RESOLVED:Citi Cards Direct Connect is now broken

Chris_QPW

It looks like whatever Citibank did to fix Express Web Connect has somehow broken Cit Cards Direct Connect.

It now refuses all log ins.

What's more if you deactivate and reactive you get this message:
"We've recently updated our online banking experience. To continue using this app, you'll need to relink the app to your Citi account. You can complete this at https://citi.com/datamanagement. As a reminder, only credit card accounts can be linked."

The link is wrong BTW it should refer to this page in at Citi.
https://online.citi.com/US/ag/ofxConsentPage

Which is under Profile -> More Settings -> Manage Desktop Apps

Citi requires that Quicken be authorized, and so when it fails to log in that is why it is trying to suggest going to this page and authorized Quicken access.  But it shows that Quicken has already been authorized, it won't allow the log in.

Boatnmaniac

I just confirmed with Citicards tech support that Citi has blocked access for DC connections while they are performing system maintenance.  No ETA was provided for when this maintenance would be completed other than it might get completed today or it might be tomorrow. 

This is NOT a Quicken version or revision issue...it affects ALL versions and revisions (as is evidenced earlier in this thread).

So, we just need to sit tight until Citi completes their maintenance.

EWC and Web Connect are available for those who simply cannot wait for Citi to complete their maintenance.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello all,

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to report this issue.

We are aware of this issue and are currently investigating this further.

This post will be moved to the "Current Online Banking Issues" section.

The post will then be updated as soon as any new information becomes available.

Thank you,

-Quicken Tyka

Quicken_Tyka

Update:

We are currently seeing an increase in OL 332-A With Citi Cards

We are aware of the issue, please try updating again after 24-48 hours.

If you would like to be automatically updated once updates and/or a resolution becomes available, please navigate to the alert at the link below and "bookmark" the Alert by clicking the yellow star icon in the upper right of the post.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7877513/new-6-29-20-citibank-cards-returns-a-ol-332-error#latest

Thank you!

-Quicken Tyka

Sherlock

It may look like there is causation but it is unlikely. 

For what its worth, my last successful Direct Connect update from Citi Cards was yesterday at 9:53 pm PDT - many hours after Express Web Connect began working again.

I suggest patience.  

Chris_QPW

@Sherlock agreed.  The human mind loves to connect things that happen in a similar time frame.  

Unknown

First, regarding Express Web Connect vs. Direct Connect, I prefer Direct Connect because it doesn't serve transactions via nightly account aggregation.
It's also bidirectional (e.g., bill pay), if you care about that.

I think that the issues with Direct Connect are related to a combination of:
1. Citi Cards started requiring Direct Connect username/password that are separate from web login credentials sometime in the past year
2. Quicken R27.24 is being identified differently than previous versions to Citi Cards

This is based on the following.

My issues started after updating to version R27.24

I have two citi.com logins. During diagnosis of this problem, I removed app access for Quicken in one, but not the other.

I created a new data file and tried adding accounts using Direct Connect from both citi.com logins:
Account List->Add Account->Credit Cards->Citi Cards->Advanced Setup->Direct Connect

Accounts from both citi.com logins behaved identically, even though only one has Quicken app access.
App Access is started at citi.com with Profile->More Settings->Manage Desktop Apps->Add Access

Without Add Access running, adding accounts yielded:
popup
Sorry. We encountered an error. (It's not your fault.)
We've recently updated our online banking experience.
To continue using this app, you'll need to relink the app to your Citi account.
You can complete this at https://citi.com/datamanagement.
As a reminder, only credit card accounts can be linked.

With Add Access running, adding accounts yielded:
popup
You need login information from Citi Cards in order to have automatic downloads in Quicken.
CONNLOG.TXT
Information does not match with our record.
Please make sure you select the correct Financial Institution and enter correct username/password.

This implies the following:
1. old app access is not valid for version r27.24
2. with app access being requested at citi.com, login credentials are not valid for Direct Connect

Chris_QPW

@Jim very interesting.  On this one:
1. Citi Cards started requiring Direct Connect username/password that are separate
from web login credentials sometime in the past year

I never got any notice about this and I have been using the same password for years, so I wonder if that could be the problem that finally something like that changed.

Do you remember how you are suppose to get the new Direct Connect username/password?

One version of Quicken I don't think it is that because I have tried installing the old patches and get the same problem.

I have a feeling what triggered the change is that they change the fidir.txt list which controls what services are available for each financial institution (the fidir.txt is updated as part of installing new release, but is also updated from time to time on its own.).  That would line up with them fixing the Express Web Connect if they had to change the fidir.txt to fix that problem.

Before when you selected "Citi Cards" as your financial institution you never had to go to the Advanced Setting to select Direct Connect it was the default, which I think means that they didn't have Express Web Connect in the old fidir.txt.  In any case it suggests that something about it changed.

Chris_QPW

Sure enough I was able to find a two day old version of fidir.txt and the Citi Cards entry has changed.

New:

04894 04894 04894 Citi Cards https://online.citi.com/US/login.do 1-800-347-4934 https://online.citibank.com/US/JPS/portal/Index.do ACTIVE CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&DIRECT CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

Old:

04894 04894 04894 Citi Cards https://www.citicards.com (800) 950-5114 https://www.citicards.com ACTIVE CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&DIRECT CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

Unknown

What's the implication of the change in fidir.txt?
Is that file part of the Quicken release files and could it be reverted?

I spent time speaking with tech support for both my MasterCard and Costco Visa logins in attempts to get Direct Connect username/password.

MasterCard support was totally clueless, but did "enable Direct Connect", which I tested and it failed.

Costco Visa support was much better and did the same enable, but it also failed. He spoke with a supervisor, who claimed that Citi Cards only supports Express Web Connect, not Direct Connect.

Any chance that the new fidir.txt is directing to CitiBank, which does not support Direct Connect?

Chris_QPW

Jim said:

What's the implication of the change in fidir.txt?
Is that file part of the Quicken release files and could it be reverted?

I spent time speaking with tech support for both my MasterCard and Costco Visa logins in attempts to get Direct Connect username/password.

MasterCard support was totally clueless, but did "enable Direct Connect", which I tested and it failed.

Costco Visa support was much better and did the same enable, but it also failed. He spoke with a supervisor, who claimed that Citi Cards only supports Express Web Connect, not Direct Connect.

Any chance that the new fidir.txt is directing to CitiBank, which does not support Direct Connect?

The URL that Quicken is suppose to use to connect to has been changed.
Now there isn't anything stopping them to make the two different URLs be directed to the exact same login page, but the very fact that they have changed implies that more changes happened on their side.

Unfortunately even though Quicken lets us see the fidir.txt file that is using, changing it doesn't change what Quicken really uses internally.  So we can't even try that.

But in truth that might not even matter.

Lets say https://www.citicards.com is directing Quicken to a give server running the OFX server software.

And then they decide to move it to another server, and shutdown this one.

So now they tell Quicken to go to: https://otherserver.com
But "othersever.com" is somehow setup wrong and fails.

Now it doesn't matter which one you point to they both don't work.

Chris_QPW

BTW one thing that is "encouraging" is that for the checking and savings accounts you have this:
02102 02102 02102 Citibank http://www.citibankonline.com
And for Citi Cards this:
04894 04894 04894 Citi Cards https://online.citi.com/US/login.do

So at least they are different URLs which hopefully means that they haven't really dropped Direct Connect in favor for Express Web Connect only (the fidir.txt entry suggests they haven't done that yet).  And so there is hope that they will fix it.

And just to be clear only Citibank can fix this.

Note that the fidir.txt file gets updated about once in 4 days even if you don't install a new version of Quicken, so I suspect people will start coming in complaining about this as time goes on.

BobC

Hello all:

FWIW, I refused to install R27.24 yesterday, and so have avoided some potential issues with it.  I was, and still am, running 2020 Home Business & RP, Version R26.23, Build 27.1.26.23, on an LG gram 17 Model 17Z90N-R.AAC8U1 computer, using an i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30 GHz 1.5 GHz processor, with 16.0 GB memory, a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB SSD, with Windows Pro 10, version 10.0.18363, Build 18363.900.

This morning, at around 9:00 AM PDT, I did a OSU, and found a download failure for my two Citibank Credit Card accounts - AT&T Master Card & Costco Visa Card, which had worked without issue at 5:37 PM PDT on 6/25/2020.  The Citi Cards item in the OSU Summary showed OL-332-A, for the two accounts and stated my login information was incorrect.

While I don't understand all of the details you (Chris_QPW) discussed above, this feels consistent with your evaluation/findings.  And my results suggest that the changes don't have anything to do, except perhaps coincidentally, with R27.24.  (Yeah, I know, I don't believe in coincidences either).

I had already set up, on the Citi website, last year, to allow Quicken to download from  the Citi web site, and I have checked and see that "registration" is still there, so that doesn't seem to be the issue now.

Chris_QPW - If I understand your evaluation correctly, it appears that Citi has to fix this so that downloads will be functional again, regardless of whether we use Direct Connect, (which is how my accounts were set up), or Express Wed Connect.  Will it do any good for me to call their Customer Support line?

Thanks to all,

BobC

Chris_QPW

BobC said:

Chris_QPW - If I understand your evaluation correctly, it appears that Citi has to fix this so that downloads will be functional again, regardless of whether we use Direct Connect, (which is how my accounts were set up), or Express Wed Connect.  Will it do any good for me to call their Customer Support line?

Thanks to all,

BobC

Actually you can switch to Express Web Connect.  They got Express Web Connect fixed yesterday after it was broken for  a couple of weeks.

This new problem only affects Direct Connect.

As for contacting Citibank's customer support.  If might help get the ball rolling a bit faster, but don't be surprised if they don't know what you are talking about unless you can get them to escalate the problem to the people that actually know about these things.

Sherlock

Chris_QPW said:

BobC said:

Chris_QPW - If I understand your evaluation correctly, it appears that Citi has to fix this so that downloads will be functional again, regardless of whether we use Direct Connect, (which is how my accounts were set up), or Express Wed Connect.  Will it do any good for me to call their Customer Support line?

Thanks to all,

BobC

Actually you can switch to Express Web Connect.  They got Express Web Connect fixed yesterday after it was broken for  a couple of weeks.

This new problem only affects Direct Connect.

As for contacting Citibank's customer support.  If might help get the ball rolling a bit faster, but don't be surprised if they don't know what you are talking about unless you can get them to escalate the problem to the people that actually know about these things.

Or, you may use Web Connect.

Note: If you do switch connection methods, Quicken may present downloaded transactions previously imported: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7179327/faq-i-have-a-manual-account-i-want-to-activate-for-downloading-how-do-i-prevent-duplicates

Chris_QPW

Sherlock said:

Or, you may use Web Connect.

Note: If you do switch connection methods, Quicken may present downloaded transactions previously imported: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7179327/faq-i-have-a-manual-account-i-want-to-activate-for-downloading-how-do-i-prevent-duplicates

Yes Express Web Connect it will duplicate the last 30 days of transactions because the Download IDs change.


For a temporary download workaround Web Connect (QFX file) is the better option like @[email protected] said because the Downloaded IDs won't change.

Scooterlam

FWIW, Citi Cards direct downloads is broken for me too. Throwing OL-332-A error.  Did an in-app "report a problem" referencing this thread.

bnc0123

I am also getting intermittent OL-332-A errors with Citi Cards and Quicken Windows Deluxe r27.24 as of June 26,2020. I use direct connect. The error is not consistent. I have not reset my account or password.

dwvaughn

I'm using Quicken for Mac and cannot download my Citi Card transactions. It says Citi Cards did not accept my login and to try again. I've tried several times and get the same message. It's been working fine until today. I deactivated downloads to the account and I cannot reactivate it.

kilingiros .

Started getting error OL-332-A today when downloading transaction to my citi cards. Have not changed my passwords. Reset account does not work. Deactivate/reactivate does not work. I have two distint accounts (mine and my wifes) that are getrting same errors. Quicken just resolved cc-601 error yesterday and today we begin with another! Can't one day go by without Quicken download failing????????

Herrick Inman

Since 6/26/2020, I've been getting error code OL-332-A when attempting one-step update of my CITI CARDS account. That account uses the "Direct Connect" connection method, so I assume the error is being caused by a problem with the CITI CARDS server maintained by Citibank.

pops-37

Message When Using Online Services: OL-332 or OL-330
Access via web browser to CITI works. Update in one step or via the individual account fail!!

taschoonenberg

Likewise I get error code OL-332 during one step update of CITI cards

Joel Steinbrunner

> @kilingiros . said:
> Started getting error OL-332-A today when downloading transaction to my citi cards. Have not changed my passwords. Reset account does not work. Deactivate/reactivate does not work. I have two distint accounts (mine and my wifes) that are getting same errors. Quicken just resolved cc-601 error yesterday and today we begin with another! Can't one day go by without Quicken download failing????????

I'm having the same issue. I can log into the Citi website and manage this card, so I'm certain the User ID and Password combo are correct. I've tried the normal troubleshooting steps for this error, but no luck. We use this account extensively, so I'm hoping this is resolved soon so I don't fall behind in entering transactions. Thanks!

Mark Veta

Me too! Exactly the same as all the above! Got a survey from Quicken this past week and my overriding gripe is the all too regular one-step update errors OL-XXX!!!!

leishirsute

Me also.  I wonder if Quicken stills shows as a valid app in CIti website for my account.
For me, Quicken is still a valid app on Citi account and last good access was 6/25.  Quicken access is currently broken.

Boatnmaniac

I'm having the same OL-332-A issue.  It started for me last night (about 10:30 pm CDT) with one of my cards and this morning for both of them.  Update Now and Reset Account didn't work, nor did reentering my Citicards PW.  It could very well be that Citi is doing system maintenance to accommodate the new DC URL or for some other reason.  When I logged into my online account this morning I could not access some online account features and Chat wasn't working which is usually a good indication that some sort of maintenance or server issue is occurring.  Will try again later today or tomorrow.  If it's still a problem on Monday then there might be something else (like the URL) that needs to be addressed.

gwj123

Getting same error too, seems to have started after this last update. Seems that almost every update breaks something... very sad.

Bob.

I have exactly the same issues. For just a few days now (after Ver 27.24 update?). And many replies to the OL-332-A Error says Direct Connect is not supported  and to use Web Connect. But ALL of my credit cards use Direct Connect and have for years without other than rare issue.

leishirsute

Just an FYI.  From a chat with Citi support (which solved nothing).  Then they finally said to call support.  If you do call, please let them know there are several people having this problem.  Chat support said they were escalating the problem but we'll see.  I plan to wait till Monday to see if problem resolves.  I suspect and am hoping that Citi is still doing weekend maintenance on Quicken access.  Most of these FI's are lousy about notifying anyone about scheduled maintenance downtime.
Citi Online Technical Support team is 1-866-544-5534 (TTY/TDD: 1-800-325-2865). This department is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.      

Bob.

leishirsute said:

Me also.  I wonder if Quicken stills shows as a valid app in CIti website for my account.
For me, Quicken is still a valid app on Citi account and last good access was 6/25.  Quicken access is currently broken.

I do not show any apps on Citi authorized and cannot see a way to do that.

OK. Just chatted and found it. There are two obvious places - this is the second one. I show Quicken 2018 though I am using 2020. I show successful last night, so must be ok as far as Citi is concerned.

gwj123

I switched to web connect for citi and it is working now. Will wait to see if the community reports direct connect is resolved before switching back.

Bob.

Thanks for that. Why would all my credit cards be set at Direct Connect of Web Connect works? What is the actual difference? Anyone know? I will search to see what I can find.

Bob.

Explanations here: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank

Cannot recall if I have any Bill Pay with Citi or other abilities to use Direct connect