Citi credit card won't reconcile when there is a credit balance

Jim_Harman

I am in the somewhat unusual position of having a credit balance on a Citi credit card, i.e. I have paid more than the total amount due. The running balance in the register is black, as it should be. The account is set up to download transactions via Direct Connect.

In Qwin 2018 R10.10, when I click on Reconcile, the online balance in the first dialog shows as -xxx.xx. In the main reconcile dialog, the cleared balance shows as -xxx.xx and the Statement ending balance shows as xxx.xx, for a difference of 2 * xxx.xx. Thus the account won't reconcile, even though all the transactions are correct.

Searching through the OFX log, I see that Citi is sending a negative number for the the balance regardless of whether the balance is positive or negative, so this is clearly a problem at Citi.

Am I, just one credit card customer, supposed to complain to Citi about this, or is there someone at Quicken who already has a relationship with the Citi IT folks and could work this out?

UKR

Jim,
is there a way that you can include screen snapshots of what you are seeing, to document your case?

Jim_Harman

Here is the bottom of the account register


You can see it has downloaded a negative number for the online balance even though the balance is actually positive. It is also negative in the OFX log, so the wrong sign appears to be coming directly from Citi.

In other credit card accounts that don't have a credit balance, both balances are negative as you would expect.

When I click on Reconcile, I get first this



and then this in the Reconcile window

volvogirl

Seems right to me. The online balance should not be positive since you don’t owe, you have a credit balance. This post (also by UKR) should help.


https://getsatisfaction.com/quickenco...

Jim_Harman

Seems right??? I don't think so.

On credit cards where I owe money, the Online Balance at the bottom of the register is negative, matching the Ending Balance (both are red)

On this card, the Ending Balance is positive because I have paid too much. The Citi website agrees that I have a credit balance, but the downloaded online balance is negative by the same amount, indicating that I owe money.

In the past, with me actually owing money, this account has always reconciled just fine to the online balance.

I can force it to reconcile by over-riding the online balance, accepting the warning dialog, and entering -372.97 as the statement balance, but I think the reconcile to the online balance should work even if there is a credit balance.

I predict that as I spend some more, the Ending Balance will go negative, the Online balance will stay negative, and it will start to reconcile again.

NotACPA

Seems right??? I don't think so.

On credit cards where I owe money, the Online Balance at the bottom of the register is negative, matching the Ending Balance (both are red)

On this card, the Ending Balance is positive because I have paid too much. The Citi website agrees that I have a credit balance, but the downloaded online balance is negative by the same amount, indicating that I owe money.

In the past, with me actually owing money, this account has always reconciled just fine to the online balance.

I can force it to reconcile by over-riding the online balance, accepting the warning dialog, and entering -372.97 as the statement balance, but I think the reconcile to the online balance should work even if there is a credit balance.

I predict that as I spend some more, the Ending Balance will go negative, the Online balance will stay negative, and it will start to reconcile again.

Jim,It's a weird accounting thing.  YES, your balance is usually negative ... meaning that your owe money.
In this case, however, it needs to be a "negative" (meaning NOT) negative ...  or a positive number in order for the reconciliation to work.
Try reversing the signs for the fields that you input.

UKR

I agree with Jim. This does NOT look right.
The programmers need to take a look at this and perhaps follow up with the IT folks from Citi.

Jim_Harman

Seems right??? I don't think so.

On credit cards where I owe money, the Online Balance at the bottom of the register is negative, matching the Ending Balance (both are red)

On this card, the Ending Balance is positive because I have paid too much. The Citi website agrees that I have a credit balance, but the downloaded online balance is negative by the same amount, indicating that I owe money.

In the past, with me actually owing money, this account has always reconciled just fine to the online balance.

I can force it to reconcile by over-riding the online balance, accepting the warning dialog, and entering -372.97 as the statement balance, but I think the reconcile to the online balance should work even if there is a credit balance.

I predict that as I spend some more, the Ending Balance will go negative, the Online balance will stay negative, and it will start to reconcile again.

As I said above, if I click on Reconcile and reverse the sign in the Statement Balance field it does reconcile. Normally I have it set to reconcile automatically and I don't have to click on anything.

The issue is that when there is a credit balance in the account, the balance in this card's LEDGERBAL field of the OFX file is negative and it should be the same amount but positive. Citi is sending the wrong data.

Sherlock

When the Online Balance obtained by Quicken from the financial institution is not correct, I suggest using Paper Statement instead of Online Balance when reconciling the account.

Jim_Harman

Seems right??? I don't think so.

On credit cards where I owe money, the Online Balance at the bottom of the register is negative, matching the Ending Balance (both are red)

On this card, the Ending Balance is positive because I have paid too much. The Citi website agrees that I have a credit balance, but the downloaded online balance is negative by the same amount, indicating that I owe money.

In the past, with me actually owing money, this account has always reconciled just fine to the online balance.

I can force it to reconcile by over-riding the online balance, accepting the warning dialog, and entering -372.97 as the statement balance, but I think the reconcile to the online balance should work even if there is a credit balance.

I predict that as I spend some more, the Ending Balance will go negative, the Online balance will stay negative, and it will start to reconcile again.

Perhaps I should have titled this


...doesn't reconcile to downloaded online balance...


Instead of...won't reconcile...

Sherlock

Seems right??? I don't think so.

On credit cards where I owe money, the Online Balance at the bottom of the register is negative, matching the Ending Balance (both are red)

On this card, the Ending Balance is positive because I have paid too much. The Citi website agrees that I have a credit balance, but the downloaded online balance is negative by the same amount, indicating that I owe money.

In the past, with me actually owing money, this account has always reconciled just fine to the online balance.

I can force it to reconcile by over-riding the online balance, accepting the warning dialog, and entering -372.97 as the statement balance, but I think the reconcile to the online balance should work even if there is a credit balance.

I predict that as I spend some more, the Ending Balance will go negative, the Online balance will stay negative, and it will start to reconcile again.

Or better yet...

Citi Direct Connect posts incorrect Online Balance

Jim_Harman

Sherlock, I agree a better headline for this problem would be

Citi Direct Connect posts incorrect balance when credit card has a credit balance.

I am able to get it to reconcile manually by changing the sign of the online balance. 

From Harold's post earlier today, it seems it is still Intuit who manages the relationships with the FIs.

Quicken Sarah

Sherlock, I agree a better headline for this problem would be

Citi Direct Connect posts incorrect balance when credit card has a credit balance.

I am able to get it to reconcile manually by changing the sign of the online balance. 

From Harold's post earlier today, it seems it is still Intuit who manages the relationships with the FIs.

Hi Jim,

Sounds like you've done the heavy lifting for me on this one

Since the incorrect balance is being transmitted directly by Citi, unfortunately Quicken and our service partners do not have the necessary access to Citi's servers to correct the information.

If you haven't already, I recommend contacting the Online Banking team at Citi directly, providing them with the OFX log showing the incorrect balance and requesting an escalation to their OFX team to have the LEDGERBAL field corrected.

A regular customer service agent more than likely won't have any knowledge of this process so be sure you get in touch with the Online Banking team and if necessary request a Supervisor to ensure the escalation is done.

I hope this helps.

Sarah

Jim_Harman

Sarah, I am not optimistic that me contacting Citi will lead to a resolution, but I will give it a try and report back.

Jim_Harman

Well here is what happened

I called Citi, and spoke to an agent. He had me try a QFX download from the website. Opening this in Quicken sends the balance as a positive number so it now reconciles OK! 

After some back and forth explaining that the problem is with the OFX connection and him consulting a supervisor, he gave me an email address to send my OFX log.

I hung up and sent the log along with an explanation of the problem. I may have copied down the email wrong (he had a thick accent) - the email bounced back.

I called back, spoke to a different rep to try to get a correct email. She hung up on me twice.

I gave up on the phone support and went back to the website and noticed there was a way to download an OFX file. I tried that and without sending it to Quicken, opened it with a text editor and saw that the balance there is positive, i.e. correct!

I went back to Quicken and found that the password for Citi had disappeared from my vault. Does opening the downloaded QFX file do that? I couldn't find a way to add a password to the vault - in Tools > Password vault > Add or edit passwords the Add button is grayed out.

I deactivated and reactivated the account. This gives me an opportunity to add the password back to the vault, which I did.

The account reactivated OK, but now it is using Express Web Connect. Several dozen already-accepted transactions were downloaded. I deleted all of the duplicates and now it appears to have a correct online balance and everything reconciles!

So I am back in business, but not thanks to any help from Citi, and no longer using Direct Connect. I doubt many ordinary customers would have this much patience.

I give up, I'll try the EWC for a while. Is there a way to force it to go back to Direct Connect if I want to give that another try once the credit balance that caused the original problem is used up?

Bob_L

Well here is what happened

I called Citi, and spoke to an agent. He had me try a QFX download from the website. Opening this in Quicken sends the balance as a positive number so it now reconciles OK! 

After some back and forth explaining that the problem is with the OFX connection and him consulting a supervisor, he gave me an email address to send my OFX log.

I hung up and sent the log along with an explanation of the problem. I may have copied down the email wrong (he had a thick accent) - the email bounced back.

I called back, spoke to a different rep to try to get a correct email. She hung up on me twice.

I gave up on the phone support and went back to the website and noticed there was a way to download an OFX file. I tried that and without sending it to Quicken, opened it with a text editor and saw that the balance there is positive, i.e. correct!

I went back to Quicken and found that the password for Citi had disappeared from my vault. Does opening the downloaded QFX file do that? I couldn't find a way to add a password to the vault - in Tools > Password vault > Add or edit passwords the Add button is grayed out.

I deactivated and reactivated the account. This gives me an opportunity to add the password back to the vault, which I did.

The account reactivated OK, but now it is using Express Web Connect. Several dozen already-accepted transactions were downloaded. I deleted all of the duplicates and now it appears to have a correct online balance and everything reconciles!

So I am back in business, but not thanks to any help from Citi, and no longer using Direct Connect. I doubt many ordinary customers would have this much patience.

I give up, I'll try the EWC for a while. Is there a way to force it to go back to Direct Connect if I want to give that another try once the credit balance that caused the original problem is used up?

I agree about your patience! Check the online services tab to see if it offers the opportunity to upgrade to direct connect.

Jim_Harman

Well here is what happened

I called Citi, and spoke to an agent. He had me try a QFX download from the website. Opening this in Quicken sends the balance as a positive number so it now reconciles OK! 

After some back and forth explaining that the problem is with the OFX connection and him consulting a supervisor, he gave me an email address to send my OFX log.

I hung up and sent the log along with an explanation of the problem. I may have copied down the email wrong (he had a thick accent) - the email bounced back.

I called back, spoke to a different rep to try to get a correct email. She hung up on me twice.

I gave up on the phone support and went back to the website and noticed there was a way to download an OFX file. I tried that and without sending it to Quicken, opened it with a text editor and saw that the balance there is positive, i.e. correct!

I went back to Quicken and found that the password for Citi had disappeared from my vault. Does opening the downloaded QFX file do that? I couldn't find a way to add a password to the vault - in Tools > Password vault > Add or edit passwords the Add button is grayed out.

I deactivated and reactivated the account. This gives me an opportunity to add the password back to the vault, which I did.

The account reactivated OK, but now it is using Express Web Connect. Several dozen already-accepted transactions were downloaded. I deleted all of the duplicates and now it appears to have a correct online balance and everything reconciles!

So I am back in business, but not thanks to any help from Citi, and no longer using Direct Connect. I doubt many ordinary customers would have this much patience.

I give up, I'll try the EWC for a while. Is there a way to force it to go back to Direct Connect if I want to give that another try once the credit balance that caused the original problem is used up?

Specifying the FI as Citibank offers EWC only.

However it turns out this card was acquired by Citi a few years ago. If I select the original FI, AT&T Universal Card, it apparently connects differently to Citi and does offer DC. That's where I was connected originally and DC downloads the incorrect online balance.

Maybe if I specify Citi Cards or something as the FI, it will connect me to a DC server that sends the correct balance. 

I'm sure glad I don't work in IT or Support at one of these giant banks!