Find & Replace "CHECKCARD xxxx " from Bank of America

sunk818

For debit card purchases, Bank of America insists on prefixing every transaction with the word "CHECKCARD followed by MMDD". Trying to memorize vendors with this arrangement is a real pain. Is there a way to find and replace all of them with a blank? I tried to export as a QXF to edit and bring it back in, but QXF seems to be a binary file. Maybe I could do it a QIF file, but would I have to import into another account? And perhaps delete imported transactions from BofA later?

Chris_QPW

What you really need is to use renaming rules.  One of the main reasons for renaming rules is to "normalize" the payees to a fixed payee name so that it can match a memorized payee.

For instance changing payees like "Safeway #34343" to just Safeway.
Tools -> Renaming Rules


Be sure to fix the Memorized Payees so the line up with the one you are using in this case that would be the bold Safeway above.

Then for the ones in your existing account you can use find and replace to change the payee names.
Ctrl+H (Edit -> Find & Replace)
Like this:

sunk818

Thanks for the reminder. I have about 300 payees to create renames for, but I suppose, if I did it before, I can do it again. :(

UKR

sunk818 said:

For debit card purchases, Bank of America insists on prefixing every transaction with the word "CHECKCARD followed by MMDD". Trying to memorize vendors with this arrangement is a real pain. Is there a way to find and replace all of them with a blank? I tried to export as a QXF to edit and bring it back in, but QXF seems to be a binary file. Maybe I could do it a QIF file, but would I have to import into another account? And perhaps delete imported transactions from BofA later?

Other than "CHECKCARD xxxx", what else is downloaded by BofA in either Downloaded Payee or Downloaded Memo text? Is there enough of the actual Payee Name / Vendor Name so that you can build a proper Renaming Rule?

Transaction download problems with matching and adding new transactions correctly

First please ensure that all optional settings in Quicken pertaining to recall, memorization, automatic categorization and renaming of payee names are enabled. You find those settings in Edit / Preferences / Data Entry & Quickfill and Downloaded Transactions. Additional settings can be found for the detection and processing of transfer transactions in Edit / Preferences / Transfer detection.

Are you automatically accepting downloaded transactions into your registers?

If you are relying on Quicken to "automagically" fill your account registers from downloaded transactions, you may run into problems. Despite all efforts by the Quicken programmers, the "Autopilot" (that's my name for the part of the Quicken program which processes downloaded transactions and converts them into new register transactions) is not infallible. For that process to work 100% of the time one would need a crystal ball because the information downloaded from the banks often is just too terse and cryptic.

You should, at least for a while, turn off the "automatically accept downloaded transactions into registers" setting to gain better control over what is downloaded and what to do with it. Click on and review each downloaded transaction, make changes if necessary (e.g., to get a payee name = "Starbucks" instead of "POS TRANS 070119 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070219 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070319 STARBU" or to assign a category) before you click to accept each transaction.

Any changes you make to downloaded Payee Names are remembered in Renaming Rules.

Any other changes you make (add/change Category or Memo text) are remembered in the Memorized Payee List.

Next time the same transaction for this Payee comes along, Quicken should remember and give you a better new register transaction.

 

In case you have issues with transfer transactions not being generated correctly:

For best results manually enter transfer transactions into your register BEFORE you download transactions from the bank which contain the transfer confirmations. For recurring transfers use scheduled reminders and enter them a day or two before the due date. Be sure to use distinct Payee Names for each transfer / credit card payment to avoid confusing Quicken - memorized payee entries.
That takes the guesswork out of the Autopilot's process. Because a correctly entered transfer transaction already exists in your account registers, the Autopilot should just match the downloaded transfer transaction to the existing one in both accounts.

 

Where are the "Auto-accept downloaded transaction" settings?

There are two places where this is controlled in Quicken for Windows:
 - Globally, for all accounts, in Edit / Preferences / Downloaded Transactions
 - For each account individually, the global setting can be overridden from the Edit Account Details screen, Online Services Tab. Look for blue text "Automatic Entry is: ON / OFF". Click the text to change the setting.

Chris_QPW

I see no reason to turn off automatic transaction entry mode, if that is the user’s preference.
The user can review transactions in the register as easily as they might accept them from the Downloaded Transactions tab when the mode is off.

There is nothing “auto pilot” about this mode provided the user follows the proper procedure and reviews their transactions after downloading.

sunk818

Yeah, I went through Memorized Payee List and deleted 90% of it because the automagic is just a fake trick and really magic. The automatically accept checkbox is very arrogant and presumptuous, like assuming someone's been seduced, but s/he is not impressed with you at all.

I do have enough of the payee to build a memorized list, but whenever I edit a transaction, its hit or miss if I am asked to create a renaming rule or not. I getting through it, but I remember why I hated setting Quicken initially and it continues to be a maintenance chore over time.

Thank you for reminding me how to customize Quicken so it can be used optimally. Strange that the settings you recommend are not the defaults when installing Quicken. [removed - inaccurate/off-topic]

Chris_QPW

And this thread show why I really dislike the SuperUser assumptions on how a system that they don't use works and recommends only what they use.

I really should have said that there is nothing "auto pilot" about "automatic transaction entry mode", but there certainly is "auto pilot" in the other settings, and they are the problem.

Quicken does the same process whether you use automatic entry mode or not to decide on the payee name and the setting of the category.  The only things that really change are the fact that with the mode off you are stuck with look at one transaction at a time.  Because in that mode Quicken will only show you what it will select for the category when you select it in the Downloaded Transactions tab.  Whereas if you have automatic transaction entry mode on, they will all be assigned, BUT they will all also be flagged with the status of New or New Match.  And it is the user's responsibility to "Review" them and mark them reviewed either one at a time or all together after the user has scanned them all.  To me this is the much more efficient method.  And in fact my process is scan the New/New Match and make sure they have been assign the right payee/categories, and then I do an reconcile to the online balance, and the reconcile will clear the New and New Match status for me.

The "Dangerous" settings are the ones that the SuperUsers seldom mention and in fact tell people to turn on.
And they apply to this use case exactly.

First off I have this setting off.

Why, because I don't want Quicken to just create memorized payee, and multiple entries the payees without my permission.  Instead when I want a payee to be memorize that I'm entering, I just hit Ctrl+M.



How do you suppose that Quicken automatically categorizes a transaction, or "apply Quicken's name"?
These are the "auto pilot" guessing of the system.

I believe that these are good settings for the person just starting out, but once they have built up a reasonable renaming rules/memorized payees it should be turned off.  You will notice that left the automatic creating of renaming rules on.  Why?  Simple that one has a confirm, no surprises.

And note that if "Automatic category transactions" is off and none of your memorized payees match you get a blank/uncategorized transaction which is easy to spot and change and then decide if you want to memorize it with the Ctrl+M.

If one is going to "attack" "auto piloting" in Quicken these are the settings that should be mentioned/turned off first.

I might also add that the "Review" process (automatic transaction entry mode) is the ONLY mode you will find in Quicken Mac, Quicken Mobile, Quicken Web.

Here is an example of what it looks like:


And the review process?
Click on the New status and you get:


If I select Mark as reviewed:


Can this process be "abused" by not reviewing the transactions?
Certainly.  But one can select the Accept All button in Downloaded transactions tab, which is even worse since it will put all the transactions into the register with no indication of which are new.
So both system can be abused, and both can be used effectively.

If you are going to point out a pitfall of the process for getting tons of entries for the memorized payees and bad categories you should at least point out the actual setting in Quicken that is doing it instead of blindly selecting a mode you don't use.

sunk818

I'm done at least renaming the payees. Now, I have to categorize them and Ctrl+m to memorize. I'll look at the settings and use what you suggest. I just want to use quicken and not have to learn all the interactions and nuances of each checkbox.

Chris_QPW

sunk818 said:

I just want to use quicken and not have to learn all the interactions and nuances of each checkbox.

Well unfortunately when you have something that has a lot of flexibility like Quicken has, it also means that there isn't a "default" that is "just going to work" for everyone.  You can choose not to learn what these checkboxes do, but that might mean you run into problems.

There isn't really a set of settings that anyone can suggest that will work for everyone with every use case.
If that was true there would be no reason for the preferences in the first place.

And as you can see from above even people that used Quicken for 20 or more years might not agree on what it the best approach.  Each person really has to decide for themselves.