Better Transaction Matching Between Register and Downloaded Transactions

teendoc

I'm trying to figure out whether there is a way for Quicken to better match transactions from the register and the back downloads. I have weekly transactions that are entered into the register, for example a weekly transfer to a joint account. But when the downloads come in, they are not matched by date. A November register transaction could be matched to a January download for the same amount. It is frustrating to have to go in a manually match so many transactions to the correct dates. I am wondering whether I have set something up wrong to cause this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Sherlock

teendoc said:

> @NotACPA said:
> Are you reconciling this account monthly?  Because a downloaded transaction shouldn't match to a previously reconciled transaction.It WILL however match to the earliest, otherwise identical, unreconciled transaction.

@NotACPA:  My understanding is downloaded transactions may match previously reconciled transactions if the previously reconciled transactions have not been previously matched.

I sometimes go a couple of months between downloading and the matching does not usually occur by the earliest identical unreconciled transaction. It can match with a transaction 1-8 weeks later. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it.

Also, is there a way to have Quicken not match an identical amount but a different payee, or is that just going to happen? I make a transfer to an account every 2 weeks and also pay my housekeeper the same amount weekly using Zelle. It always matches her transactions with the account transfers.

Thanks!

I suspect the issue may be that you go a couple of months between downloading.  I suggest you import the transactions more frequently.  In my experience, Quicken's automatic matching algorithm only matches transactions within the previous 30 days.

If the downloaded payee/memo are unique, you should be able to use renaming rules to coerce Quicken to match the payees in the entered transactions. 

NotACPA

Are you reconciling this account monthly?  Because a downloaded transaction shouldn't match to a previously reconciled transaction.

It WILL however match to the earliest, otherwise identical, unreconciled transaction.

teendoc

> @NotACPA said:
> Are you reconciling this account monthly?  Because a downloaded transaction shouldn't match to a previously reconciled transaction.It WILL however match to the earliest, otherwise identical, unreconciled transaction.

I sometimes go a couple of months between downloading and the matching does not usually occur by the earliest identical unreconciled transaction. It can match with a transaction 1-8 weeks later. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it.

Also, is there a way to have Quicken not match an identical amount but a different payee, or is that just going to happen? I make a transfer to an account every 2 weeks and also pay my housekeeper the same amount weekly using Zelle. It always matches her transactions with the account transfers.

Thanks!

NotACPA

There is No Way, within Q, to adjust the matching algorithm.

teendoc

> @NotACPA said:
> There is No Way, within Q, to adjust the matching algorithm.

Okay, well I get to continue manual matching. Sigh... I just wish it would match on date and amount.

Thanks.

Sherlock

teendoc said:

> @NotACPA said:
> Are you reconciling this account monthly?  Because a downloaded transaction shouldn't match to a previously reconciled transaction.It WILL however match to the earliest, otherwise identical, unreconciled transaction.

@NotACPA:  My understanding is downloaded transactions may match previously reconciled transactions if the previously reconciled transactions have not been previously matched.

I sometimes go a couple of months between downloading and the matching does not usually occur by the earliest identical unreconciled transaction. It can match with a transaction 1-8 weeks later. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it.

Also, is there a way to have Quicken not match an identical amount but a different payee, or is that just going to happen? I make a transfer to an account every 2 weeks and also pay my housekeeper the same amount weekly using Zelle. It always matches her transactions with the account transfers.

Thanks!

I suspect the issue may be that you go a couple of months between downloading.  I suggest you import the transactions more frequently.  In my experience, Quicken's automatic matching algorithm only matches transactions within the previous 30 days.

If the downloaded payee/memo are unique, you should be able to use renaming rules to coerce Quicken to match the payees in the entered transactions. 

teendoc

Thanks, @Sherlock. I used to be better about regular downloads but it has been quite intermittent in the past couple of years. I'll see if this gets better with more frequent downloads.

rreality85237

@teendoc I also have the same issue. It seems that it should be a really simple match if the date and amount on the download matches the transaction in the register. If a $20.00 transaction is downloaded with a date of 4/23/21 and the transaction is entered in register with same date and amount it should match to the 4/23/21 date and not 5/7/21 or 3/19/21, etc. You shouldn't need to download transactions every week or even every month in order to avoid this from happening. This has been a problem for many years and hasn't been fixed. I used to download monthly and still had the same issue (but maybe it works now) - one positive though is there were fewer transactions so fewer manual matches needed.