Transfer Detection

Transfer Detection

When you move money between your own accounts, it's not really spending or income—it's just the same money in a different place. Curl Budget automatically detects these transfers and groups them together so they don't distort your financial picture.

Why Transfers Matter

Without transfer detection, moving $500 from checking to savings would show up as:

• $500 expense (leaving checking)
• $500 income (arriving in savings)

This would make your spending look $500 higher than it actually is. Transfer detection recognizes that these two transactions are the same money, groups them together, and excludes them from your spending and income totals.

How Detection Works

Curl Budget looks for transaction pairs that match specific patterns:

Matching Criteria

For two transactions to be matched as a transfer:

1. Opposite amounts - One positive (inflow), one negative (outflow) of the same value
2. Different accounts - The transactions must be in different accounts (both connected to your workspace)
3. Within 30 days - Transfers typically settle within a few days, but we allow up to 30 days for delays
4. Matches heuristics or rules - Either matches common transfer keywords or your custom rules

Keyword Heuristics

Curl Budget recognizes common transfer-related terms in transaction descriptions:

• "Transfer", "Xfer", "Trnsfr"
• "ACH", "Wire"
• "Internal", "Move"
• "Payment to/from" (for credit card payments)

When a transaction contains these keywords and has a matching opposite transaction, they're grouped as a transfer.

Transfer Groups

When Curl Budget detects a transfer, it creates a transfer group containing exactly two transactions:

• From transaction - The outflow (negative amount)
• To transaction - The inflow (positive amount)

Both transactions remain in your account history, but they're visually linked and excluded from spending/income calculations.

Viewing Transfer Groups

When you view a transaction that's part of a transfer:

• You'll see a "Transfer" indicator
• Tapping shows the linked transaction
• The transfer pair is highlighted together

Manual Overrides

Sometimes automatic detection gets it wrong. You have full control:

Marking as Transfer

If Curl Budget missed a transfer, you can manually link two transactions:

1. Open either transaction
2. Tap "Mark as Transfer"
3. Select the matching transaction from the list

Marking as Not a Transfer

If Curl Budget incorrectly grouped two transactions:

1. Open the transaction
2. Tap "Not a Transfer"
3. The transactions are ungrouped and count normally

Override Priority

Your manual decisions always take priority:

1. Manual override - Your explicit "is transfer" or "not transfer" marking
2. Auto-rules - Rules you've created for transfer detection
3. Heuristics - Automatic keyword-based detection

Using Auto-Rules for Transfers

For recurring transfers that aren't automatically detected, create an Auto-Rule:

1. Go to Settings → Auto-Rules
2. Create a new rule
3. Set conditions to match the transaction (merchant name, amount range, etc.)
4. Choose "Mark as Transfer" as the action

This ensures future similar transactions are automatically handled.

Transfer Exclusion Rules

You can also create rules to prevent specific transactions from being marked as transfers:

1. Create an Auto-Rule
2. Match the transactions you want to exclude
3. Choose "Exclude from Transfer Detection" as the action

This is useful for recurring payments that look like transfers but aren't (e.g., rent payments to a property management company).

Impact on Reports

Transfer detection directly affects your financial reports:

Cash Flow Report

Transfers are excluded from the Cash Flow report. This means:

• Moving money between accounts doesn't inflate your expense totals
• Credit card payments don't count as spending
• Your true income and expenses are clearly visible

Budget Tracking

Transfers don't count toward any budgets. Moving money to savings doesn't affect your grocery budget.

Transaction Explorer

In the Explorer, you can choose to include or exclude transfers when drilling down into your spending.

Common Transfer Types

Credit Card Payments

When you pay your credit card from checking:

• Checking shows: "Payment to Credit Card" (-$500)
• Credit Card shows: "Payment Thank You" (+$500)

These are automatically detected and grouped.

Savings Transfers

When you move money to savings:

• Checking shows: "Transfer to Savings" (-$200)
• Savings shows: "Transfer from Checking" (+$200)

Investment Contributions

When you fund an investment account:

• Checking shows: "ACH Debit - Brokerage" (-$1,000)
• Investment shows: "Incoming Transfer" (+$1,000)

Troubleshooting

Transfer Not Detected

If a transfer isn't being detected automatically:

1. Check timing - Both transactions need to be synced (within 30 days of each other)
2. Check amounts - They must be exact matches (same dollar and cent amount)
3. Check accounts - Both accounts must be connected to your workspace
4. Manual link - You can always manually mark transactions as a transfer

False Positives

If non-transfers are being grouped:

1. Mark as not transfer - Override the automatic detection
2. Create exclusion rule - Prevent future false matches
3. Check keywords - The description may contain transfer-related words

Related Features

• Auto-Rules - Create custom transfer detection rules
• Cash Flow Report - See spending without transfer distortion
• Duplicate Detection - Different from transfers—actual duplicate transactions
• Funding Detection - Special handling for P2P app funding