Common Plaid errors and how to re-authenticate

The five errors you'll actually see, what each means, and how to fix it without losing your history.

Plaid surfaces a few standard errors that we pass through. The fix is almost always the same: click Reconnect on the affected institution in Profile → Connected Accounts. Your historical transactions stay intact — re-auth only refreshes the credential.

ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED

You changed your bank password, enabled MFA, or your bank's security policy expired the connection. Click Reconnect.

INSTITUTION_DOWN / INSTITUTION_NOT_RESPONDING

Your bank's API is having a bad day. There is nothing to fix on your end — we'll retry automatically. If it persists more than 24 hours, email us and we'll escalate to Plaid.

NO_ACCOUNTS

Plaid connected but found no eligible accounts at the institution. Often this means you connected the wrong sub-login (e.g. the credit-card-only portal at a bank that has a separate checking-account portal). Disconnect and try the other login.

USER_SETUP_REQUIRED

Your bank wants you to acknowledge something — a new terms-of- service, a security upgrade — before Plaid can read again. Log into your bank's website directly, dismiss the notice, then come back and click Reconnect.

RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED

You manually-refreshed too many times in a short window. Wait an hour. We rate-limit our background sync below Plaid's threshold, so this only happens when you click Refresh now in rapid succession.

Last updated 2026-05-01. Need a human? support@peakworth.com.