OL-220-A Error was Due to VPN

raardvark

I have been using VPN Unlimited (and Quicken) for years. About 2 weeks ago, I got a persistent OL-220-A error when trying to download from USAA, but not with with financial institutions. After going through all of the troubleshooting steps, including uninstalling and reinstalling Quicken, I discovered that the error was related to VPN Unlimited. If I turned it off, downloads were successful. VPN Unlimited allows the user to choose among 5 VPN protocols, but I found the problem occurred with each of them. I'm waiting to hear from VPN Unlimited support if there's a fix.

splasher

Good info, thanks for sharing.

Chris_QPW

You might actually be dealing with security measures at the financial institution.

The protocol you are using to connect to the VPN server shouldn't have any bearing on what is happening.
The flow is:
Quicken -> through your machine/VPN client -> (this is where the protocol is) VPN server ->  (Normal HTTPS protocol) to financial institution.

As far as your financial institution is concerned you are connecting from the VPN server.

One of the things I see lately is that the financial institutions are getting "worried" about where these Direct Connect connections are coming from.  I have seen several threads on Charles Schwab that they have been blocking IP addresses.

Also I have heard that Quicken Inc at least in some financial institutions is going to a reverse IP with Direct Connect.  As in Quicken gets an IP from a Quicken Server, which sets up the connection with the financial institution.  The result is the financial institution sees an IP address at Quicken Inc instead of the users.  This allows the financial institution to block anything not coming from that Quicken server IP address.

Chris_QPW

P.S. If can tell the VPN client not to include Quicken that would be a good solution.

All a VPN connection does (other than hide your IP address) is give you a secure connection between your machine and the VPN server.

Its main use is when you are on a network that isn't secure.
As in say you are at a coffee shop using their WiFi, and browsing the Internet.
Anyone that can tap into WiFi might be able to read what you are seeing.

On the other hand if the program you are using is establishing a secure connection like Quicken does to the financial institution(s) or the Quicken server they can't read what is going on.  The same would be true if you are in a web browser connected to a HTTPS site.  The conversation is encrypted.

I know that the VPN services like people to think that there is more to it than that, but all it is doing is giving you a secure connection from your machine to their server, and also hiding your IP address because the other side gets the IP address of the VPN server not your machine's.

When a business uses VPN they are running that that VPN server so it gives a secure connection between your machine and the business machines.

In the case of the VPN services of course you aren't connecting to their machines, you are connecting to the rest of the Internet, and that connection isn't any more secure than it would be from your machine.

raardvark

I shared Chris_QPW's suspicion that the cause was a change in the bank's security. I phoned USAA to discuss it -- they only allow phone contact; there's no email. The representative I was connected to was in "Web Support", and he was clueless about the error. He put me on hold while he "looks into this". After looking into it, he confirmed his cluelessness by telling me that his "looking into this" consisted of Googling OL-220-A. And he didn't even understand what he found. That's when I realized I had to try to find the cause myself.

Chris_QPW

This is the kind of thing that you would really have to get to talk to the IT people (which as you have found is hard to do).  And even then you might need to get to the "right person", the one supporting Quicken/Direct Connect.

OL-220A is a Quicken error, not something the average IT person would deal with.
"Blocked IP address" might work better, but even still this isn't their website, it is the OFX server, which may or may not be running on the same web server.

Chris_QPW

BTW This the number recommended from in Quicken:

raardvark

Thanks for pointing out that number. I went in through the main USAA number. I tried hard to get connected to USAA's Quicken specialist, and I'm sure they have one. The know-nothing Web Support guy insisted that there wasn't one. And since I've resolved the issue, probably won't spend any more time trying to get to the specialist.