ZionsDirect brokerage and Interactive Brokers LLC clearing house - won't "dumb down" to work with Qu

Unknown

I am using Quicken Premier 2017 version R4 for Windows. I have been downloading transactions daily via One Step Update from the brokerage ZionsDirect for 5 years. Several months ago ZionsDirect switched to a new clearing house, Interactive Brokers. This entity provided Quicken downloads only as a Web Connect file, whereby I have to log onto their web site and manually download a QFX file. For the past week these QFX files have been non-functional. I sent this request for tech support:

<<Since
early yesterday I have been repeatedly generating and downloading third-party
reports in the Quicken format. The software on my PC cannot open them. I get
this error message: Quicken is unable to complete your request. [OL-220-A]
[OL-220-B]. I contacted Intuit tech support via chat and the rep said it is not a Quicken
problem, it is the FI's problem, and to contact you. I have previously opened
successfully your QFX files from inception until Jan. 19. If you wish I can
upload a QFX file and also the transcript of my chat with Intuit.>>

I received this reply from Interactive Brokers LLC:

<<Unfortunately the Quicken Rep you contacted may not have provided
accurate information. The error messages you are receiving can occur for
several reasons and in general would be due to a server connection
issue. Many times you are advised to contact your Financial Institution
because they may not be able to confirm where the server connection
issue is originating from.
But IB does not support the ability to
directly upload your statements to Quicken software. You are required
to manually download your statements from IB and manually import them
into Quicken Software, as such the error you received on Quicken
software will not occur with Interactive Brokers. We checked the
statements you are downloading from IB and confirm no issues with the
format or details within the statement itself. Unfortunately we would
have to advise you to continue consulting with Quicken support for this
level of assistance.>>

So here we have Quicken and Interactive Brokers blaming each other, and meanwhile the Web Connect QFX file generated today again refused to open.

It get worse. Much worse. I copied ZionsDirect on my request and this is their response:

<<When we previously asked IB for assistance with connectivity
to Quicken, they told us that their data downloads were programmed to be
utilized by programs that are more robust than Quicken.  Programs that are
utilized by high volume traders.  They said that Quicken may or may not be
able to read the file formats, and they said that they would not be dumbing
down the system to work with Quicken.>>

In spite of the fact that thousands of financial institutions provide downloads to Quicken software, Interactive Brokers LLC is not interested in "dumbing down" their data format to package a Quicken QFX file. Could Quicken provide assistance to Interactive Brokers LLC, so they can figure out how to generate a QFX file?

Unknown

Interesting enough I closed my Interactive Brokers account as of the end of December so I can't directly check this.  Importing QFX files was working up until that point.  Note I don't know how ZionsDirect would play into this.

But lets start with this:
"Could Quicken provide assistance to Interactive Brokers LLC, so they can figure out how to generate a QFX file? "

A request is pretty meaningless here, you need to contact Quicken support (and BTW Quicken is no longer owned by Intuit, they sold it last year):
http://www.quicken.com/contact-support Links are near the bottom of the page.

Now just for some "filler" information.
Most people think that when they are importing a QFX file all that is happening is that Quicken is reading that file and then importing the data.  And if that was the case then as long as the syntax was correct, it should import.  And in fact one cause an OL-220 is a syntax problem in the file.

But there is more going on than that.
There is a couple of sections in the QFX file (<FI> and <INTU.BID>) that Quicken uses to verify that they are "participating partners", and there is not only an interaction with the Quicken server, but also with the financial institution's servers.  For instance I have seen reports on here where some financial institution have rejected importing of QFX files that have dates in them older than 90 days.

The point is a "failure to verify" is also reported as OL-220.

Quicken support "should" be able to go through your logs and find the source of the problem.
If they won't/can't I think you will have to ask them to escalate the problem.

Just one other thought.
If you edit the QFX file and changed out the financial institution information for one that you know works.  And then import that (it would probably want to create a new account), and it works.
That would suggest the problem isn't the QFX file, but all the "communications" that happen in the background.

Unknown

P.S.  OL-220 is also reported if your version of Quicken is no longer supported for downloading.

Unknown

Many thanks for this super helpful information. Today I generated another QFX file from Interactive Brokers and my Quicken software opened it. Bottom line, problem solved, and I was able to retrieve all my transactions. Out of curiosity I opened one of the earlier bad files in Notepad and compared it to the good file just downloaded. The <FI> and <INTU.BID> entries are identical. Then I edited the bad file to replace the FI with Vanguard information, but it still failed to open. I would have tried Quicken support but the only formats available are chat and telephone. I don't see any way to put in an e-mail request to Quicken and attach files. If the problem recurs, though, I will persist.Thanks again.

Unknown

Reynold said:

Many thanks for this super helpful information. Today I generated another QFX file from Interactive Brokers and my Quicken software opened it. Bottom line, problem solved, and I was able to retrieve all my transactions. Out of curiosity I opened one of the earlier bad files in Notepad and compared it to the good file just downloaded. The <FI> and <INTU.BID> entries are identical. Then I edited the bad file to replace the FI with Vanguard information, but it still failed to open. I would have tried Quicken support but the only formats available are chat and telephone. I don't see any way to put in an e-mail request to Quicken and attach files. If the problem recurs, though, I will persist.Thanks again.

I believe that chat is just to get the contact made, if they need to get files from you they do change to email or you uploading files to a server.  They just have found that email is a poor first contact method.