Improvements to Plaid Link with account filtering and updated error messaging

We’re continually iterating on Plaid Link to improve the experience for you and your users. That’s why we’re excited to share two additional enhancements to Link: comprehensive account type/subtype filtering and improved error messaging.

Greater customization

Comprehensive account type/subtype filtering lets you configure the Link flow to show only the account types and subtypes that your users care about. Imagine, for instance, you’re a developer building a personal financial management product and you’d like to make it easier for users to link only institutions with depository accounts. With comprehensive account type/subtype filtering, you can do just that by specifying depository account types. The Institution Select pane will then only show institutions that support those accounts types (see Pane #2 below).

Likewise, a developer building a personal finance feature might want to apply a checking account subtype filter to ensure that users are linking only institutions that have checking accounts. In this case, the user will only see checking accounts on the Select Account pane (see Pane #4 below).

Improved error messaging for users

We’ve updated many of our user-facing error messages to provide more actionable insights, as well as included new error messages for particular institutions that have specific connection issues. These updates deliver more actionable instructions for users, making it easier for them to troubleshoot issues. For instance, when a financial institution isn’t responding to a connection request, users will be encouraged to try another institution or to try again later, rather than simply being told that the institution cannot be connected at that time.

Next steps

To start adding account type and/or subtype filters to your Link flow, see our docs. The improved error messages will automatically be incorporated into your Link experience, so there’s no action needed on your end. Over the coming months, we’ll continue to share Link improvements—so be sure to check back soon.