Why is Quicken bank account balance different than the online bank account balance ?

James Holmes

I thought this was a direct download. What are possible causes of this?

NotACPA

OK, lets start by verifying that download method.  Do TOOLS, Account List and look under the "Transaction Download" column to see whats adjacent to the account name.  Also, on that same line, what's the name shown for the bank?

Also, what 2 "account balance" amounts, as shown in your account register, are you comparing?

James Holmes

Tools>account>account list. On the line "Checking" no bank is listed. Transaction Download colum has "Yes(Web Connect). I am comparing checking account in Q with checking account @ bank online checking account.

Quicken Jared

James Holmes said:

Tools>account>account list. On the line "Checking" no bank is listed. Transaction Download colum has "Yes(Web Connect). I am comparing checking account in Q with checking account @ bank online checking account.

Hello @James Holmes, 

I am sorry to hear about this issue with online balances and Quicken's account balances seeming to be mismatched. Thank you for continuing to follow up with us about this problem.

Were you operating the account manually, or were you attempting to connect to online banking services through your banking institution? If you are trying to link to online banking services, what financial institution(s) are you working with? Also, are you having this problem on more than one account. Bear in mind that it can take some time for certain transactions to post to Quicken, and pending transactions may be absent from the Quicken account balances.

I look forward to your responses and hope to provide further recommendations, if necessary.

Thanks,

Quicken Jared 

James Holmes

Thank you for your thoughtful remarks. The account balance with the State Employees Credit Union, Santa Fe New Mex. I sync with the bank. The bank account balance: 762.11. Quicken: 4611.90

NotACPA

@James Holmes   If the "Financial Institution" column for your Checking account is blank, then it shouldn't be possible for you to download into this account.

And, when was the last time that you reconciled this account to a paper statement?

James Holmes

It is my account. The transactions are the same as in my credit union account. I have never reconciled the account. There is no "Financial Institution" column in the check register or the accounts list.

NotACPA

If there's no FI column, you can add it by clicking the "Options" box at the bottom of that window and then checking "Show Financial Institution".  You'll be asked for this info almost every time that you ask a question about Q ... so it's useful to have available.

And, if you've never reconciled the account, to a paper statement, I'll suggest that you start there to research your issue ... as it's more likely to be user-error than Q error.

James Holmes

Thank you. I shall proceed with a paper reconcilliation.
My intent in using the download sync feature is to have an exact download copy of the credit union account. I do not know of anything I have done to alter that.

Ps56k2

James Holmes said:  The account balance with the State Employees Credit Union, Santa Fe New Mex.
The bank account balance: 762.11. ....   Quicken: 4611.90

Guessing this is the Quicken entry.....   and the only avail download option is - Web Connect - which is a manual download

17559    17559    17559    State Employees CU    https://www.secunm.org/    5059543476
https://dnaweb1.secunm.org/SECUNM/Signon/Logon.aspx    ACTIVE
BANKING&WEB-CONNECT

Also - it appears any Credit Card transactions require a different setup -
but appears to allow ALL types of accounts
to be downloaded from the Quicken online One Step Update feature - Express Web Connect

02837    02837    02837    State Employees Credit Card    http://www.secunm.org/    888-732-8562
http://www.secunm.org/    ACTIVE
CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT
BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT

James Holmes

What options are there other that "Manual Download"? Is there another type that will make the quicken register be the same as the CU? If the quicken file is a download from the CU file, why are they diffierent?

Ps56k2

James Holmes said: My intent in using the download sync feature is to have an exact download copy of the credit union account.

Just to clarify terminology - what do you mean by "sync" -
as in the Quicken world, there is another portal to the Quicken Cloud and Mobile App

that is enabled by the menu command "SYNC" -

And the bank account download merely brings down the numbers offered - it doesn't really take any action or "sync" anything -
Quicken can offer to "reconcile" your Quicken balances with what the bank is showing....

Ps56k2

James Holmes said:   I have never reconciled the account.

Well - since they are off by a lot - The bank account balance: $762.11. ...    Quicken: $4,611.90

You really should scroll back thru the Quicken bank register and compare its "balance" column to the monthly CU paper statements and see where things went totally out of wack  .....

James Holmes

How to I reoncile the quicken checking account with the CU account? Is that possible without a paper reconcilliation?

James Holmes

The scrollback comarison is a good start. I need to contact the CU to go back to the start of the quicken file. I shall do that instead of the paper reconcile.

Ps56k2

Just to let you know the QFX file you are manually downloading from your CU is just text - and can be opened with Notepad.

It's just a list of data and numbers - with a "markup language" for each and every element....

Here is a "snipped" sample of what you are downloading - with "transactions" and also the current "balance" -
which you should have been reconciling against all this time ...

<NAME>Interest Paid</NAME><TRNTYPE>INT</TRNTYPE><DTPOSTED>20220310</DTPOSTED><TRNAMT>31.53</TRNAMT>
<LEDGERBAL><BALAMT>59977.80</BALAMT><DTASOF>20220418</DTASOF></LEDGERBAL>
<AVAILBAL><BALAMT>59977.80</BALAMT>

James Holmes

Thank you, Can I call you PS? I want to download an exact copy of the Credit union file that can be edited in Quicken and contains all the same live data. Is that possible?