“The import created a new account instead of using mine”
You import a statement and end up with a second copy of the same account, empty of history and holding only the new transactions. The importer was not being careless: the identifier inside the file did not match anything it recognised, so it created what it thought was a new account.
Symptoms
A duplicate account appears in the sidebar after importing The new account holds only the imported transactions and no history Your original account is untouched and still short the new entries
What actually causes it
The account identifier changed
Every OFX file carries the bank and account numbers the bank uses. A reissued card, a merged bank or an upgraded account product changes those values, and your software matches on them rather than on the account name you gave it.
The account was set up manually
An account created by hand has no bank identifier stored against it, so the first import has nothing to match and creates its own.
The wrong account was selected during import
Where the importer asks which account to use, choosing "new" — sometimes the default — produces exactly this outcome regardless of what the file contains.
How to fix it
- Delete the duplicate account before doing anything else; merging later is much harder than removing it now.
- Run the file through the fixer below to confirm it is structurally sound and see how many transactions it holds.
- Re-import and, at the account selection step, choose your existing account explicitly rather than accepting the default.
- If your software offers to remember the association, accept — that is what stops it happening every month.
Related import problems
Skip the manual edit — fix it automatically
The fixer confirms the file is valid, so you can address the account matching without wondering whether the data is also damaged. Free, no signup, no upload.
Open the fixer