Which connection method provides the most current account transactions?

JB

I'm seeing 1 to 2 days delay for new account transactions from Quicken vs what my bank is showing for my account. Which really shouldn't be happening considering the whole idea of the subscription service is based on transaction downloading capability.
Why can't we download transactions as they appear online?

I know at one time we could. As I recall when I first opened my Wells Trade account back in 2009 they offered only the ability to do express web connect whereas the Bank only supported direct connect. What I found most interesting when using EWC was how it would update with new transactions as they were posted online throughout the day. If I made a trade at 1pm and it posted a few minutes later. I could do a Quicken update for that account and the transaction would show up in Quicken the same day. Now everything seems to be delayed another 24-48hr as it makes its way through Quicken's servers. WHY?

Chris_QPW

First off let me say that any of the connection methods should never send pending transactions.  Quicken has no ability to "delete a pending transaction that didn't go through", so these transactions shouldn't be sent to Quicken.

Next Direct Connect connects directly from Quicken to the financial institution's "OFX server", and as such is the most likely to give you the most up to date transaction download.  But how up to date is entirely up to the financial institution.  Some give basically real time others might delay sometime at night and maybe not even on the weekends/holidays.  For instance I know the USAA waits until the night time, and I just downloaded my Chase credit card accounts and got the transactions from 8/1/2021 even though this is now 8/2/2021 and did do an update late last night (delayed for the weekend).

Next is Express Web Connect, and here is gets even more vague of when transactions will come in.  Typical is anything from basically real time to as much as two day delays not including weekends and holidays.  This is dependent on the financial institution and the agreement that Intuit has with the financial institution (Quicken Inc pays Intuit for this service).   Express Web Connect is where the Intuit servers connect to the financial institution's website and downloads the transactions and caches them on their server ready for Quicken's servers to pick them up.  The original design was that the Intuit servers would do this once a night.  Depending on when that happened, and when the financial institution posted their transactions for the day, that can result in a 1 to 2 day delay.  This was mostly done because some financial institutions didn't want Intuit/Quicken servers hitting up their server more frequently than that.  These days it seems to be a mixed bag where some are still updated like that, and such are more real time.

The last way to get transactions is Web Connect (Download/import a QFX file).  Which of course is entirely dependent on what the financial institution will include in that file.

BK

Hi @JB , The delay was discussed in this post.  Hope it helps.  https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20194146

JB

That doesn't address the delay but instead an issue with missing transactions.
Plus the answers given on the difference between connection methods appears to be in conflict with the Quicken link provided. Quote " Quicken communicates directly with your bank on your behalf. You don't have to sign in to your bank's website and manually download transactions - Quicken does this for you. With Direct Connect, Quicken can even talk back (for bill pay, money transfers, etc.)."
None of this answers my question, which is the fastest method?

NotACPA

Either Direct Connect (if the FI offers that) or Web Connect (you initiate the download from the FI's website) should be the most current and complete.

Express Web Connect (Quicken Connect on QMac) has inherent delays ... but sometimes that's the only option offered by the FI.

It's the FI, and not Q, that decides what download methods to offer.

Chris_QPW

First off let me say that any of the connection methods should never send pending transactions.  Quicken has no ability to "delete a pending transaction that didn't go through", so these transactions shouldn't be sent to Quicken.

Next Direct Connect connects directly from Quicken to the financial institution's "OFX server", and as such is the most likely to give you the most up to date transaction download.  But how up to date is entirely up to the financial institution.  Some give basically real time others might delay sometime at night and maybe not even on the weekends/holidays.  For instance I know the USAA waits until the night time, and I just downloaded my Chase credit card accounts and got the transactions from 8/1/2021 even though this is now 8/2/2021 and did do an update late last night (delayed for the weekend).

Next is Express Web Connect, and here is gets even more vague of when transactions will come in.  Typical is anything from basically real time to as much as two day delays not including weekends and holidays.  This is dependent on the financial institution and the agreement that Intuit has with the financial institution (Quicken Inc pays Intuit for this service).   Express Web Connect is where the Intuit servers connect to the financial institution's website and downloads the transactions and caches them on their server ready for Quicken's servers to pick them up.  The original design was that the Intuit servers would do this once a night.  Depending on when that happened, and when the financial institution posted their transactions for the day, that can result in a 1 to 2 day delay.  This was mostly done because some financial institutions didn't want Intuit/Quicken servers hitting up their server more frequently than that.  These days it seems to be a mixed bag where some are still updated like that, and such are more real time.

The last way to get transactions is Web Connect (Download/import a QFX file).  Which of course is entirely dependent on what the financial institution will include in that file.

BK

JB said:

That doesn't address the delay but instead an issue with missing transactions.

First response from the link: