Reconcile Using "Express Web Connect"(Truist) [Edited]

widomj@

Is there any trick to getting Quicken to properly reconcile an account using Express Web Connect? I've had no luck since I lost Direct Connect with Truist bank. I have to Adjust Balance each time I download new transactions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Screen shot attached.

johnaclark6

I see it's been a few days since you posted and have gotten no response. I'm having the same issue as I just switched over from SunTrust to Truist for account login and sync (SunTrust & BBT merged and are now Truist.) What's happening is that the online balance syncing over to Quicken is including pending transactions but doesn't include the pending transactions themselves. So, when you reconcile the balance will be off. I don't think the balance being sent to express web connect should include the pending transactions.

If you've manually entered those pending transactions into Quicken you can manually check them in the reconcile screen and zero out the reconciled balance. However, the next time you go to do the Express Web Connect it will show those transactions as "new" transactions and you'll have to manually match them to the already reconciled transactions.

I think this is a problem on the bank's end but getting something like this fixed is probably next to impossible. In my experience, with every update to anything having to do with Quicken it's always a step backwards. SunTrust didn't allow me to do express web connect without paying a fee so I always just logged on and downloaded the file manually. Now that it's Truist I can use express web connect but it doesn't work properly.

Chris_QPW

Just a couple of points:

1. Pending transactions should never be sent to Quicken because there isn't a system to cancel a pending transaction if it doesn't go through.
2. Pending transactions shouldn't be included in the online balance.
3. If this is being done wrong you shouldn't be posting balance adjustments.  Reconciling is the process of bringing your accounts into agreement with the financial institution.  By posting a balance adjustment you have given up on that process.
4. With Direct Connect if either of #1 or #2 is wrong it is easy to see that the problem lies with the financial institution.  With Express Web Connect the Intuit servers get the information from the financial institution with an agreed upon method.  As such it is impossible for the user to determine, which of this parties actually have the problem.  These problems need to be reported to Quicken Support so they can work with Intuit and the financial institution to get it fixed.

In the case of a problem like #2/pending transactions being in the online balance when they shouldn't, one should switch to reconciling "by statement" instead of an online balance that is incorrect.
Note that reconciling "by statement" can actually reconciling to a date and balance on the financial institution's website, not just an actual statement.  But be sure the balance you are looking at doesn't include any pending transactions.

To turn off reconciling to the online balance go to the register and select Ctrl+Shift+E, and then select the Online Services tab.  At the bottom of that dialog is the setting.

widomj@

Thank you.

widomj@

> @Chris_QPW said:
> Just a couple of points:* Pending transactions should never be sent to Quicken because there isn't a system to cancel a pending transaction if it doesn't go through.
> * Pending transactions shouldn't be included in the online balance.
> * If this is being done wrong you shouldn't be posting balance adjustments.  Reconciling is the process of bringing your accounts into agreement with the financial institution.  By posting a balance adjustment you have given up on that process.
> * With Direct Connect if either of #1 or #2 is wrong it is easy to see that the problem lies with the financial institution.  With Express Web Connect the Intuit servers get the information from the financial institution with an agreed upon method.  As such it is impossible for the user to determine, which of this parties actually have the problem.  These problems need to be reported to Quicken Support so they can work with Intuit and the financial institution to get it fixed.
>
> In the case of a problem like #2/pending transactions being in the online balance when they shouldn't, one should switch to reconciling "by statement" instead of an online balance that is incorrect.
> Note that reconciling "by statement" can actually reconciling to a date and balance on the financial institution's website, not just an actual statement.  But be sure the balance you are looking at doesn't include any pending transactions.
>
> To turn off reconciling to the online balance go to the register and select Ctrl+Shift+E, and then select the Online Services tab.  At the bottom of that dialog is the setting.

Ok. I tried to switch to paper statement and selected a known-good balance by checking my bank. The problem now is the starting balance seems random. I entered the balance and there’s still a balance adjustment.

johnaclark6

I don't see any reason to try and affect a workaround on our end. Truist is sending the balance based on pending transactions. That should not be. You can either wait until you have no pending transactions and do the download then or manually enter and manually check them during the reconcile process and then manually match those transactions next time after they're posted and you sync again.

I'm a former SunTrust account holder and I've noticed when Truist logs me out of the website it reverts to a SunTrust web page that shows I've been logged out. This merger is obviously complicated on the backend.

If I log into Truist and manually download the quicken file it turns off express web connect because the downloaded file is a SunTrust file.

The whole thing is a cluster. I shouldn't have tried to use express web connect to begin with.

widomj@

> @johnaclark6 said:
> I don't see any reason to try and affect a workaround on our end. Truist is sending the balance based on pending transactions. That should not be. You can either wait until you have no pending transactions and do the download then or manually enter and manually check them during the reconcile process and then manually match those transactions next time after they're posted and you sync again.
>
> I'm a former SunTrust account holder and I've noticed when Truist logs me out of the website it reverts to a SunTrust web page that shows I've been logged out. This merger is obviously complicated on the backend.
>
> If I log into Truist and manually download the quicken file it turns off express web connect because the downloaded file is a SunTrust file.
>
> The whole thing is a cluster. I shouldn't have tried to use express web connect to begin with.

I absolutely agree!

Chris_QPW

johnaclark6 said:

I don't see any reason to try and affect a workaround on our end. Truist is sending the balance based on pending transactions. That should not be. You can either wait until you have no pending transactions and do the download then or manually enter and manually check them during the reconcile process and then manually match those transactions next time after they're posted and you sync again.

This is certainly another possibility of how to workaround the problem.  The main reason I recommended going to reconciling by statement is that just to find out it what is pending you have to go to the financial institution's website, unless you just get lucky and hit a time were there aren't any pending transactions and it reconciles to the online balance.  So, while there just reconciling to a known date/balance can be done instead.

Of course, if you are a person that pre-enters transactions and the matches, maybe you can do it without going to the financial institution's website.

widomj@ said:

Ok. I tried to switch to paper statement and selected a known-good balance by checking my bank. The problem now is the starting balance seems random. I entered the balance and there’s still a balance adjustment.

The starting balance isn't random.  It is a calculated value based on what you have in your register.  If it is wrong it shows that something in your register is already wrong.  And if you have been doing balance adjustments those are wrong.  The first thing I would do is remove all balance adjustments and to a proper reconcile.  Real reconciling is just the check marks in the reconcile window.  It is the process of confirming that all the transactions in your Quicken register match what the financial institution has.  And note that the state of the Clr column matters too.  If the Clr state is R then the transaction will not be shown in the reconcile window but it will be in the total for the starting balance.

widomj@

Chris_QPW thanks. I fully understand the clear vs. reconcile. I actually removed all the adjustments a few days ago and got everything back to $0.00. Within 48 hours, the reconcile wasn't working correctly using Express Web Connect.

I know Quicken pretty darn well. I understand the difference between direct and express. What's happening now is Quicken tech support is telling me it's the bank's problem. The bank is telling me it's Quicken's problem. I'm 99.9% sure it's a combination of both: Truist and Quicken aren't speaking the same language. Right now, express web connect is grabbing or being sent the wrong balance to/from Truist. Selfishly, I think Truist does this *intentionally* to force people to direct connect that they charge for service.

Note: Direct connect worked flawlessly under BB&T.

johnaclark6

[Removed-Disruptive/Speculation]

johnaclark6

I am getting the same runaround from Quicken Support chat. They say it's with the bank and I need to call them. The bank just says it's Quicken. Nobody wants to fix it.

johnaclark6

[Disruptive-Rant]

johnaclark6

One thing I just noticed at the bottom of the reconcile window is this message:

"Pending transactions with a 'Date' within the statement period and Cleared transactions with a 'Posting date' within the statment period are considered for reconciliation."

This goes against what was posted above that pending transactions are never included in the online balance. In my reconcile window I have a "Cleared Balance" number which matches my "Posted Balance" number on the Truist website. I also have a "Statement Ending Balance" which matches the balance less the pending transactions. Again, this doesn't jive with what was stated above. I'm a bit confused now.

Chris_QPW

johnaclark6 said:

One thing I just noticed at the bottom of the reconcile window is this message:

"Pending transactions with a 'Date' within the statement period and Cleared transactions with a 'Posting date' within the statment period are considered for reconciliation."

Interesting, because for Quicken you should never get pending transactions either downloaded or including in the online balance (but some financial institutions have violated that, and of course it is worse when they do it different for the transactions/online balance)

The main reason not including pending transactions has been the policy is there isn't any way to reverse a downloaded transaction.  So, if a pending transaction didn't go through nothing "voids it".

johnaclark6

That message is at the bottom of every Reconcile window, regardless of the financial institution. It clearly states pending transactions with a date are considered for reconciliation. That same message is at the bottom of my Schwab checking account reconcile window, too.

Chris_QPW

johnaclark6 said:

That message is at the bottom of every Reconcile window, regardless of the financial institution. It clearly states pending transactions with a date are considered for reconciliation. That same message is at the bottom of my Schwab checking account reconcile window, too.

Ok in fact we are talking about different things.  What is considering in the reconcile and what is in fact downloaded and in the online balance.  Why they choose to use the word pending in that dialog is a bit of a mystery, maybe just to point out if they are there in the register the reconcile will use them, but in truth for the downloading of transactions/online balance they shouldn’t be there.

And certainly it is impossible to reconcile to a balance the has pending transactions when the online balance doesn’t, or the other way around.

johnaclark6

Clearly the online balance is the balance including all pending transactions. My difference always adds up to the amount in the pending transactions.

With the online chat, they had me create a new test file and connect to the bank. It downloaded transactions back to the 15th of November. The reconcile was off $0.02 when I created that file with only downloaded transactions. The transactions were correct so it had to do with the starting balance it decided to use. However, the online balance was still the same as the available balance so, in effect, my balance in Quicken was just plain wrong.

Bottom line here, there is an issue and I feel it's Quicken's responsibility to fix it. Pointing fingers at the bank is just an excuse. While the bank may need to make the change, they will need Quicken to point out how it's wrong, not some unknown account holder/customer.

Chris_QPW

johnaclark6 said:

Bottom line here, there is an issue and I feel it's Quicken's responsibility to fix it. Pointing fingers at the bank is just an excuse. While the bank may need to make the change, they will need Quicken to point out how it's wrong, not some unknown account holder/customer.

For a problem like this it is a “group effort”.  Customer pressuring both Quicken Inc and the financial institution to get the problem fixed.  For Quicken Inc that is contacting Quicken Support and using Help -> Report a problem.  And of course for the financial institution it any way they have to contact them.

In reality though this in fact isn’t a Quicken problem.  It is a problem either at the financial institution or Intuit.
When the connection method isn’t Direct Connect then Intuit is the one that actually connects and gets the transactions and online balance information, using some agreed upon method with the financial institution.  Quicken Inc pays Intuit for this service.  Since you are a customer of Quicken Inc, which is a customer of Intuit, you can’t go directly to Intuit and complain.  So Quicken Inc support has to be the conduit to get Intuit to put it in their stack of things to work on.

I would hope that in fact that has already happen (submitting the request to Intuit to work with the financial institution to get it fixed), but thing like this are on a priority basis, which is dependent on the number complaints.

bob@9

same or similar problem. My download balance in quicken doesn't match Truist at all unless you back out pended transactions.
you can see from the attached images. I did find that if i "reset" the account it reconciles perfectly. then when I download the next day the problem reoccurs. So the work around seems to be to reset your account every day.

johnaclark6

> @Chris_QPW said:
> For a problem like this it is a “group effort”.  Customer pressuring both Quicken Inc and the financial institution to get the problem fixed.  For Quicken Inc that is contacting Quicken Support and using Help -> Report a problem.  And of course for the financial institution it any way they have to contact them.
>
> In reality though this in fact isn’t a Quicken problem.  It is a problem either at the financial institution or Intuit.
> When the connection method isn’t Direct Connect then Intuit is the one that actually connects and gets the transactions and online balance information, using some agreed upon method with the financial institution.  Quicken Inc pays Intuit for this service.  Since you are a customer of Quicken Inc, which is a customer of Intuit, you can’t go directly to Intuit and complain.  So Quicken Inc support has to be the conduit to get Intuit to put it in their stack of things to work on.
>
> I would hope that in fact that has already happen (submitting the request to Intuit to work with the financial institution to get it fixed), but thing like this are on a priority basis, which is dependent on the number complaints.

Quicken Support pretty much told me to pound sand. Not real happy with them. They should have some way to put in a support ticket with Intuit and the Financial Institution. They are certainly happy to take my money for the service but provide no support when there's a problem.

Chris_QPW

johnaclark6 said:

Quicken Support pretty much told me to pound sand. Not real happy with them. They should have some way to put in a support ticket with Intuit and the Financial Institution. They are certainly happy to take my money for the service but provide no support when there's a problem.

The moderators here have stated that for problems like this Quicken Support is supposed to escalate it to the "Scripts Team", which I believe is Intuit, or the people in Quicken Inc that deal directly with them instead of just first line support.

johnaclark6

In broken English, they literally told me to contact the bank and abruptly hung up the online chat. Never had that happen before with any chat support.

widomj@

I spoke to a Truist branch representative. They’re also having a difficult time finding someone at Truist to assist.

[Removed-Disruptive]

LotusBlossom

This doesn't seem to be a Quicken issue. It's Truist. I spent about 40 minutes on hold and never got through. I'd be grateful if Quicken stepped in to moderate a fix with Truist, though. Does anyone have an idea how to get through to Truist? I'm considering moving my accounts [Removed - Profanity]. I've been a SunTrust customer since before they were SunTrust, LOL.

LotusBlossom

I reset my account as suggested above and now my balance is off by about $3,000+. I think it went all the way back to 2012 and change the opening balance, but not sure. This is going to be a big headache to fix.

widomj@

I had to go to my branch to get any support. Truist blames Quicken. Quicken blames Truist. It's a nightmare on both sides. However, at least Quicken has a support number. There's virtually no way to reach anyone at Truist HQ. They're shielded by layers-upon-layers of call centers.

johnaclark6

I've talked to Quicken support via chat. They told me there was nothing they could do. Talk to the bank. I don't pay the bank for Quicken. I pay Quicken for Quicken. Quicken should be getting in contact with the bank and working it out...I'm sure it's something the bank needs to change but they need someone from Quicken to tell them what to change, not some account holder who calls them on the phone and tells them to change the backend of their IT systems.

Quicken Jasmine

Hello All, 

Please go to report a problem and send your logs over to Quicken so this issue can be escalated. Can you please also include screenshots of your balance in Quicken versus your balance on the bank's website? 

If needed, please refer to this Community FAQ for instructions on how to attach a screenshot. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop screenshots to your response if you are not given the option to add attachments.
Please let us know once you have taken these steps. 

Thank you all for your continued patience and support as we work to resolve this issue. 
Quicken Jasmine

bob@9

really disappointing that after several months subscribers still can't balance their Truist accounts with Quicken! Why is this not fixed?

johnaclark6

Very disappointing. I am trying the "Report a Problem" now. Will see how that goes. Probably into the abyss but will post back if I get any response.

johnaclark6

Four days later and no word from submitting via "Report a Problem." [Removed - Speculation] Not even an auto-reply back. [Removed - Disruptive]