Betterment sign-in

Allan L.

Trying to set up an investment account at Betterment with Quicken for Mac. The sign-in credentials I use to log onto Betterment's website are rejected when sent through Quicken. What to do?

hman36

I recently got an email about Quicken for Mac and new supported brokerages. I enabled early access and was excited to see if Betterment was now supported. I went to add an online connection to my two betterment accounts and there it was. I connected and both of my accounts were listed. I chose to link them to my existing (which was a mistake, I have manually entered my betterment transactions up to this point). I then only had the option of simple tracking sync, which does not show cost basis or detailed transactions, like the ones I had been manually entering before. Curious if anyone knows if detailed tracking is coming for Betterment. I am beyond excited that even the simple tracking was done! Anyway, when I went to my accounts I had linked, I could no longer view the transactions I had manually entered , but the value of the account had not changed and was not changing even after successful sync. I did a plain add new account of these two betterment accounts and found the balance was indeed updating there. Seems like a bug when linking an existing betterment account using Simple tracking, in addition note I had been manually entering the transactions prior to linking. Ended up having to restore from a backup, then reset quicken cloud as a result, then it duplicated a lot of my transactions in other accounts when it re-downloaded(this should not happen, possible bug) and it was a mess. Thanks!

jacobs

I don't know if anyone here knows definitively what's in the works or on the roadmap, but I believe the answer might be no.

What is the connection method you are using for Betterment? Is it Direct Connect or Quicken Connect?Historically, Quicken required Direct Connect for brokerage accounts, but this has started to change. When the simple investment tracking feature was rolled out this summer, the product manager said that one of the purposes for simple tracking was to allow Quicken to support brokerages which don't provide detailed transaction data. He wrote: "Most of this is groundwork for increasing the number of brokerages we support where when we start to include Quicken Connect accounts such Robinhood and other brokerages where we don't get detailed transaction information." (That doesn't address Betterment directly, but it may be in the same boat. As always, it's up to the financial institution to decide whether to provide the higher-level of support support for Quicken's Direct Connect.)

hman36

Hi @jacobs ! It’s quicken connect. I understand, I most likely can do without the detailed transactions going forward. I just would like the connected accounts to properly link to my existing ones that I have been entering manually so I can keep my value history! When I set up a new account utilizing betterment simple tracking, it starts my value over. I do hope detailed transactions are added, it gives the option on quicken connect it’s just grayed out right now. I am glad they are making an effort to add more brokerages this is very good.

jacobs

I'm not sure about the issue with trying to connect your your existing, manually-entered account, and I don't have a similar account I can try testing with. In terms of whether detailed transactions will come in the future, that's 100% a question for Betterment, as they control what level of data connection they choose to provide for Quicken and Quicken users. Direct Connect involves more on their end, and so they may feel the limited connectivity is all they want to provide. Keep in mind that a large number of Betterment users are not Quicken users, so spending time & money to make the service more valuable to their Quick customers is likely a financial decision. If enough Betterment customers pound on them to up their service to Direct Connect, perhaps they'll make that change at some point. 

hman36

@jacobs thanks for your response. Yes hopefully betterment will support the feature in the future. As for the potential bug situation, what is the best avenue to report this or ensure someone is looking into it?

jacobs

You can report a bug using the Report a Bug option on the Help menu. Explain as precisely as you can the steps to reproduce the error. The downside of this process is that you won't hear anything back from Quicken. If the person checking the submitted reports can replicate the error, it gets turned into a bug int heir internal system for eventual fix, but if they can't replicate the problem -- as is sometimes the case when specific financial institution accounts are involved -- they may not pursue it. Your other alternative is to contact Quicken Support via phone, and getting a representative to share your Quicken screen to have you demonstrate the problem. If they are unable to offer a solution, they can document the issue and escalate it -- but it's sometimes not easy to get them to do this. 

Quicken Alyssa

Hello @Allan L.,

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

What exactly are you seeing after you try adding the account? What message does Quicken display?

You can use the link provided in Quicken to visit the site you are attempting to log in to. So you click on the betterment link, it opens a web page, and you should try signing in there. I have provided a screenshot of that link found in your software below. 

You must be able to log in on the page the link takes you to in order to successfully log in using that instance in Quicken.

Let us know how this goes. 

Quicken Alyssa

Allan L.

Thanks for this r response. Yes, I can log in to the Betterment account from that window in Quicken. But when I try to set up the account, entering the same login email and password that work from the web, I get this response: ("Did you mistype, etc.") I didn't mistype; in both instances I am copying and pasting from the same password source.

Allan L.

One more thing: what I sent you first was what happened in a test file that I set up because of this problem. When I try to do it in my real file, I get a different error message.

Quicken Alyssa

@Allan L.,

What is the name of your original data file? I looked through your datasets, but I am unable to find the error that you provided in the second screenshot.

Also, just to clarify, when you logged into the betterment website, you clicked on the link provided by Quicken in order to do that, correct?



Quicken Alyssa

Allan L.

The data file I'm trying to connect to a Betterment account is called [Removed-Personal Data] on my Mac. That's the one that produced the second error message. The first error message came using a data file called "Test.quicken". FWIW in the [Removed-Personal Data] file I have successful connections to a bank and another brokerage, that were set up long ago under an earlier version of Quicken.

Yes, to clarify, when I logged into the Betterment website, I did so from within Quicken using the link provided, as you originally instructed.

Quicken Alyssa

@Allan L.,

Thank you for those details! Can I have you download transactions from Betterment and import them into your Quicken? I want to see if this gets you around the error you are seeing. I still don't see that error from my side. 


Quicken Alyssa

Allan L.

I don't seem to be able to do that. The only option the Betterment website offers is a download of CSV values, which Quicken doesn't like. I did try to connect again and got the same error once again, that you are not seeing.

Quicken Alyssa

Hello again, @Allan L.,

Thank you for providing more information.

Unfortunately, all I can see from my end is Invalid Credentials, which is what you are seeing in the test file you created. I am going to have to ask you to call our Quicken Support team so that they can do a screen share with you (if you are willing) and see exactly what it is that you are running into. 

Error that I see;


I did see "web connect only" in the logs from yesterday, but you were not able to find any option for that on the Betterment website (they only offer CSV).

I apologize that I am unable to help you any further on this. 


Quicken Alyssa

Allan L.

Thanks for your interest and your efforts. Before I call support, I am going to try a different password on the account and see if I get the same result.

Allan L.

Nope. Simpler password doesn't make the problem go away.

btall

FYI: I'm having the same issue with trying to connect my Betterment account

Allan L.

Betterment told me, when I asked, that they don't support a Quicken connection in any way. So I've stopped trying. I don't know why Quicken lists them in their directory of supporting financial institutions.

Quicken Alyssa

Hello @Allan L.,

Thank you for your update.

I confirmed that Betterment is supported, so that leads me to believe that you got incorrect information from the financial institution. 

I am going to go ahead and have this escalated. However, before I do that I need to confirm some things. 
1. Does your password contain special characters? 
-if so please change it to either not have a special character or use punctuation if one is required. (? . , !)
2. Please document the password format. 
-for example, password includes; 11 characters, 1 uppercase letter, 6 lowercase letters, 3 numbers, and 1 special character. (Quicken123? would be Xxxxxxx###?)
3. Delete any passwords in the Keychain Acess for Betterment in Quicken. (pictured below)


When that is done I will have you sign out of your Quicken software and sign back in. Then try adding the account again and submit logs one last time and then I can proceed with the escalation process. Let me know when this is done! Thank you!



Quicken Alyssa

Quicken Alyssa

Hello @btall,

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community and add to this discussion. I am sorry to hear that you too are experiencing this issue. I am going to need more information from you in order to determine how to appropriately direct you toward a resolution. 

Are you adding a new account or getting this error on an account you already had in Quicken? Is the account a brokerage account, if not what is the account type? Have you contacted the financial institution, if so what did they say? How long have you been having this issue?

Please answer the above questions to the best of your ability and then submit log files. It is preferred that you recreate the error, and use the little envelope icon in the bottom right corner to send in these logs. This will also let you attach a screenshot of the error you get.

Let us know when this is done, please. Thank you!



Quicken Alyssa