Citibank Online Weirdness - why is it asking for my PIN?

Question

I never know what's going to happen when I do an online update with my Citibank accounts. I have a checking and savings account using Express Web Connect, and I have 2FA turned on at Citibank.

Sometimes it asks for a 2FA code from a text.

Sometimes it asks for my ATM card #, PIN, and account number.

Sometimes it doesn't ask for anything at all.

What's happening here? Why does it keep asking for more info than I as an IT guy of long-standing should be typing into a dialog? In particular, why is it asking for a PIN?

Please ease my mind here a little. I thought the new Express Web Connect was supposed to make this better and more secure. It's not consistent, and that is the opposite of reassuring.

solmssen · Answer

I did this procedure and it ended up screwing up my balances - somehow $300 disappeared somewhere. I went back to a backup and then did it again, and it did the same thing, going all the way back to opening balance. I adjusted the opening balance, and it all seems to be OK now. But this is my fundamental complaint with this program. I spend more time checking if it's right and fixing it when it's wrong than it saves me downloading the transactions. This business of web-scraping has to end. You and Citibank need to come up with an API for sharing data that is OAuth2 or similarly based so we don't have to keep entering passwords and other info,  faster than this system, and for CRYING OUT LOUD, *ACCURATE*.

Quicken Anja · Answer

Hello @solmssen,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about your issue, though I apologize that you are experiencing this.

If you haven't already, I suggest you try to deactivate all accounts for this financial institution, then force Quicken to "rediscover" all available accounts and see if this will help resolve this. Please, follow the instructions below in order to do so.* Open the Account List in Quicken (Tools > Account List OR Ctrl + A)
* If present, select the Show Hidden Accounts checkbox at the bottom of the Account List
* Edit each account with this financial institution to Deactivate (or Remove From One Step Update) on the Online Services tab
* Click on the General tab and remove any info displayed in the Financial Institution, and Account/Routing Number fields. Note: The account must be deactivated first before these fields can be edited.
* When finished, close the Account List
* Close, then re-open Quicken
* Navigate to Tools > Add Account...
* Walkthrough this process as if you were going to add a new account, providing the login credentials and answering any security questions/processes presented until you reach the screen where Quicken displays the Accounts Discovered at the financial institution
* Very carefully LINK each of the found accounts to the appropriate account you already have set up in Quicken.

Once that is done, see if the issue still continues to persist.

Let us know how it goes!