Transactions missing-transactions not loading until next day

Cathey1258

I just started using Quicken again after a year's hiatus. Started from scratch downloading banking info into new file. At my first reconciliation of 2 frequently used checking accts I found a block of transactions missing, although end balance was correct. These were not transactions from 90 days back that would have been grouped into 'opening balance'. I looked everywhere and they just did not download (but balance is correct, which is weird). Two were recent (7/12/21) payments to JP Morgan Chase for mortgage. I did all suggested trouble shooting but they are not anywhere. Also, I notice that there is a lag (sometimes as much as a day) between transactions showing online at bank and downloading into Quicken. These are not pending transaction; the bank has finalized them. Any insight into these issues?

Cathey1258

So, I notice this post going by the wayside, with no comments, while new posts are answered. Are the questions/circumstances that strange? No known answers? Or do I need to break it down and clarify?

BK

Hi @Cathey1258 , On your last item (the lag), this is normal.

Sometimes could even be two days (or more for long weekends) and first depends on when the bank makes the completed transaction available to their 'download module'.  This creates the first potential delay and Quicken is not involved in this process rather depends on each bank's internal processes.

Second delay depends on your Quicken connection with the bank.   If your Quicken connection with the bank is “Direct Connect”, the lag should be minimal to none because you are pulling the data directly from the bank.  But if the connection is “Express Web Connect”, that is when you will see another possible delay since you are no longer pulling the data from the bank directly.  Rather Quicken pulls the data from the bank overnight and make it available to you the next day.

Here is more information on the connection types: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank

Cathey1258

Thank you, BK. Still not sure what is going on with the missing transactions, but balances being correct. I've narrowed the dates of missing transaction to between 7/13/21 and 7/24/21. As one example, i paid a credit card, in the amount of $300.00, from one of my checking accounts (credit card and checking both at Capital One). The transaction for payment is missing from the checking account, but shows up in the credit card account.

BK

There are expert superusers in this community who have more experience than I with missing transactions and they will hopefully jump in IF they have a suggestion.  My personal MO is to wait 10 business days before troubleshooting missing transactions, and if there are only handful I enter them manually.  As an unrelated FYI, one of my financial institutions frequently makes a mistake in their download file and corrects it within a few days - their online is always correct, but their download is a bit buggy and now I know what to look for.

Boatnmaniac

Hi @Cathey1258 .  Just as a FYI, this is primarily a Quicken users forum and how quickly people get responses to their posts can vary greatly.  Some of the things that can influence response times:  How many outstanding unanswered and unresolved issue posts are there?; When someone does see it do they have the knowledge base and/or the time to respond?; Is it a single issue post or a multiple issue post?    In most cases posts will usually get responded to within anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours but sometimes it can be a day or longer. Just some things to keep in mind for the future. 

As @BK stated the delays in getting correlating online balances and transaction downloads is largely due to the differences in how DC and EWC connections work.  I like to refer to it as a timing issue between when the EWC connection is made (at night) and when the financial institution finishes updating their server.  In most cases the missing data will get downloaded in less than 12-24 hrs later.  This timing issue can sometimes occur with DC connected accounts, too, but it is not as common as with EWC connected accounts.

Regarding your CC payment downloading from the CC company but not from the bank:  The CC company is the 1st to actually complete the transaction on their system so they will be the 1st to download it to you.  How soon the bank downloads the transaction depends largely on the level of ACH service that the CC company is subscribed to.  They can subscribe to service levels ranging from same day to 3rd (business) day.  So, banks will typically download the CC payment transactions anywhere from 0-3 business days after the transaction from the CC company is downloaded.  If weekends and holidays are involved that window can extend to 7 calendar days (unusual that it would take this long but it can happen).

I hope this has been helpful.  Let us know if you have other questions or concerns regarding this.

Boatnmaniac

One additional comment regarding missing transactions:  If there are transactions missing that you think should have been downloaded by now, you can do as I and @BK do...manually enter them.  Or, if the financial institution supports Web Connect (manually downloading transactions from the online account website in QFX or "Quicken" format) you can download from there and import that file into Quicken.  But, again, if it's just a few transactions it might just be easier/faster to manually enter them, instead.

Cathey1258

Thank you both for the helpful information. Yes, I think the missing transactions would have shown up by now. I don't think I can manually enter them because the balance that downloaded from the bank is correct, even though transactions are missing. It shouldn't add up mathematically but that is what is happening. I think I'll wait a few days and see if some automatic corrections or something like that comes through. I'm not a first time user of Quicken but I've not seen anything like this before. thank you again.

Boatnmaniac

Is the Opening Balance transaction accurate?  You might need to bounce it off of the statement for that date.

Cathey1258

Accuracy of open balances is worth taking a look at. Thanks

Cathey1258

meant 'opening' balances, not open!

Chris_QPW

Cathey1258 said:

I found a block of transactions missing, although end balance was correct. These were not transactions from 90 days back that would have been grouped into 'opening balance'. I looked everywhere and they just did not download (but balance is correct, which is weird).

Boatnmaniac said:

Is the Opening Balance transaction accurate?  You might need to bounce it off of the statement for that date.

EDIT go distracted while typing this and missed a key point:

Just to add a bit of clarity to this.  The opening balance doesn't come from the financial institution.
When you first download transactions into an account Quicken adds up all the transactions and then sets the opening balance so that it will come out to what was reported by the financial institution for the ending balance.

So if there are missing transactions Quicken wouldn't know anything about it, but as @Boatnmaniac points out the Opening Balance will be incorrect. 

As for why there are missing transactions one possible guess is false matching maybe to a transfer.
Look at this setting and make sure it at least has confirm on.
Edit -> Preferences -> Transfer detection

Past that it really hard to say why any transactions would be dropped.

Delaying the transactions is common especially with Express Web Connect, but as others have said that should have been just a day or so, with the exception of maybe "skipping" weekends and holidays.

But note that wouldn't be on the first download (with the exception of pending transactions).

Cathey1258

You were definitely onto something. The opening balance is way off. It's like the program that passes the info from my bank to Quicken adjusted the opening balance to make it fit?! When I calculated the difference between the balance at my bank and in Quicken for May 3, the difference matched the missing transactions! the opening balance is 90 days in the past, while the missing transactions occurred in July. It's still weird!

Cathey1258

Chris, thanks. Your explanation helps to make more sense of the odd opening balance.