When a Xero bank feed is not working, the cause is usually one of three things: the connection's permission has expired, the bank changed something on its side, or there is a wider outage. Check Xero's status page first, renew the connection if Xero asks, and then import a statement for any days the feed skipped.
Signs that a Xero bank feed has stopped
A Xero bank feed has stopped when new transactions are missing for longer than your bank normally takes to post them. A one-day delay is normal, especially over a weekend. Several business days with no new lines, while your online banking shows activity, means something is broken and needs your attention.
What a healthy feed looks like
Most feeds deliver yesterday's posted transactions sometime the next day. Card purchases that are still pending at the bank usually do not appear until they settle. So if you bought something this morning and it is not in Xero this afternoon, that is expected. Look instead at the date of the newest line on the account's bank statement list in Xero, and compare it with the newest posted transaction in your online banking.
Clear warning signs
- A message on the bank account. Xero often shows a banner or a notice on the dashboard panel when a connection needs attention. Read it before doing anything else, because it usually names the fix.
- A gap that keeps growing. The newest line in Xero is from a week ago and has not moved since.
- Some accounts work and one does not. If your checking account updates but your card does not, the problem is specific to that one connection.
- Lines arrive, but the balance looks wrong. This is a different problem: lines are coming in, but some are missing or doubled. That calls for a reconciliation check, not a reconnection.
A quick diagnosis table
| Symptom | Likely cause | First check | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| No new lines for every account at one bank | Outage at Xero or at the bank | Xero status page and its bank feed disruptions page | Wait, then import any gap |
| One account stopped after months of working | Expired permission | Notice on the account in Xero | Renew or reconnect the connection |
| Stopped right after you changed your bank login | Login or security change | Your bank's online banking | Reconnect with the new details |
| Stopped after a bank merger or new account number | Bank-side change | Letter or email from the bank | Set up a new connection for the new account |
| Lines arrive but some days are missing | Partial delivery | Compare Xero with the bank statement | Import the missing days only |
These rows describe common patterns, not a complete list. Your own bank may behave differently.
Is the Xero bank feed problem on Xero's side or the bank's?
Before you change any settings, find out whether the problem is widespread. Xero publishes service health on its own status page, and that page points people with feed trouble to a separate list of bank feed disruptions. If your bank is listed there, nothing you change will help, and the right move is to wait.
Checking Xero's status page
The Xero status page shows the current state of Xero's platform, products and regional services. It also states that if you have an issue with your bank feed, you should check Xero's Bank Feeds Disruptions page. Look for your bank by name there.
Checking the bank's side
If nothing is listed, log in to your online banking. Make sure the account is open, the transactions you expect have posted, and there is no message asking you to accept new terms or confirm your identity. Banks sometimes pause sharing with outside apps until you respond to a security prompt. That pause looks the same as a broken feed from inside Xero.
When it is just your organization
If there is no outage and your bank looks normal, the problem is probably the connection between your Xero organization and that bank account. The next two sections cover the two usual reasons.
Expired Xero feed connections and how to renew them
A feed connection that worked for months and then stopped has often expired. Many feeds run on a permission you gave the bank to share data with Xero, and that permission can lapse after a set period or after a security event. Renewing it from the bank account in Xero usually brings the feed back.
Renewing from inside Xero
Xero shows a notice on the homepage when a feed's consent is due for renewal. Xero's guide to connecting your bank gives the route: in the Accounting menu, select Bank accounts, then click Renew bank connection for that account. You will usually be sent to your bank's site to log in and approve sharing again. When you return to Xero, the account should show the connection as active.
What happens to the days in between
Once the permission is back, the feed may fill in the missed days on its own. It may also start from today and leave a hole. Do not guess. Wait a day after reconnecting, then compare the dates in Xero with your bank's records. How much history any feed can pull is limited; how far back a Xero bank feed goes explains what to expect from a fresh or renewed connection.
Keeping it from happening again
Note the date you renewed the connection in your calendar. If your bank's permission expires on a fixed cycle, a reminder a week before saves you a gap. If you share bookkeeping with someone else, make sure the person who renews has the bank login, because only the account holder can usually approve sharing.
Bank-side changes that break a Xero feed
Banks change things that cut a feed without telling Xero first. A new login system, a merger with another bank, a new account number, or moving your business account to a different product can each end the old connection. In these cases renewing the old feed rarely works, and you need a new connection for the new account.
Changes to watch for
- A merger or rebrand. The bank you connected may no longer exist under that name, and the new bank may need a new connection.
- A new account or card number. A replacement card after fraud, or an upgraded account, can carry a new number. The old feed points at the old number.
- A new online banking platform. Banks that move to a new platform often ask customers to set up outside connections again.
- Changed login or two-step verification. A new password or a new verification device can break a saved connection.
What to do
Read any letters or emails from the bank in the last month. If one mentions a new account number or a new platform, set up the connection again for the account as it now exists. If the account number changed, consider whether you need a new bank account in Xero or whether the existing one can be reconnected. Ask your bank which account number now holds the money, and match it in Xero.
When the bank stops supporting the feed
Sometimes a bank stops offering a direct feed to Xero altogether. When that happens, file imports become your routine. Most banks still let you download transactions as a file, and if you can get an OFX download, importing an OFX file into Xero walks through the upload. If you are comparing Xero with other software because the feed keeps failing, every way to bring transactions into QuickBooks, compared shows what the other side offers.
Should you delete the Xero bank account to fix a dead feed?
No. Deleting or archiving the bank account in Xero to start fresh is the change that causes the most damage. You can lose the link between old statement lines and your reconciled transactions, and a new account starts with an empty history. Reconnect the existing account instead, and ask Xero support if that fails.
What deleting puts at risk
Your reconciled history lives in that bank account. Reports that show cash by account, and your reconciliation history, depend on it. A new account with the same name is a different account to Xero. Moving transactions back is slow and easy to get wrong.
Other changes to avoid while the feed is down
- Do not type the missing transactions in as spend and receive money entries and also import them. You will end up with both a manual entry and an imported line for the same payment.
- Do not import a whole month to fill a three-day gap. The days that the feed already delivered will come in twice.
- Do not reconnect a feed to a different Xero bank account by mistake. Read the account name and last four digits before you approve.
When starting over is reasonable
A brand-new organization with no reconciled history yet is the one case where removing and adding the account again costs little. Even then, check with Xero support, since they can often see why a connection failed.
Filling the missing Xero feed days with a statement import
Once the feed is running again, or if it will not come back soon, fill the gap with a file. Import only the days the feed did not deliver. Start the file the day after the last line already in Xero, and end it the day before the first line the renewed feed brought in.
A worked example
Here is an example with made-up dates. The newest line in Xero before the problem is dated 2026-09-11. After you renewed the connection, the feed delivered lines from 2026-09-22 onward. The gap is 2026-09-12 to 2026-09-21. Your file should contain only those ten days.
- Download transactions from online banking for 2026-09-12 to 2026-09-21. Use CSV or OFX if the bank offers them.
- Open the file and delete any row outside those dates. A CSV is easy to trim in a spreadsheet.
- In Xero, open the same bank account and import the file as a statement.
- On the review screen, check that the first and last dates match the gap.
- After saving, compare the balance Xero shows for the account with your bank balance on 2026-09-21 and on the latest feed date.
If the bank only gives you a PDF
Some banks let you download a PDF statement but not a file for a custom date range. You then need to turn the PDF into rows first. Converting a PDF statement to OFX explains what that conversion involves and when a CSV is the simpler output. SimpleBankConvert is being built to turn a PDF statement into a CSV in the shape Xero's import expects, and you can ask to be told when it opens on the get started page.
Checking the result
If the balances agree after the import, the gap is closed. If they are off, the difference is usually one transaction on a boundary day that is either missing or in Xero twice. Search for that exact amount on 2026-09-11, 2026-09-12, 2026-09-21 and 2026-09-22 in the example, since boundary days are where overlaps happen.