How to Bank API for Deposits?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › How to Bank API for Deposits?

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michaelmurfy

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#1736268 14-Mar-2017 11:59

@solutionz just bare in mind tools like POLi and running a scraper is normally a breach of your banks T&C's - I wouldn't recommend it. Also, there is other things that normally stand in the way (eg - 2FA) and fraud analysis that will likely prevent such a thing.

Most banks do look out for automated scraping and can also tell when POLi has logged in as well - I won't go into full details but let's say this is a bad idea.

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richms

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#1736293 14-Mar-2017 12:21

Ages back when we looked at scraping to process trademe payments it was deliberatly made hard to do so.

Business partner made a greasemonkey script that would pull the data off the page and push it off to somewhere else so it was a case of logging into banking and then hitting the button that got added, but even then the page was changing often enough that there was almost more work on maintaining that than just copy and pasting the info. In the end copy and paste into a HTML editor so it kept the formatting and having our server parse that uploaded HTML form submission out was what we went with.

Richard rich.ms

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#1736297 14-Mar-2017 12:27

Run the bank's app in an Android emulator.

Script something to press the refresh button once a minute.

Have some OCR that notices when the balance changes and then "does something".

Flaws with this idea:

1) It's stupid

2) You'll probably get blocked by the bank very quickly

Things that are great about this idea:

1) I thought of it, so it's muppet approved

2) Errr

DonGould

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#1736333 14-Mar-2017 14:00

What does BNZ tell you in the deposit emails/txt?

Is it more than just 'you just got some money'?

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snowfly

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#1736334 14-Mar-2017 14:02

DonGould:

What does BNZ tell you in the deposit emails/txt?

Is it more than just 'you just got some money'?

Notification types: https://www.bnz.co.nz/support/banking/notifications

I just did a test transfer between accounts (to trigger deposit alert email), few seconds later, got this:

On 14 Mar 2:01pm your XXXXXXX 0X account had a deposit of $X.XXCR.

Your current balance is: $X.XXCR

Your available funds are: $X.XXCR

Current alert level: Deposits greater than 0.00CR

Bank of New Zealand

mdf

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#1736336 14-Mar-2017 14:06

There are some third party APIs that might help you to do what you want. In particular, PocketSmith will pull in your bank feeds for you, and they offer an API. See https://developers.pocketsmith.com.

Disclaimer: this may well be in breach of your bank's terms and conditions. Also, PocketSmith themselves seem to use Yodlee for their bank feeds (which Xero also use in some cases, apparently). But you're now getting into a situation where there are a few players with access to your bank balance which may not be fully desirable.

DonGould

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#1736338 14-Mar-2017 14:09

IcI: Changing the focus, what nifty little project are you looking to put together?

I'm just tracking rent payments, nothing very massive at all.

Couple of us have chatted about the desire to send out a txt message when rent hasn't been paid or a reminder to slow payers.

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DonGould

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#1736340 14-Mar-2017 14:15

mdf: But you're now getting into a situation where there are a few players with access to your bank balance which may not be fully desirable.

ya, this is why I was asking about api's.

I just wanted a simple kiwibank and anz api that will give me read only access on transactions.

The email and text thing is interesting, but insecure as hell and not enough detail.

I agree that a notification system rather than inquiry is a good idea. Who really needs me doing 1440 polls a week for 3 payments?!

pgp encrypted emails, where I could put my key in via Internet Banking would be a half sensible idea. Just send me an xml blob I can deal with after unencripting it. That way I don't care if it sits on the IMAP server.

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dfnt

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#1736368 14-Mar-2017 15:00

PaulBags:
nas:

BNZ can send email alerts when money is deposited in your bank account, it's also pretty much instant

Define "pretty much"?

I received a deposit at 1:22pm and received the email at 1:22pm. There was probably seconds in between that but I wasn't timing, that's just an example of a previous one I'd received.

mdf

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#1747726 25-Mar-2017 22:04

Jude might be one to keep an eye out for.

michaelmurfy

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#1747733 25-Mar-2017 22:19

mdf:

Jude might be one to keep an eye out for.

Looking forward to getting peoples assistants to transfer me money in the near future.

DonGould

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#1748954 27-Mar-2017 20:20

Was reading Whirlpool.net.au today and see this is a question in Australia too.

Banks will change their thinking to providing customers with an API. The likes of PayPal, which is bigger than some of our banks I'm sure, already provide full API access for systems to do all sorts of things don't they.

I agree with others here, that such matters need to come with sensible security. Scraping web pages is not the answer.

I really don't see that a detailed notification system, of transactions, in real time, is an unreasonable request at all.

I know a bunch of you won't agree and have some fairly reasonable concerns, but that's all they all are, they're just concerns and nothing that good tech can't over come.

As for the mocking... mock all you like... if I had 1 cent for every time someone mocked me about an idea, on the internet, that then went on to come true then I wouldn't be on line right now, I'd be relaxing in my tent in front of an open fire in the bush... (and you can make of that what you choose!)

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