How do I correct an error made when managing the USAA/Schwab account transfer?

Roy Allen

I goofed when setting up my access to the Schwab accounts and didn’t realize there was a protocol for making that change. So I set up brand new accounts for Schwab and the connection works fine. The problem is the new accounts are being added to my previous USAA balances, roughly doubling the amount of my investment accounts. Question: Is there a way to correct this problem?

Frankx

Hi @Roy Allen,

It is difficult to know exactly what went wrong with what you've already done.  However, if the balances in Quicken are "roughly doubling the amount of [your] investment" is sounds like you have duplicate investments being held in the two accounts. 

I understand that Schwab bought the investment management business from USAA.  What you should have done was to transfer the assets/investments that were formerly held in accounts at USAA to Schwab at the time of the acquisition by Schwab.  You can fix it by making the transfer entries now to zero-out out the Schwab accounts.  Then you'll need to delete some of the opening balance transactions that you downloaded when you set-up Schwab.

There is also be another approach that you could take - to delete the new Schwab account and simply change the name, account number, etc. of the old USAA account to Schwab.  If you were downloading from USAA before you'll also need to deactivate that first (before you change the account information to Schwab).  You could then reactivate downloading for the account using the Schwab account & log-in information.  You'll likely still have to do some work making sure that all transactions are reflected in the account (since the Schwab buyout took place in 2019) but this is another option.

Whatever you decide to do - make sure that you backup your Quicken data file first before you start any of the steps above.

Let me know if you have any followup questions.

Frankx

Frankx

Hi @Roy Allen,

It is difficult to know exactly what went wrong with what you've already done.  However, if the balances in Quicken are "roughly doubling the amount of [your] investment" is sounds like you have duplicate investments being held in the two accounts. 

I understand that Schwab bought the investment management business from USAA.  What you should have done was to transfer the assets/investments that were formerly held in accounts at USAA to Schwab at the time of the acquisition by Schwab.  You can fix it by making the transfer entries now to zero-out out the Schwab accounts.  Then you'll need to delete some of the opening balance transactions that you downloaded when you set-up Schwab.

There is also be another approach that you could take - to delete the new Schwab account and simply change the name, account number, etc. of the old USAA account to Schwab.  If you were downloading from USAA before you'll also need to deactivate that first (before you change the account information to Schwab).  You could then reactivate downloading for the account using the Schwab account & log-in information.  You'll likely still have to do some work making sure that all transactions are reflected in the account (since the Schwab buyout took place in 2019) but this is another option.

Whatever you decide to do - make sure that you backup your Quicken data file first before you start any of the steps above.

Let me know if you have any followup questions.

Frankx

Roy Allen

To Frank X. Thanks for your help. I finally got some time to try your suggestions. Guess what, suggestion #1 worked. I'd been looking at that possibility but hadn't tried it. Your comments focused my efforts and I got the job done. Everything is working fine now. Thanks again.

Frankx

Hi again @Roy Allen,

Glad to have helped.  Take care!

Frankx