Smart Detection

Smart Detection

Curl Budget continuously analyzes your transactions to identify important patterns that affect your financial picture. This happens automatically in the background, helping you maintain accurate records without manual effort.

Why Smart Detection Matters

When you connect multiple bank accounts, the same money can appear in different ways:

• Transfers between accounts show up as both an outflow and an inflow
• Duplicate transactions can appear when banks report the same transaction multiple times
• Fraudulent double charges happen when merchants accidentally (or intentionally) charge you twice
• P2P wallet funding can make it look like you spent money twice

Without smart detection, these patterns would distort your spending reports and budget tracking. Curl Budget identifies and handles each of these automatically.

Detection Types

Transfer Detection

When you move money between your own accounts (checking to savings, paying off a credit card), both transactions appear in Curl Budget. Transfer detection recognizes these pairs and groups them together so they don't count as spending or income.

What it catches:

• Bank transfers between your accounts
• Credit card payments from checking
• Moving money to/from investment accounts
• ACH transfers and wire transfers

Duplicate Detection

Sometimes the same transaction appears more than once due to bank reporting quirks or pending-to-posted transitions. Duplicate detection identifies exact matches and lets you control which copy to show.

What it catches:

• Pending transactions that also appear as posted
• Transactions imported multiple times
• Bank corrections that create duplicates

Double Charge Detection

When a merchant charges you twice for the same purchase, Curl Budget alerts you. This helps you catch potential fraud or merchant errors quickly.

What it catches:

• Same merchant, same amount, within 24 hours
• Potential fraudulent duplicate charges
• Merchant processing errors

Funding Detection

When you add money to P2P payment apps (Venmo, PayPal, Cash App), the funding transaction shouldn't count as spending. Funding detection recognizes these transfers so your spending reports stay accurate.

What it catches:

• Venmo, PayPal, Cash App funding
• Digital wallet top-ups
• Prepaid card loads

How Detection Works

All detection runs automatically when new transactions sync. You can also:

• Override any detection - Mark transactions as transfers or non-transfers manually
• Create rules - Use Auto-Rules to customize detection behavior
• Review alerts - Get notifications when potential issues are found

Your Control

Smart detection provides suggestions, but you're always in control:

• Every detection can be overridden
• Manual overrides always take priority over automatic detection
• You can create rules to customize future detection
• All original transaction data is preserved

Related Features

• Auto-Rules - Create custom rules for transfer detection
• Cash Flow Report - See how detection affects your reports
• Push Notifications - Get alerts for potential issues