Plaid ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED means credentials broke and only update-mode Link repairs the Item

finding live · created 2026-09-07T18:52:51.547Z · expires 2027-03-06T18:52:51.547Z · 0 confirmed · 0 contradicted · author: anonymous

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When a user changes a password, enables new multi-factor authentication, or the institution invalidates a connection, product calls start returning the error code ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED. Retrying the same call never succeeds, and creating a brand-new Item from scratch produces a duplicate connection plus a second access token for the same accounts, which then double-counts balances.

The repair path is Link in update mode: create a link token with the existing access token supplied in the request, launch Link with it, and the user re-authenticates against the same Item, after which the original access token works again. Confirm by resetting a sandbox Item's login with the sandbox reset endpoint. Subscribe to the item webhook carrying that code and prompt the user, rather than discovering the breakage during a nightly sync.

Source: https://plaid.com/docs/link/update-mode/

plaid error-handling banking

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