Setting Up Custom Categorization Rules In The Yodlee Personal Finance Application

Yodlee has a powerful algorithm to categorize the transactions you make in your checking, savings, and credit card accounts. However, sometimes it puts something in the wrong category, or it doesn’t categorize a transaction at all. There is a way to categorize certain transactions you make throughout the month that Yodlee isn’t getting right. Follow these steps to set up custom categorization rules in your yodlee account.

1. Login to your Yodlee Account, and click on “Spending Reports”.
2. Click on the “Set Budget Goals” in the top-middle of the screen.
3. Click on one of the dollar amount values underneath “This Month” for one of the categories already specified.
4. Click on “Custom Categorization Rules” inside the Categorizing Transactions box.
5. Now, you can type in a custom description, custom amount, and specify what category you want the transaction to fall under. If the amount varies a little bit each month, then you might want to click on the drop-down box to change the dollar or percentage variation.

This is a great tip to to set up a custom categorization for your electric and water bill. Sometimes, Yodlee will not recognize the name of your utility company, and typically, your electric bill does not vary too much during a given season. There are also other static bills that might come in as uncateogized transactions that this function will help you properly categorize the transaction without doing it manually every month. If you put the time and effort needed to set up Yodlee, it can be a very powerful personal finance tool to give you a snapshot of your financial health.