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Step By Step Guidance

Seven steps to set up Mortgage Vault, about 15 minutes in all, at your own pace.

The guide opens as a small panel in the corner of the real pages. Each part points at the button or form to use, so you read a step and do it right there, then move on.

How payments work in Mortgage Vault

Mortgage Vault does not process payments. You always pay your lenders, servicers and billers directly on their own websites or apps. Mortgage Vault organizes what you owe, reminds you when it is due, and keeps a link to each lender's payment page. If you connect your bank through Plaid, it also checks that a payment posted: when you click Sync with lender, on its own from time to time, and more often while a payment is pending. If your bank or lender cannot be connected, you mark payments paid yourself.

The seven steps

  1. Step 1: Set up your profile

    How you appear, how you sign in, which emails you get, and who else your subscription covers. About 2 minutes.

    What the guide covers
    1. How this guide works. This panel stays in the corner while you work. Each part points at the thing to use on the page behind it; do it there, then click Next. Fold the panel down whenever it is in your way.
    2. Settings is in your avatar menu. We have opened Settings for you. Next time, click your picture or initials at the top right, then Settings.
    3. Your profile. Click Upload (Change, once you have a photo) and choose a JPG or PNG up to 5 MB, then click Save avatar. Check your Full name and click Save if you change it. Your email is shown here but cannot be changed on this page.
    4. Your password. Click Change password, enter your current password and then your new one twice, and click Update password. A password manager makes a strong, unique password easy.
    5. Two-step sign-in. Signing in asks for a code sent to your email, and this card shows how many browsers are remembered and allowed to skip it. If one of those devices is lost or shared, click Forget all devices.
    6. Attention Digest email. Under How often, choose how often your Needs your attention list is emailed to you, then the time and what to include, and click Save digest settings. Nothing is sent when nothing is waiting.
    7. Email alerts. Every alert starts switched on: Past-due loans, Upcoming due (≤2 days), Incomplete loans & missing tax/insurance, and Weekly summary. Switch off any you do not want; each switch saves the moment you flip it.
    8. Account users. Type an email under Add a user by email and click Add user. Your subscription covers you and 2 more people at no extra charge, each with their own private login and workspace. We do not email them, so let them know to sign up with that address.

  2. Step 2: Get familiar with your Dashboard

    Your home base: what needs your attention, your snapshot, and your next payment. About 2 minutes.

    What the guide covers
    1. Your home base. This is your Dashboard, where you land after signing in. Get back to it from Dashboard at the top of the sidebar, or the Dashboard tab at the bottom of a phone screen.
    2. Needs your attention. What is past due, due soon or waiting on you, most urgent first. Each alert has its own button, such as Mark as paid or Complete setup, and the X dismisses it. Print and Email share the list as it stands.
    3. Quick Access. One click to Insights, View Portfolio, Amortization, Reconciliation, Tax Tracker, Property Expenses and Documents. Insights, View Portfolio and Reconciliation are not in the sidebar, so this is the way in.
    4. Your snapshot. Total Assets and Cash on Hand count only your share of anything you co-own, and Net Worth is those assets less everything you owe. Click a tile to see what makes up the number.
    5. Liabilities. Up to four of your loans and bills, with the balance or amount due for each. View All opens the full Liabilities list.
    6. Next payment and calendar. Next payment due shows the date and amount of your next payment. Days with a gold dot on the calendar have something due; click one to see what, and Clear to go back.
    7. Recent documents. The five documents you added most recently. Click one to open it, or All docs to see them all.

  3. Step 3: Add your loans, bills and assets

    Everything you owe goes in Liabilities and everything you own in Assets. Start with one and add the rest whenever you are ready.

    What the guide covers
    1. Liabilities. The sidebar has four sections: Liabilities, Assets, Records and Legacy Vault. This step covers the first two. Liabilities holds every debt, card and recurring bill, and its tools and categories are the coloured tabs at the top of its page.
    2. Add a loan or bill. Click Go to in the top bar and pick the closest match under Liabilities: Mortgage / Home Equity, Loan, Credit Card, Vehicle Loan / Expense, Property Tax / Insurance, Property Expense, Household & Personal Bill, or Personal & Compliance. On a category page the button names the one thing it adds.
    3. Fill it in and save. Each choice opens its own form. Fill in what you know and click the save button at the bottom, such as Save loan, Save credit card or Save bill. Nothing is recorded until you do.
    4. The next bill from a provider you already have. When a provider you already track sends its next statement, do not add the bill again. Open Liabilities, find that bill's card and click New bill. Enter the amount and due date off the statement, then say whether the last bill was paid: I paid it records that payment and closes it; Not yet means this statement replaces it. If you start typing a bill that is already on file, the form shows Already on file with an Enter new bill button that takes you there. Add a whole new bill only for a provider you do not have yet.
    5. Your home, once. If you own a home, click Add Property Tax / Insurance under the categories. It opens the property form: enter the home once and click Save changes. Its property tax and homeowners insurance bills then appear under Property Expenses.
    6. What you own. Click Go to in the top bar and pick what you own under Assets: Real Estate, Vehicle, Cash & Bank Account, Investment, Retirement Account, Business, Note Receivable, Personal Property or Insurance Cash Value. Fill in what you know and click the save button at the bottom, such as Save property or Save vehicle. On a kind's own page the button names it, such as Add Vehicle.

  4. Step 4: Link your bank to verify payments

    Connect the institution that holds a loan and Mortgage Vault can see that a payment posted, so you do not have to log in to every servicer to check. About 60 seconds to link.

    What the guide covers
    1. How payments work. Mortgage Vault never moves money. You pay your lenders and billers on their own websites; a connected bank only lets us see that a payment posted, and read balances and loan details.
    2. Start from a loan or card. Click Go to in the top bar and pick Mortgage / Home Equity, Loan or Credit Card under Liabilities. Bills cannot be connected, so those are always typed in.
    3. Connect lender. At the top of the form, click Connect lender (on a card it reads Connect issuer). Rather type it in? Fill in the form and click Save loan (Save credit card on a card) instead.
    4. Continue to Plaid. Read the short notice and click Continue to Plaid. Pick your bank and sign in inside Plaid's own window; Mortgage Vault never sees that login. The account is then added for you and opens so you can check it and click Save changes.
    5. Sync with lender. Sync with lender checks your connected banks for payments that have posted and brings balances up to date. Mortgage Vault also checks on its own from time to time, and keeps checking while a payment is pending.
    6. Not connected? Mark it paid. Open any account from the list. After you pay your lender, click Mark Paid on its page, enter the date and amount, and click Mark paid.
    7. Your connections. Every bank login you connect is listed under Connected institutions at the foot of Lenders. Connect another there, or click Disconnect to remove one.

  5. Step 5: Organize your records

    Tax records, your lenders' contact details and everyday documents, each in one place you can find later.

    What the guide covers
    1. Records. Records keeps what you hold rather than owe. It is three pages that share the row of tabs at the top: Documents, Tax Tracker and Lenders. Click a tab to move between them; start with whichever you have papers for today.
    2. Tax records. Click Add Tax Record to keep a return, W-2, 1099, K-1 or property tax bill. Pick the type, fill it in and click Save record; it is filed with your documents.
    3. Deductible expenses. Click Add expense to log a property tax, insurance or repair payment you plan to deduct, then Add expense. Mortgage interest is estimated from your loans, so you do not enter it here.
    4. Your lenders. Click Add Lender, pick the type, and fill in the name, mailing address, website and customer service phone; Save lender unlocks once all four are in. Open View loans and accounts referencing this lender to link what you hold with them.
    5. Upload files. Click Upload files for anything you already have as a file, such as a statement or closing packet. Choose its Category and what it Belongs to, then click Upload.
    6. Add a document. Click Go to in the top bar and pick under Records: Document, Insurance Policy, ID or License, or Membership Card. Fill in the form and save it; you can attach the scan afterwards. On an area's own page, such as Insurance, the button names it.
    7. Tags and folders. Documents are grouped by tag. Click Folders to see them by folder instead, and Edit on any document to change what it Belongs to, so a statement lives with its loan.

  6. Step 6: Set up your Legacy Vault

    Your estate essentials behind their own 6-digit PIN, and the people you trust with them. You decide who sees what, and when.

    What the guide covers
    1. Your vault's own PIN. The first time, choose a 6-digit PIN, enter it again under Confirm it, and click Set PIN and open the vault. After that, enter your PIN and click Unlock. It is separate from your password.
    2. Add your estate records. Click Add document and pick what you are adding, such as Will (Last Will & Testament), Trust or Life Insurance. Fill in the fields marked with a star and click its save button, such as Save Will; you can attach the signed copy on the next screen.
    3. Trusted people. Click Add Trusted Person. Enter their name and email, pick a Role, choose when access Unlocks, and click Add person. You can name up to 10 people.
    4. What each person sees. On the Trusted people tab, next to each person, click What they see, switch on what they may open, such as Estate records or Uploaded documents, and click Save. Nothing is visible to them until their access unlocks.
    5. Check-in. On the Check-in tab, set Check in every (days) and Grace period (days); each saves when you click away. Anyone set to unlock If I miss my check-in gets access once you miss one and the grace period passes. I'm here; check in resets the clock.
    6. Entrusted to me. Click Entrusted to me to see any vault someone else has named you in. Your own vault stays open for 30 minutes while you work; Lock now at the top closes it straight away.

  7. Step 7: Track payments and use the money-saving tools

    Once your accounts are in: every payment, everything coming due, and how extra principal shortens your loans.

    What the guide covers
    1. Payments. Every payment you record is listed under All payments with its status: Scheduled, Pending, Posted, Failed or Canceled. A Pending row has a Mark as paid button for once you have paid your lender.
    2. Calendar. Everything coming due across all your accounts, on a month grid with a chip for each payment: navy for a scheduled loan payment, gold for a bill or a card minimum, red for anything past due or up for renewal. Click a day to see its items. The Next 30 days and Next 90 days totals sit above the grid, and Heaviest week shows where money is tightest. Switch to List for the table of every upcoming payment, filtered to either horizon.
    3. Record extra principal. Pay extra on your lender's own website first. Then, to record it, click Record a payment, choose the loan, set Payment type to Apply this whole payment to principal, and click Amortization Schedule… (Schedule… on a phone), where you add it to the right month and commit it.
    4. Insights. Reached from Quick Access on the Dashboard. YTD paid, Deductible interest and the YTD Extra Principal total sum up your year, and Recent Payments shows your latest five.
    5. Portfolio. Also in Quick Access: your Payoff Date, Interest Saved and Equity Built, with the Savings Growth chart tracking the interest you have saved over time.
    6. Reports & Analytics. The Next Payment Due for every account, and a Lender Concentration chart of what you owe each lender. The Tax Insights tab estimates the interest you have paid, by account.
    7. Reconciliation. Compares each loan's Tracked, Computed and Bank-reported balance. Click Review on any row flagged Review, then accept one figure or click Mark reviewed.
What You'll Need Before You Start

Having these nearby makes setup quicker, but you can always add them later. The guide shows the list for each step as you reach it.

For each loan:

  • Lender name
  • Loan amount and current balance
  • Interest rate (%)
  • Loan term (for example 30 years or 15 years)
  • Loan start date
  • Monthly payment amount

For each property:

  • Property address
  • Purchase price and current estimated value
  • Property tax amount and due dates
  • Insurance carrier, policy number, premium and renewal date

For each utility or recurring bill:

  • Provider name
  • Account number
  • Average monthly amount
  • Due date each month

For your bank:

  • Your online banking username and password, entered in Plaid's own window; never seen or stored by Mortgage Vault

For health insurance:

  • Carrier (medical, dental, vision, Medicare supplement)
  • Policy or member number
  • Monthly premium
  • Renewal or plan-year end date
  • Primary insured and dependents covered

For life insurance:

  • Carrier
  • Policy number
  • Coverage amount
  • Premium
  • Beneficiary
  • Renewal or term end date

Don't worry if you don't have every detail. Save what you have now and update anything later.

Not for You? Cancel Anytime, No Questions Asked

We want you to love Mortgage Vault, but if it is not the right fit, cancelling is quick and simple:

  1. Open Settings from your avatar menu: your picture or initials at the top right.
  2. In the Subscription card at the top of Settings, click Manage subscription.
  3. Follow the prompts on the billing page it opens. It takes a few clicks.

No forms, no phone calls, no back and forth. Your account stays yours for the rest of your billing period, and you can always come back later if things change.

Thank you for giving Mortgage Vault a try. Whether you stay with us or move on, we truly appreciate you, and we wish you the very best on your financial journey.

Where to Get Help Anytime

Mortgage Vault is designed to be simple, but if you ever get stuck:

  • Open Help, the question mark at the top of the app, to pick the guide up where you left off or take a quick tour.
  • Visit the FAQ for answers to the most common questions.
  • Reach us through the Contact page if you need a human.
A Simple Rule to Follow

Every dollar you understand is a dollar you can protect.

Mortgage Vault is here to show you every number, every payment, every bill, and every opportunity to save. The more you use it, the more money you keep.