Ballerina

Why Ballerina

Know your real balance, not just what your bank shows you.

Merchants don't always charge you right away

When you buy something, the store doesn't always send the charge to your bank right away. Sometimes it's hours, sometimes days. Until it arrives, your bank doesn't know about it, so the balance you check can already be out of date.

Your bank's balance isn't always what you can spend

Your bank tracks your money a few ways, and they rarely match:

  • Available: updated in real time. Pending charges and holds (money set aside, like a gas pump or hotel deposit) are included in the balance before they clear. The safest to spend from, compared to current and ledger.
  • Current: cleared activity only, so pending charges aren't included in the balance yet.
  • Ledger: settled once at the end of each business day, for statements. Pending charges aren't included in the balance.

The number you see is often the current or ledger balance, not the available one. And none of them know about a charge the merchant hasn't sent yet.

How that turns into an overdraft

Your real balanceWhat your bank shows
Overdrawn-$100$0$250$500MonTueWedThu-$50You have $500 in the bank. You buy tickets for $300 (you now have $200). The merchant hasn't sent the charge.1You check your bank, it says $500. You buy $250 of groceries (you now have −$50 — overdrafted).2The ticket merchant sends the $300 charge.3The grocery store sends the $250 charge.4You check your bank and it's −$50.5
  1. You have $500 in the bank. You buy tickets for $300 (you now have $200). The merchant hasn't sent the charge.
  2. You check your bank, it says $500. You buy $250 of groceries (you now have −$50 — overdrafted).
  3. The ticket merchant sends the $300 charge.
  4. The grocery store sends the $250 charge.
  5. You check your bank and it's −$50.

The important part: you didn't do anything wrong. You checked your balance and trusted it. The merchant and your bank were just late in giving you an up-to-date balance.

Ballerina puts you in charge

Ballerina keeps your balance the way balancing a checkbook used to: you write down what you spend when you spend it, so your balance is right the moment you buy something. It doesn't wait for a merchant or a bank to catch up.

It's the old way done the new way. Each entry is marked pending until your bank clears it, so you can match the two. Recurring bills and paychecks are projected ahead, so you can see where your balance is going. And you can snap a photo of a receipt to have Ballerina fill in the entry details for you.

Open Ballerina