What is Greenlight’s external account monitoring and how does it work?

What is account monitoring and why is it valuable?

External account monitoring is a service that allows you to keep track of activity on your accounts held at other financial institutions to detect suspicious activity, prevent incremental losses from fraud, and ensure your accounts remain secure from unauthorized use.

For example, if you add an account for external account monitoring you can receive alerts for transactions that may be unusual for your typical account activity. 

This feature gives families peace of mind by offering proactive, enhanced account security and early detection of fraud, allowing you to take action quickly! 

Who can link an account to be monitored?

On our Greenlight Family Shield plan, Primary Accountholders and older adults are welcome to link their individual accounts for external account monitoring. With permissions enabled, Primary Accountholders and Authorized Approvers, have the option to link the Primary Accountholder and older adult’s accounts for external account monitoring. 

While both the Primary Accountholder and Authorized Approver can link older adults’ and Primary Accountholders’ accounts to be monitored, the older adult and Primary Accountholder can decide whether they would like them to have certain visibility into their monitored account. Check out more on those permissions here.

What kind of accounts can be monitored?

Credit card accounts, Invest accounts, 401ks, Savings accounts, and Checking accounts can all be linked for external account monitoring! There is no limit on the number of accounts you can link to be monitored. As long as the financial institution you’d like to link is available in Plaid, a service we use to add your bank account instantly and securely to Greenlight, you are welcome to add it. 

If you ever notice unusual activity on a linked account that you would like to report as potentially being attributed to identity theft or deceptive transfer fraud , you can file a claim for review right from your Greenlight app if you are subscribed to our Family Shield plan!

Who has permission to monitor linked accounts?

The Primary Accountholder will always be able to monitor the older adult’s linked accounts for account monitoring, to review transactions and set account alerts.

The Primary Accountholder can choose to give permission to the Authorized Approver to monitor their accounts or the older adult’s linked accounts by following these steps:

1. Tap the settings gear from the family dashboard
2. Tap ‘Family’
3. Tap on the Authorized Approver’s name
4. Check the box next to the user you’d like to grant permission for

The owner of the linked account will have the ability to decide if they would like other users on the account to be able to see the balances of their linked account by following these steps: 

1. Tap on ‘Settings’ next to the monitored account section
2. Tap on ‘Sharing permissions’ 
3. Here, you can enable and disable balance sharing permissions for each person  you see  

How can I link an account for account monitoring?

You can link an account by following the steps below:

1. From the dashboard of your Greenlight app, tap on the “Activate Account Monitoring” section
2. Review introductory information about this feature, as applicable, and continue  
3. Choose the type of account that you’d like to link 
4. You will then be redirected to Plaid to sign into the financial institution, using your credentials for that account

• If you have more than 1 type of account that you would like to link from the same institution, you will be able to select multiple accounts to link at this time

5. Now that you have linked your account(s), you will be brought back to the ‘Link external accounts’ screen and you should see the account(s) that you just linked! 
   
   From here, you can continue to add accounts until you’ve added all your external financial accounts for monitoring. 

You are welcome to add additional accounts for account monitoring at any time and there is no limit on the number of accounts you can link! 

How can I remove an account from external account monitoring?

1. Tap on the account you would like to remove from the ‘Monitored accounts’ section on your dashboard
2. Tap ‘Manage’
3. Tap ‘Remove account’
4. Tap ‘Remove’ 

Tip: If someone has added an account for monitoring on your behalf, and you decide to  remove that account from your monitoring section, we recommend updating the login details for that account as well. This will ensure that the account can no longer be linked for monitoring by anyone who had access to your previous login credentials! 

Can money be withdrawn or added to my monitored accounts?

Unfortunately, monitored accounts are not able to be used for money movement purposes within the Greenlight app as you can for a traditional funding source.

An externally monitored linked account only allows users with the required permissions to view transaction history, balances, and alerts. These accounts do not permit adding, transferring, or withdrawing funds.

Why is my transaction and/or balance data not up to date for my monitored accounts?

Transaction and balance data for your monitored accounts might not always be current. But don't worry! Greenlight automatically refreshes with the latest info whenever you view your monitored accounts in the app. This check may take a few seconds, so if your information isn’t refreshed right away, check back in a few minutes to see the most up to date information. 

Sometimes, there won’t be any new data to refresh, and financial institutions may take 24 hours or more to update that information. If your monitored account information has not updated for 24 hours, send us a text to 404-974-3024 or give us a call at 888-483-2645 and we’d be more than happy to help!