Quicken reconcile does not download of check number and is guessing what check cleared

Paul Schraff

Recently, the download of transactions from Citizens First Bank stopped including the check number. It selects as cleared the first uncleared check matching the amount and there is no way to connect the cleared item to the correct check because there is no check number.

Chris_QPW

Even though it is correct that if the download doesn't include the check number Quicken is resort to matching the first transaction with the same amount, I don't understand why you can't just unmatch it and them manually match to the correct transaction.

First off are you using automatic transaction entry mode where the transactions go directly into the register or using the Downloaded Transactions tab?

Paul Schraff

Thanks for responding, Chris. My query may be confusing because it was too short. No, I do not allow Quicken to automatically post anything in any account. Quicken has been downloading the check number for every checking account I have, for years. It only stopped doing it correctly a week or two ago. My problem is not correcting my Quicken records. The problem is I cannot connect the debit to the check unless I have nothing but unique dollar amounts. To manually reconcile the checks, I have to log into my bank and find which checks actually cleared as shown by the check number and then mark it as cleared, manually, in Quicken. I had to stop Quicken from downloading any transactions in that account because that just complicated identifying which checks were wrong. It's "easier" to not download any transactions with Quicken. This is the second bug Quicken has introduced into reconciling recently. Quicken also has started overriding the bank's actual posting date with the date Quicken downloaded it. Thus, any transaction posted on the last day of the month will not reconcile because Quicken records it as having posted the day Quicken downloaded it, the first day of the next month. Quicken has suddenly become unreliable at handling basic accounting tasks it has been performing for years. Thanks for your reply, I welcome any further suggestions you or others can provide, and I will go to your website to research further.

John Prewitt

I too have this problem and I looked at the HTTPLog.txt file and found that my bank (Central National Bank) does include the check number in the "payee" field as follows
"payee" : "Inclearing Check 3536",
This is the Description of the check.

Someone told me that Quicken only goes back a week of the manual entries in Quicken to check for matches. A week for checks. Quicken needs to go back a month. I wrote 19 checks for the same amount to various charities on December 5 and as of today, December 24 I still have 3 checks which have not been posted. Why such a delay? Because I wrote the checks on December 5, took them to my post box on the 6th after the postman dropped off my mail. They didn't pick up my checks until the 7th, and took them to the local postoffice until after his run. The postoffice adds a routing code on the front of the letter, sorts it and then takes them to a central postoffice about 30 miles away. The checks are then placed on different trucks for delivery to another central postoffice near where the checks are to be delivered. I live in California and one of my checks had to travel to a small town in New York state. How long does Quicken thinks it takes to drive 3,000 miles? Days not seconds or minutes or hours. That check then has to be deposited into a local bank. The local bank has to transfer the check information to my bank in Texas. There is an additional delay since my bank is a state bank, not a federal bank.

Quicken needs to change their process to allow for these delays.

Quicken never should use the date that it processes the transaction. They leave the date alone.

Quicken needs to get a real CPA to review this issue.

Chris_QPW

@Paul Schwartz @John Prewitt

OK both of your financial institutions use Express Web Connect, which I think is probably related to this problem.

What is in the Num field in the Downloaded Transactions tab?
Is it blank?

If it is, then Quicken only has the amount to go by and it is going to pick the first transaction that amount matches within the last 30 days.

It doesn't matter what is in the description or what is on the financial institution's website, this field which ends being the check number/reference number field when entered into the register has to be filled in during the downloading of the transaction.

BTW if the check number is field in by the downloaded information, I don't believe there is any time limit of how far back Quicken will match.

Here is another thread about a related problem that I go into more details on how this works.
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20224668

John Prewitt

I am using a Mac, not a Windows computer. I changed the Connection Type from Quicken Connect to Direct Connect and the single transaction for 12/24 was matched to the correct transaction entered manually on December 5. Only 2 more transactions to match.

Chris_QPW

John Prewitt said:

I am using a Mac, not a Windows computer. I changed the Connection Type from Quicken Connect to Direct Connect and the single transaction for 12/24 was matched to the correct transaction entered manually on December 5. Only 2 more transactions to match.

Great I'm glad you could change the connect type and get it to work.  That reinforces the idea that there is something changed with Express Web Connect/Quicken Connect that isn't getting the check numbers from the financial institution any more.