How to link a bank account

There are 3 ways to securely link your bank account to Mainvest in order to make investments.

Isabel Strobing avatar
Written by Isabel Strobing
Updated over a week ago

It is secure and simple to link a bank account on Mainvest. Once you link your account, you won't have to do this again for future investments or repayments. You can manage payment methods at mainvest.com/dashboard/bank-accounts. First, choose "Add a Payment Method"

Then, you can proceed with one of three options to link your bank account.

Linking via Plaid

Plaid is the industry leader in bank linkage, trusted by Venmo, Acorns, and Chime. To link via Plaid, all you have to is follow the on-screen prompts to log into your account through online banking. From there, choose your checking account and you'll be all set to invest.

Linking via voided check

If Plaid doesn't have a connection with your bank, you can upload a picture of a voided check to proceed with investing. Ensure that the routing and account number are clear, that the name on the check matches the name on your account, and that it's a photo or scan of a physical check.

Linking via account and routing number
Enter your account and routing number. Within 1-3 business days, we will send 2 small deposits to your account of just a few cents each. Once you see those deposits in your account, return to mainvest.com/dashboard/bank-accounts (you'll also see a box in the lower left corner of the screen asking you to "verify your account.") Enter the two deposit amounts, and you'll see your bank account confirmed. Once your account is linked, you will need to return to the the offering page and restart the investment process. We don't save your progress or automatically process investments in case any changes need to be made, so you can start a fresh investment, where you'll be able to review all information and complete a final sign-off.

Completing your Investment

Once your bank account has been linked, you can complete your investment by returning to the offering page, entering your investment amount, and clicking "invest." From here, you'll bypass the bank linkage process and go straight into a final review of disclosures and sign-off. You'll receive a confirmation email when your investment is complete.

Security on Mainvest

Mainvest takes privacy extremely seriously. We use 256-bit AES encryption to store any information on our website. This is the same security standard that is used by US Banks and the military. Sensitive information is only used for identity verification purposes required by the Bank Secrecy Act. We also use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for security by making an encrypted link between a users' browser and our associated servers. Plaid, the partner we use to connect to bank accounts, is trusted by Venmo, Coinbase, and SoFi, and is the industry leader in bank linkage. Furthermore, our third party financial technology partner has done a cyber code security audit of Mainvest. As we are a regulated entity, FINRA does periodic reviews of our security practices, which includes getting approval to operate an online funding portal in the first place.

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