How to correct Citibank downloading zero transactions

Steerpike

I've been successfully downloading my Citibank credit card transactions for a few years. I am set up with "Express Web Connect" (I see comments from others about 'Quicken Connect' and 'Direct Connect', not sure if 'Express Web Connect' is a third option, but regardless I don't know where to change or specify this).

I choose 'Update Now' from the gear icon, then the One Step update button. I get a 'green' confirmation screen 'One Step Update Complete'; 'one account updated; 0 new transactions'. No error message.

I have around 40 transactions to download since I downloaded in early December.

I tried 'Reset Account'; completed OK but still no new transactions.

I logged onto the citibank website directly just to make sure my password was still ok and nothing else was amiss.

Quicken Jade

Hello @Steerpike, I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue. On Windows, there are 3 options to download transactions depending on the financial institution. There is Express web connect, Direct Connet, and Web Connect. Web Connect requires you to go to your financial institution's website, and download a QFX file to import into Quicken. For automatic download either Express Web Connect or Direct Connect should work. To further troubleshoot this issue, I'd recommend you deactivate your CitiBank account and relink it. Here are the steps for that;

Deactivate an account

1. Select the Tools menu and select Account List. 
2. In the Account List, select the account for which you want to deactivate online services, and then click Edit. 
3. In the Account Details window, click the Online Services tab.
4. Click Deactivate next to the service you want to disable. 

To Reactivate Account(s)

1. Open the Account List (Ctrl + A).
2. Click the Edit button on the account you want to reactivate.
3. Go to the Online Services tab and click the Set up Now button.
4. Type in the financial institution name and walk through the wizard.
5. Choose LINK on the screen displayed after Quicken finds the available accounts at the financial institution for your login credentials and carefully link to your existing Quicken account(s).

Please let me know if this resolves your issue!
-Quicken Jade

Steerpike

I went through this process yesterday also, after failing with the 'reset' option. Still no new transactions downloaded, and still no error. I just tried it again today, carefully reading your instructions. I note that in your reactivate steps, you say
3. Go to the Online Services tab and click the Set up Now button.
4. Type in the financial institution name and walk through the wizard.
But when I click 'set up now' button, it already pre-selects 'Citibank' and asks for my username /password. I presume this is not a significant difference but wanted to mention it.

Note - I'm having the same issue with my BofA credit cards and bank accounts; they all seems to have broken at the time I went through the nightmare of fixing the 'Schwab download' issue in December, assisted by Quicken support on the phone. Note that some accounts ARE still downloading - my Fidelity accounts, and some other credit cards.

Note also - going through the above steps causes a bogus 'opening balance' transaction to be created at the very start of the register, which throws off the final / current balance! Why is Quicken doing this? I spent hours tracking this down in another account! My accounts don't have opening balances because they were set up from the beginning.

Steerpike

While trying to solve the bigger issue, I decided to use the 'web connect' method you mention. I downloaded a 'QFX' file from Citibank and used "File Import" to import it to Quicken. On the "Import Downloaded Transactions' screen, Quicken displays the account as "Citibank Line of Credit xxxxxxx" (it is a regular credit card). So I use the options to 'link to an existing account' and pick my account, which is named "costco anywhere visa card by Citi xxxx". But then when I choose 'import', I get an error screen 'Your financial institution has downloaded data for an account that does not exist in your quicken data file.[OL-362-A]' with an additional code [OL-362-B] below it.

Quicken Paloma

Hello @Steerpike, 

Thank you for your response with additional details. Could you please let us know where your main/active file is located (external hard drive, local hard drive, or cloud-based storage)? Also, are you using a VPN?

Please elaborate further. Thank you!

-Quicken Paloma

Steerpike

Further troubleshooting this issue, I opened the .QFX file in notepad++ and saw dozens of transactions. The issue seems to be related to the fact that the header of the file includes <ACCTTYPE>CREDITLINE, which is presumably why the screen referenced in my prior post said 'Citibank line of credit'. Presumably it should be showing as a credit card, not a line of credit.

I tried de-activating the 'express web connect' setup for the Citibank account, just in case, but no change.

Steerpike

> @Quicken Paloma said:
> Hello @Steerpike, 
>
> Thank you for your response with additional details. Could you please let us know where your main/active file is located (external hard drive, local hard drive, or cloud-based storage)? Also, are you using a VPN?
>
> Please elaborate further. Thank you!
>
> -Quicken Paloma

Quicken data file is located on my local hard drive and there is no VPN involved. The QFX file downloads just fine, and it has valid transactions in it. I just repeated the process for another (BofA) credit card and transactions were imported into Quicken just fine. I suspect the issue relates to the 'line of credit' entry in the download? This is a classic Credit Card account.

Quicken Paloma

Hello @Steerpike, 

Thank you for your response. Could you please attempt a test file? Before starting the process please ensure that you have made a backup of your current file.

For the test file select File >New Quicken File >OK. On the pop-up window type in "test" for the file name and save it to your local hard drive. Once the test file has been created add your Citi account(s) only. No other accounts are needed. 

When you have a moment please attempt the test file and let us know how it goes. If you run into any errors please be specific. 

-Quicken Paloma

Steerpike

I created a new quicken file named 'test'. I then chose 'add account' and then searched for my account at citibank. My one and only citibank account was found and added - Costco anywhere visa card by citi XXyyyy (where 'yyyy are the last 4 digits of my card). Message also said 'downloaded transactions from the last 88 days'.

I see the 88 days of transactions in the 'downloaded transactions' section, running from Oct 2021 to now. I accepted these transactions into the main register. The account is already set up for online services, using 'express web connect'.

Since everything worked, I went back to my main quicken file, chose the Citibank account, and did an 'update now'; 3 new transactions downloaded! So my conclusion is, there was something wrong with Citibank and now they are back to normal.

For grins I pulled another QFX download from Citi, and the header still said 'CreditLine', so the manual import is not going to work.

Quicken Paloma

Hello @Steerpike, 

Thank you for your response and the additional information. We are glad that your transactions are now downloading. If you come across this error or others please let us know. In regards to the QFX file, there isn't much troubleshooting I could provide. If there is an error or discrepancy with the file itself,  I would recommend contacting your financial institution for further assistance. 

Let us know of any questions or concerns. 

-Quicken Paloma

Steerpike

> @Quicken Paloma said:
> Hello @Steerpike, 
>
> Thank you for your response and the additional information. We are glad that your transactions are now downloading. If you come across this error or others please let us know. In regards to the QFX file, there isn't much troubleshooting I could provide. If there is an error or discrepancy with the file itself,  I would recommend contacting your financial institution for further assistance. 
>
> Let us know of any questions or concerns. 
>
> -Quicken Paloma

Thanks. Regarding the QFX file - Quicken will allow me to import the file to a new account, but it won't allow me to import it into my Citi Credit Card account. There appears to be some edit checks performed to prevent import of a QFX file if it does not 'match' the target account. Is there any documentation or information on what those edit checks are? I would like to have the option to 'force' the import. My suspicion is that Quicken doesn't like the 'type' mismatch (credit line vs credit card), and I'd like to say, override - do it anyway!