label on the bank account tile. On the Funding tab, the affected bank account shows a yellow Needs verification label, a message explaining who needs to act and by when, and an Update connection button.
If you have more than one bank account expiring, the dashboard banner shows the earliest expiration date. Check each bank account tile on the Funding tab to see which ones need attention.
Reauthorize a bank connection
If you manage one True Link Visa Card, the cardholder's dashboard is the first page you'll see when you sign in. If you manage multiple True Link Visa Cards, open a cardholder's dashboard by clicking the View link in that cardholder's row on the All Clients page. You can also click the Update Connection Now link in any of our reminder emails to go directly to the right place.
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Click the Funding tab at the top of the cardholder's dashboard.
- Find the bank account marked Needs verification, and click the Update connection button beneath it.
- A window from your bank opens. Sign in with the username and password you use for online banking, and complete any extra security step your bank asks for, such as a code sent to your phone.
- Follow the prompts to confirm you'd like True Link to keep using this bank account.
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When you see the Success! window, click Done. You're all set.
If the connection has already expired
We're sorry if you're arriving here after the connection expired. Nothing has been lost, and the fix is the same short flow described above. Here's what's different while a connection is expired, and how to get funding going again.
What happens while a connection is expired
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Funding from that bank account is paused. One-time and recurring transfers from the expired bank account are not sent to your bank, and emergency funding isn't available for them. Your scheduled transfers stay on your dashboard, marked with an icon so you can see which ones are affected.
- Monthly account fees are not charged to the expired bank account. If the expired account was set as the payment method for the monthly account fee and hasn't been reauthorized by the time the fee is due, the fee is charged to the Card instead.
- Everything else keeps working. The cardholder can still spend the balance already on the Card, and transfers from any other connected bank account or by direct deposit continue as usual.
Option 1 – Reauthorize the expired bank account
This is the fastest way to resume funding and keeps all your scheduled transfers in place. Follow the steps under Reauthorize a bank connection above. Once you see the Success! window, funding resumes and upcoming transfers are processed normally going forward. Transfers that were scheduled to initiate while the connection was expired were not sent, so if the cardholder needs money before the next scheduled transfer, schedule a one-time transfer once the connection is restored. [VERIFY: confirm missed transfers are not retried automatically after reauthorization — PRD leaves this open]
Option 2 – Connect a new bank account instead
If you'd rather stop using the expired bank account, or the person who connected it isn't available to reauthorize it, you can connect a different bank account. Please do this in the following order, because removing a bank account deletes every scheduled transfer tied to it:
- Connect the new bank account on the cardholder's Funding tab.
- Schedule your transfers from the new bank account, recreating any recurring transfers you had from the expired one.
- Once the new transfers are in place, remove the expired bank account by clicking Remove bank account on its tile.
When your money will be available
Reauthorizing a bank connection doesn't move any money on its own. It simply lets your scheduled transfers go out as planned. Once the connection is restored, transfers from a connected bank account generally take 1 business day to become available. Newer customers can see transfers take up to 5 business days to become fully available, depending on the size of the transfer.
If you schedule a new transfer after reauthorizing, check the availability date before you submit. Above the Submit button, a green banner tells you the exact day your funds will be ready to use. For example, "Funds will be available Thursday, July 30th."
You can read more in Funding Timelines and Limits.
Please be aware
- Your scheduled transfers are safe when you reauthorize. Reauthorizing renews the connection behind the scenes. Your one-time, recurring, and threshold transfers are not changed or canceled.
- Removing a bank account is different. Clicking Remove bank account deletes every scheduled transfer from that account. If you're switching to a new bank account, connect the new one and schedule transfers from it before removing the old one.
- Only the original connector can reauthorize. If you click Update connection and see "Action not recognized," the bank account was connected by someone else on your account. The message names that person and their email address. Ask them to complete the steps above, connect a new bank account yourself, or contact our Customer Support team.
- Your bank may also end the connection early. If access to True Link is turned off from your bank's side, you'll see the same expired message and can reauthorize the same way.
- These reminders can't be turned off. Because they protect the cardholder's funding, reauthorization emails are sent even if you've opted out of other True Link emails, and the dashboard banner stays until the connection is restored or the bank account is removed.
What happens next
After you click Done, the bank account tile on the Funding tab returns to Verified, the banner disappears from the dashboard, and any affected transfers lose their warning icon. If the same bank account funds other Cards you manage, their Funding tabs update too.
From here, you may want to:
- Review Upcoming Transfers – confirm your next transfers are on the schedule you expect.
- Transfer Funds to a Card – schedule a one-time transfer if the cardholder needs funds before the next recurring one.
- Remove a Bank Account – if you've switched to a new bank account and no longer need the old one.
If you have any questions about reauthorizing a bank connection, please don't hesitate to contact our Customer Support team.