Bank of America's two-factor authentication

Scott Rose

Hi there,

Every time I try to update my online accounts in Quicken Mac, I'm asked for my 2-factor authentication information for Bank of America.

I'm assuming that there is no way around this? I'm using Quicken Connect to connect to Bank of America.

I would love to use Direct Connect if that would get me around this extra step, but I guess that Direct Connect is no longer offered by Bank of America to people who never used it before?

Thanks,
Scott

Quicken Hugh

Hello Scott, 

You are correct Scott, Two Factor Authentication (2FA) is now used my many Financial Institutions, including Bank of America. The decision to use, or not use, 2FA is determined by the FI themselves.

(Also, the exact format of 2FA used by an individual FI is determined by the FI themselves. There is no such thing as an industry standard two factor authentication. Sometimes you get a text code, or a call, or an email. The FI determines the exact 2FA formatting used on their systems.) 

You are correct, if a particular FI has instituted 2FA, there is no way around this requirement in the Quicken software.

We understand your consternation with having to repeatedly use 2FA. Some, but not all, FIs will over time 'learn' the trusted devices you log into their systems with, and then may not always require 2FA each time you log in.

Similarly, the available method(s) of connection is(are) determined by the individual FI. The method of connection used typically would not impact the use/non-use of 2FA at a particular FI.

I hope this better explains the situation, even if we can't get around this extra step security feature. Thank you for posting.

Quicken Hugh

Hello Scott, 

You are correct Scott, Two Factor Authentication (2FA) is now used my many Financial Institutions, including Bank of America. The decision to use, or not use, 2FA is determined by the FI themselves.

(Also, the exact format of 2FA used by an individual FI is determined by the FI themselves. There is no such thing as an industry standard two factor authentication. Sometimes you get a text code, or a call, or an email. The FI determines the exact 2FA formatting used on their systems.) 

You are correct, if a particular FI has instituted 2FA, there is no way around this requirement in the Quicken software.

We understand your consternation with having to repeatedly use 2FA. Some, but not all, FIs will over time 'learn' the trusted devices you log into their systems with, and then may not always require 2FA each time you log in.

Similarly, the available method(s) of connection is(are) determined by the individual FI. The method of connection used typically would not impact the use/non-use of 2FA at a particular FI.

I hope this better explains the situation, even if we can't get around this extra step security feature. Thank you for posting.

Scott Rose

Thanks so much! 

One thing that I realized is that this isn't really as bad as I thought it is, because as far as I can tell, Quicken for Mac can actually RECOGNIZE if there are new transactions waiting to be downloaded on the Bank of America server.

If there are NO TRANSACTIONS waiting to be downloaded, then it DOESN'T ask for the 2FA.

So, only if there ARE actual transactions waiting to be downloaded does Quicken actually prompt me for 2FA.

This is fine with me — my frustration was needing to keep entering the 2FA just to check if any transactions existed at all.

But if it only prompts me for 2FA when new transactions are actually there, then that's great! Because I know I'm entering my 2FA authentication for a reason.

Quicken Hugh

@Scott Rose Excellent! Your Financial Institution and QMac are trying to lessen the number of times you are required to use 2FA. Thanks for posting in this thread the additional information. 

Scott Rose

Actually, I think I might have been wrong — it seems like Quicken will always bring up the 2FA box once upon relaunching Quicken (even if there are no new transactions to download), but it doesn’t pop up multiple times within the same session.

Quicken Hugh

@Scott Rose
It is possible you set up password for your data file (which would popup each time you start up the Quicken software). Strictly speaking, that is not a 2FA function.
Alternatively, you might have the One Step Update set to run each time you open the data file, which could trigger a 2FA prompt.

Scott Rose

I’m actually talking about pressing shift-command-U after I launch Quicken. That always brings up the Bank of America 2FA screen one time only, even if I don’t have any transactions waiting for me to download. However, if I press shift-command-U again, the 2FA screen doesn’t come up anymore. It would be nice if Quicken didn’t bring up the 2FA at all if there were no transactions waiting on the server.

p.s. What is one step update?

Chris_QPW

Scott Rose said:

p.s. What is one step update?

It is the Windows term for what shift-command-U does on the Mac.

Edit on Windows it would be Ctrl+1 or press a button for that purpose.

Scott Rose

Ah, cool, thanks. This is called "Update All Online Accounts" on the Mac.

It actually took me a few months to get used to this new 2020 version of Quicken for Mac (I was upgrading from Quicken 2007), but it's actually pretty wonderful!

There are still a few things that need some work (manually editing stock prices from within the portfolio, handling payees needs a lot of attention, and the mobile app needs a significant amount of love) — but besides that, this new Quicken is pretty fantastic!