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Sync your premiums with YNAB

Keep each policy's YNAB category target and scheduled payment at the premium plus paid-up additions your insurance company bills now, do the same for your loan payments, and add your one-time paid-up additions.

If you budget in YNAB, IBC Tool can keep your premiums budgeted at the right amount. For each policy you set up, IBC Tool does two things in YNAB:

  • It sets the target of one category to the premium plus the paid-up additions (PUA) your insurance company bills now. YNAB then tells you how much to assign each month.
  • It keeps one scheduled payment at that amount, so YNAB expects the charge before your bank imports it. The memo shows the two parts, for example “premium $766.95 + PUA $166.32”.

When your premium or your PUA changes, IBC Tool updates both.

IBC Tool can also budget the rest of what you pay your insurance company:

  • Loan payments. For each loan you repay on a schedule, it sets the target of the loan’s own category and keeps one scheduled payment at the loan payment.
  • One-time PUA contributions. When you record one, it adds the contribution to YNAB as a transaction.

It changes nothing else in YNAB, and it never moves money.

Connect YNAB

You need an active YNAB subscription.

  1. In IBC Tool, open Settings and find the YNAB card.
  2. Select Connect YNAB. YNAB opens in the same tab and asks you to sign in, if you are not signed in already.
  3. Choose the plan that holds your premiums as your default plan, and allow IBC Tool to use it. You never share your YNAB password with IBC Tool.
  4. YNAB sends you back to IBC Tool, and IBC Tool uses the plan you chose. To use a different plan later, change it on the YNAB card in Settings.

The card then shows Connected and a Set up YNAB sync button. IBC Tool asks for full access to the plan, because it writes the targets, the scheduled payments, and the transactions of your one-time PUA contributions. Our privacy policy lists what it reads, writes, and keeps.

Set up a policy

Select Set up YNAB sync. The YNAB Sync page lists your policies. For each policy you want in YNAB:

  1. Category (premium + PUA). Search for the category that budgets this policy. If you do not have one, create it here: type the name you want, select Create category, and choose its category group. IBC Tool adds it to YNAB when you select Save. One category holds both the premium and the PUA, because your insurance company bills them in one charge.
  2. Paid from account. Choose the account the premium is drafted from.
  3. Scheduled payment. Choose Create a new one, or take over a scheduled payment you already have. IBC Tool keeps the date and the payee of a payment you take over, so your bank import still matches it.
  4. One-time PUA contributions (optional). Choose the category that budgets extra PUA payments, or create one. Leave Same as the premium category to use the category of step 1. A separate category keeps the premium target clean, and lets you set money aside for a contribution before you make it.
  5. Select Save.

When the policies are saved, select Start sync at the bottom of the page. Nothing changes in YNAB before you select Start sync.

Each policy shows what the sync writes. Target shows the category and its amount, and Scheduled payment shows the amount, the account, and the memo. Up to date in YNAB means YNAB already has it.

Set up a loan payment

The loans you repay on a schedule show under their policy, in Loan payments. A loan you plan to repay later, from a windfall, has no schedule, so it does not show.

Each loan gets its own category, because you pay the loan payment apart from the premium, and it can come at a different frequency. Set up each loan like a policy: choose or create its category, the account, and the scheduled payment, then select Save and Start sync. The account starts as the account of the policy, if you set up the policy.

  • The amount is the Payment amount of the loan, plus its PUA Redirect for each month of the period, and never more than the loan still owes. For a loan in a recurring expense category, it is the redirect that the category’s funding rule sets. For an interest-only loan, IBC Tool adds the interest it estimates for the period, and that changes as the loan balance and the loan rate change.
  • The date is the next day you chose in Remind me, at the loan’s frequency. With No specific day, it is the day of the month you took the loan. A loan you recorded as already taken starts at its next payment. If you change the date of the scheduled payment in YNAB, IBC Tool keeps your date. If you record this month’s payment before the payment date, or select Skip this payment on its reminder or on the loan’s page, the scheduled payment moves to the next payment date. It keeps the day you set. If you delete that payment, the scheduled payment moves back.
  • A loan with no amount shows why under its name, for example a Repay on a schedule loan with no Payment amount, or an interest-only loan whose insurance company has no loan rate on file. It cannot be set up until it has an amount.
  • When the loan is paid off, IBC Tool deletes its scheduled payment, also one you took over, and the loan’s row goes away. The loan’s category and its target stay in YNAB. Delete the target in YNAB, or use the category for something else. If the loan used part of your PUA, the Agenda can show an Adjust … PUA payment item. See A loan that used part of your paid-up additions payment.

One-time PUA contributions

When you record a one-time PUA contribution for a policy that syncs, IBC Tool adds it to YNAB in the account of the policy and the category of step 4:

  • Dated today or earlier: an uncleared transaction. When your bank imports the payment, YNAB matches it to this transaction.
  • Dated later: a one-time scheduled payment on that date.

If you split one contribution across categories in IBC Tool, YNAB gets one transaction for the total, because you make one payment.

A contribution you record with I’ve already made this contribution is not added, because your bank import already brings it in. If you delete a contribution in IBC Tool, IBC Tool deletes its transaction in YNAB too, or lowers it when you delete one part of a split, unless the transaction has cleared. A one-time scheduled payment whose date has come is already a transaction in YNAB, so it stays; delete it in YNAB if you need to.

The target for each premium frequency

A loan payment gets its target by the same rules, from the frequency of the loan.

  • Monthly premium. A monthly target: “Set aside another $933.27 each month”.
  • Annual premium. A yearly target by the premium due date: “Set aside another $16,000.00 each year, by Jul 13”. YNAB spreads the amount over the months until the due date.
  • Quarterly premium. YNAB has no target that repeats every 3 months, so IBC Tool sets a monthly target of one third of the quarterly amount, rounded up to the cent. The scheduled payment stays quarterly.

When YNAB changes

  • A PUA change. If you change the PUA, the Agenda gets an Adjust … PUA payment item. YNAB changes when you mark that item done, because that is when your insurance company bills the new amount. If you already made the change, turn on I’ve already adjusted this with my insurance company when you record it, and YNAB changes at once. See Use the Agenda.
  • A draft that is close. If your next draft is in a day or two, mark the item done after the last draft at the old amount posts. YNAB then expects the amount your bank is charged.
  • A premium change. When you edit the premium of a policy, YNAB changes at once.
  • A loan change. When you change the Payment amount, the PUA Redirect, the frequency, or the day of a loan, or the funding rule of its recurring expense category, YNAB changes at once. A loan payment you record and a new loan rate reach YNAB at the daily check.
  • Every day. IBC Tool checks YNAB once a day. If you edited the target or the amount of a scheduled payment in YNAB, it sets them back: to the amount your insurance company bills for a premium, and to the loan payment for a loan. To sync at once, select Sync now on the YNAB card in Settings.

Payments IBC Tool cannot change

A split payment. YNAB does not let other apps change a split scheduled payment, so you cannot take one over. If you budgeted the premium and the PUA in two categories with one split payment, create one category for the policy and move the money into it. Then delete the split payment in YNAB, and choose Create a new one in IBC Tool.

One payment for two policies. Each policy keeps its own scheduled payment. One payment cannot cover two policies.

Stop or change the sync

  • Stop sync on a policy deletes the scheduled payment IBC Tool created for it, and stops the sync of its loans. Stop sync on a loan stops only that loan. A payment you took over stays in YNAB, and so do the categories and their targets.
  • A different YNAB plan in Settings removes the setup of every policy and loan, and deletes the scheduled payments IBC Tool created in the old plan.
  • The transactions of your one-time PUA contributions stay in YNAB when you stop the sync, choose a different plan, or delete your account.
  • Disconnect in Settings deletes IBC Tool’s access to YNAB. The targets and the scheduled payments stay in YNAB. If you connect again to the same plan, the sync continues.
  • Deleting a policy deletes the scheduled payments IBC Tool created for it and its loans. Deleting a loan deletes the scheduled payment IBC Tool created for the loan.

If something needs attention

  • Deleted in YNAB. You deleted the scheduled payment in YNAB. IBC Tool does not create it again by itself. Choose Create a new one and select Save, then Start sync. The target keeps syncing in the meantime.
  • Needs attention. The message under the policy says what to fix. If the fix is in IBC Tool, for example a new category for one that is gone from YNAB, choose it, select Save, then Start sync. If you fixed it in YNAB, select Sync now on the YNAB card in Settings.
  • YNAB no longer allows IBC Tool to use your plan. You removed IBC Tool in YNAB, or YNAB ended the access. In Settings, select Connect YNAB again. If the card still shows Disconnect, select it first.
  • A one-time PUA contribution is not in YNAB. The message under the policy says which one. Check the account and the One-time PUA contributions category of the policy, and select Save if you changed them. Then select Start sync if the page shows it, or Reload from YNAB.
  • YNAB refused access to your plan. Your YNAB subscription or trial ended. The sync continues after you renew.
  • A new category or payment is missing from the lists. IBC Tool keeps the YNAB lists for 15 minutes. Select Reload from YNAB.

About YNAB

We are not affiliated, associated, or in any way officially connected with YNAB or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The official YNAB website can be found at https://www.ynab.com. The names YNAB and You Need A Budget, as well as related names, tradenames, marks, trademarks, emblems, and images are registered trademarks of YNAB.