Dr Bling Bling
How to track your spending without Open Banking
Open Banking is safe enough. You may still not want your whole spending history sitting with another company. You have three other options.
What Open Banking does and does not do
It is regulated, and it lets an app read your account without ever being given your bank password. That is a real improvement on what came before.
What it does not change is where your data ends up. Your transactions are copied to the app's systems, and connections usually need renewing every so often. If the app closes, as Money Dashboard did in 2023 and Moneyhub did in 2026, your history can go with it.
Way one: type everything in
A manual app keeps you close to every pound, and for cash it is the only way. The cost is that one busy week breaks the habit, and a record with gaps in it does not tell you much.
Way two: a spreadsheet
Your bank will give you a CSV or a PDF. Sorting it by hand costs nothing and keeps you in charge. It also takes about an hour each month, and card payments have to be left out or you count your shopping twice.
Way three: an app that reads statements
Dr Bling Bling reads the PDF, Excel or CSV statement your bank already gives you. A photo of a paper one works too. It reads it on your iPhone, sorts the payments, and asks about what it cannot place. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account.
It knows British shops and handles pounds. British statements should read well, though Santander Portugal is the only bank walked through end to end so far.
What you give up
Nothing arrives by itself, and you get no live balance. You see last month once you have added last month's statement. For checking whether your rent has gone out today, use your bank's app. For seeing where a year's money went, a statement is the better source.
See what your own statement says
Free to download, and every way of adding a statement is free. No bank login, no account, no subscription.
Questions people ask
Is Open Banking safe?
It is regulated and the app never sees your bank password. The choice is about where your history is kept, not about whether the connection is secure.
Which UK bank statements work?
Any clear PDF, Excel or CSV should read. If a figure does not add up, the app says so rather than guessing.
Keep reading
Written by the people who make Dr Bling Bling. Checked on 1 November 2026. Sources: Which? on Open Banking apps.