Bring in Zelle memos

Banks usually leave the memo off Zelle payments in the bank feed ("tithe", "building fund", "invoice 1042"), but their email alerts include it. Send those alerts to Balancivo and each memo shows up on its transaction in Review.

Steps

1. Go to Settings. Scroll to Zelle memos.
2. Enter the Email your Zelle alerts go to (optional). This is the address your bank sends "You received money with Zelle" emails to.
3. Click Set up Zelle memos.
4. Choose how alerts reach Balancivo. Under How Zelle alerts reach Balancivo, pick I forward them or Balancivo checks my mailbox.
5. If you forward them: copy the address under Forward Zelle alerts to with Copy. Choose Gmail, Outlook or Other email and follow the steps to set a rule that forwards emails containing "Zelle". Gmail sends a confirmation code first; refresh the page in a minute to see it.
6. If Balancivo checks your mailbox: click Connect Gmail, Connect Outlook or Other email and sign in. If you bank with a smaller bank or credit union, enter its email domain (like rbfcu.org) in Your bank's email domain and click Save.
7. Check Recent alerts. Each alert shows its memo and a status: Attached, Waiting for the bank, Couldn't read or Set aside.

Good to know

• This is a Plus plan feature. On Starter or Standard, the page shows what it does and how to upgrade. Free trials and charter subscribers have it. See Your free trial, plans and usage.
• Forwarding works with any email, and Balancivo never signs in to your mailbox. Checking your mailbox needs no rule: Balancivo signs in read-only and looks for new Zelle alerts every 15 minutes. It opens only Zelle alerts that really come from a bank, and never sends, changes or deletes anything.
• An alert attaches to the bank transaction with the same amount within a few days. One that's Waiting for the bank attaches on its own when the transaction comes in.
• To fix a match, click Detach. For one waiting or set aside, click Attach to… and choose the transaction (same amount, within 30 days). Click Set aside for an alert you don't need.
• Donors from alerts: when an incoming alert attaches to its deposit, Balancivo links the deposit to the sender named in the alert, and adds them on Contacts if they're new (as a donor in a church, a customer otherwise). Their other deposits under the same bank name are linked too, and new ones link as they come in. A deposit already linked to someone stays as it is.
• Older alerts: a newly connected mailbox is read back one week. To bring in the memos (and donors) of older Zelle gifts, go to Read past alerts under your mailboxes, pick a Read alerts from date (up to 13 months back), and click Read past alerts. Balancivo reads a few weeks at each check (every 15 minutes, or Check now) and shows how far it has got. Each alert attaches to the deposit it belongs to. This works with connected mailboxes, not forwarding.
• The memo picks the category: when an alert attaches to its deposit and its memo names one of your income categories (like "tithe" for Tithes or "offering" for General offerings), the deposit is filed there, and Review shows From the Zelle memo. A memo naming two categories (like "tithe and offering") leaves the category as it is. Change it by hand if you need to.
• Donor statements show the memo next to each Zelle gift, printed and emailed.
• A forwarded alert never adds or changes money. It only adds the memo to a transaction that came from your bank. The email itself isn't kept.
• Keep the forwarding address private. If it leaks, click Make a new address and update your forwarding rule.
• Connected mailboxes (up to five) are shared with receipts from email.
• Click Turn Zelle memos off to stop. Forwarded alerts are dropped until you turn it back on.
• Bookkeepers can see Recent alerts in Settings and fix matches, but only owners set this up.