posting date doesn't match between reconcile window and register

gwertzman

I am having a strange issue with the Posting Date. I have a transaction in my register with a Posting Date of 9/9/2020. But when I go to Reconcile my account, the same transaction shows a posting date of 8/20/2020. I feel like somehow maybe the posting date is being cached in the Reconcile process? But i've tried canceling reconciliation, and even quitting and restarting Quicken, and still the mismatch persists. I know it's the same transaction because when I select it and click "edit" in the reconciliation window, it takes me to the transaction in the register with the wrong date.

gwertzman

Mystery solved, I think. Each of these transactions where the posting date doesn't match are transfers to other accounts... and it looks like the transaction in one account can have a different posting date as the matching transaction in another account. It looks like Quick "matched" the transactions incorrectly during transaction download, resulting in this mismatched posting date. And the reconciliation window is picking up the posting date of the other account.

gwertzman

As a side note, it seems like this is a big problem for Quicken -- it shouldn't be matching transactions in one register with transactions in another register that have different posting dates, even if all other details seem to match.

Chris_QPW

Sorry but that's incorrect. What you are talking about is the transfer matching. If I transfer money from one financial institution to another. The two transactions are definitely going to have different posting dates in the different financial institutions. But they are still the same transfer.

It should be noted that transfer detection is just a guess it is matching the amount  withdraw to deposit around the same time frame.  This is why it's very important to have the confirm for that option turned on.  And when you're asked if this is the same transaction be sure it's correct.

gwertzman

Good point, but in this case the transfer is between two accounts in the same institution. But you're right -- when transfering between different institutions, you can't guarantee the same posting date.

I guess my bigger problem with the "is this the same transaction" prompt is that it doesn't actually give you enough information to make a reasonable decision. Especially when downloading transactions, it will pop up saying "is this the same transaction as...." and it doesn't show you full info for both transactions.

Chris_QPW

gwertzman said:

I guess my bigger problem with the "is this the same transaction" prompt is that it doesn't actually give you enough information to make a reasonable decision. Especially when downloading transactions, it will pop up saying "is this the same transaction as...." and it doesn't show you full info for both transactions.

 I totally agree with that!  That dialog needs more "context" so that you can make the right decision.  That would be a good suggestion.  To post a suggestion that people can vote on you post it as an Idea (and you can vote on your own idea):


Note one of the better practices for transfers is to pre-enter them and then just match to them, which takes the guesswork out of the picture.