Watch the full walkthrough video before getting started: 🎥 Real-Time Cards Video Walkthrough
The Real-Time Cards feature lets you link a credit card and receive an instant text notification whenever a transaction is made so you can categorize expenses and upload receipts right from your phone, in real time.
This is especially useful if you have team members or employees making purchases on a card. Rather than relying on spreadsheets or folders full of receipts, whoever made the purchase will immediately receive a text with a link to open the transaction and fill out all the details directly from their phone.
While we’re working toward supporting all card networks, this feature is currently available only for Mastercard transactions.
How to Link a Card
Go to Accounts → Credit Cards → Link a New Card
Switch to the Real-Time Cards tab
Click Add a Card, then Continue
Enter your card details: card number, name, security code, expiration date, and country, and click Connect
Your card will now appear in your Credit Cards list!
Already have the card connected via External Cards? No problem! Re-adding it here won't create duplicate transactions. Going forward, Clearing will use the Real-Time Cards feature to pull in transactions instead of the original Plaid connection.
How to Set Up Your Card Settings
Once a card is connected, click into the card details to configure your settings and add a phone number.
Note: category and asset settings are universal across all of your Real-Time Cards. Set them up once and they will apply to every card you add.
Categories
Add the expense categories relevant to your credit card purchases — maintenance, supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. This narrows down your full category list in Clearing to only what's relevant, making it faster and easier to categorize on the go. You can add as many or as few as you need, and you can create a new category directly from this screen if one doesn't exist yet.
Assets
Select the properties that should be available when filling out a transaction. If your cards are only used for a handful of properties, add just those. If they're used across all properties, add them all.
Phone Number
You need to enter and verify your phone number to receive real time notifications! Navigate to the "card details" section of your real-time credit card. You can add multiple phone numbers per card (useful if a card is shared between team members and you want everyone who might make a purchase to receive the notification). You can remove or add numbers at any time!
Enter your phone number and click Add and Verify Number
Click Verify Number and a code will be sent to your phone
Enter the code and click Check code
Make sure "Opt in to receive texts to this number for this card" is checked
Renaming a Card
You can also rename each card to make it easier to identify in your card list. For example, you could rename after the team member or property it's associated with.
How It Works: Logging a Transaction
When you make a purchase you'll immediately receive a text notification
Click the link in the text to open the transaction
Fill in the details: asset, category, and upload your receipt!
Hit Save and the details will instantly populate in Clearing as a pending transaction!
Splitting a Transaction
If a purchase covers multiple properties or expense types, you can split it:
Open the transaction and click Split by Item
Assign a dollar amount, asset, and category to each line item until your split amounts equal your total transaction amount
Hit Save, and the transaction will automatically split and appear as sub-transactions in Clearing
Viewing Transactions in Clearing
Under Transactions, your credit card transaction will appear as Pending until it fully syncs with your bank. All details added from your phone (category, asset, splits, and receipt) will be visible here.
To view an attached receipt, click Receipt below the transaction amount (and from within sub-transactions if splitting).
Need help? Reach out via the chat icon in Clearing and we'll be happy to help!