Fidelity NetBenefits - Can't add accounts for both me and my spouse

dcozine

This seems to have been a problem for a long time (several years and numerous versions of Quicken - I've been a user since 2007), based on my own experience and other threads I've seen. 

 Please send this feedback directly to actual developers. 

 The problem is not that multiple logins are used for the same financial institution; I have cases where my spouse and I both have our own logins and accounts at the same bank, and those accounts are added/updated without issue. 

 The problem comes from having the same employer. Fidelity (and maybe others?) use a common plan number as an account number for all employees on a specific employer's plan. So even though my spouse and I have different accounts and different logins, the "account number" sent by Fidelity and stored in Quicken is the same, because we are both members of the same 403(b) plan that our common employer has. 

 Behind the scenes, you will need to update Quicken so that it uses a combination of Account Number and Customer ID to uniquely identify an account. Right now, it appears that the software is using Account Number only, and then struggles to behave correctly when that turns out to be not unique. 

 I look forward to finally having this ridiculous issue resolved.

NotACPA

The fundamental issue is that, legally, your employer owns the accounts.  You and your spouse are the "Beneficiaries" of those accounts ... not the owners.

Look at the legal title of the account on your statements to confirm this.

SO, until the law is changed, i really don't see that there's much that Q can do about it.

OR, one of you could change jobs

tkiyak

Actually, dcozine explained exactly what Q needs to do about it: "you will need to update Quicken so that it uses a combination of Account Number and Customer ID to uniquely identify an account. Right now, it appears that the software is using Account Number only. "

If Quicken was doing the matching using customer ID in addition to the Account Number, this would not happen. But because they do not, and only rely on the account number, that is what creates the mess. As dcozine mentioned, this has continued for more than a decade. At some point you would hope Quicken would resolve it.

Meanwhile, the workaround I had read previously that continues to work is to sync the accounts in two batches. You add "XXX" to the end of the account number in Account Details for one of the spouses and sync the other. Then, you delete the "XXX" from that second account, add it to the already synced account, an then sync the second account.

My wife and I have been doing this for many years now, but honestly it is getting tired and I would love to see Quicken take this on.

Kenzyrrrl

tkiyak, I do the "rename the accounts and download one at a time" routine as well. Before Quicken we used [Removed] and we were able to download transactions simultaneously for both of our Fidelity NetBenefits accounts with no problems. When we switched to Quicken I spent so much time trying to figure out why the Fidelity downloads weren't working until I came across the account renaming trick. So, if [Removed] could do it 15 years ago, why can't Quicken?