Financial Institutions that Support Direct Connect?

ajonak

Hi Everyone,

Is there an updated list of Financial Institutions that Support Direct Connect? I am upset with what's happening with Chase where the ability to do payment through Quicken will not work anymore beyond Sept 2022, I very much rely on that.

I've seen a post from last year that shows this: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7896323/financial-institutions-that-support-direct-connect

But looking for an update. I used Sterling bank (which is on the list of firms that do support it), but they just got purchased by Webster Bank, which is not on the list.

Also, is there a specific thing I can ask the bank to confirm this, or will they not really know?

Any info you all have would be most appreciated. I've got a month to figure it out.

Thanks,

Andy

Boatnmaniac

There are 3 banks that I work with that do not charge any monthly fees (for personal accounts) for DC and Bank Bill Pay:  Wells Fargo, PNC Bank and Midland States Bank.  So, maybe this helps you shorten your search considerably.

If you still wish to do a more detailed in-depth search:

If you know how to write a script to pull data from a TXT file, pull up the FIDIR.txt file from your hard drive and write the script to pull up all the banks with PAYMENT&DIRECT listed in the line. For me this file is located in C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Inet\Common\Localweb\Banklist\2019\fidir.txt.  If it is not there for you, you can do a Windows Explorer search on your C drive for it. This list is the Financial Institutions Directory (FIDIR) list that Quicken uses to determine which FIs support Quicken and which online services they support.  This file gets updated fairly frequently.

If you are like me and either don't know how to write that type of script or are not good at it, then you can open the FIDIR.txt file in Notepad.  But I would start with a list of banks that I know and would be comfortable doing business with.  Then do CNTL+F to search for each bank individually:

• If the bank shows up it means it supports Quicken.  If it does not show up it means it does not support Quicken.
• If the bank shows up, look down the line to the right to see if it shows PAYMENT&DIRECT.  If it does show that it means they support Bank Bill Pay.  If it doesn't show up it means they do not support Bank Bill Pay.
  

Other things the FIDIR list can/does show:

• EXP-WEB-CONNECT:  Means they support Express Web Connect.
• WEB-CONNECT:  Means they support Web Connect.
• BANKING:  Means then support banking accounts (i.e., checking, savings).
• CREDIT:  Means they support credit card accounts.
• INVESTMENT:  Means they support investment accounts.
  

Whatever service a FI does not show in the list is something that they do not support.

A few other comments:

• Some FIs will have multiple listings in the FIDIR.  Each listing represents a separate set up link in Quicken.   So it is important to not stop your search with the 1st search result.   I suggest doing the search in an abbreviated manner.  For instance, instead of searching for PNC BANK, search for PNC.  Then if the first listing for PNC does not include the service you are looking for you can continue your search for the next listing for it and so on.
• One other thing regarding Bank Bill Pay:  Many banks do not charge a monthly fee for DC and/or Bank Bill Pay but some do.  You will need to contact the bank and/or check their website to see if they do charge any fees for this. 
  
• Also, some banks have special login and authorization requirements for DC.  You will need to get this information from their Customer Service and/or website.
  

I hope this helps.

BK

I would like to add one more comment to the comprehensive write up by @Boatnmaniac which is, there seems to be a trend that some financial institutions are investigating a move away from Direct Connect method unfortunately for a variety of reasons (like Schwab, Chase, etc).  So when you make your selection do keep in mind that future possibility.  And a workaround alternative is to setup payments directly within the institutions website.

Boatnmaniac

There are 3 banks that I work with that do not charge any monthly fees (for personal accounts) for DC and Bank Bill Pay:  Wells Fargo, PNC Bank and Midland States Bank.  So, maybe this helps you shorten your search considerably.

If you still wish to do a more detailed in-depth search:

If you know how to write a script to pull data from a TXT file, pull up the FIDIR.txt file from your hard drive and write the script to pull up all the banks with PAYMENT&DIRECT listed in the line. For me this file is located in C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Inet\Common\Localweb\Banklist\2019\fidir.txt.  If it is not there for you, you can do a Windows Explorer search on your C drive for it. This list is the Financial Institutions Directory (FIDIR) list that Quicken uses to determine which FIs support Quicken and which online services they support.  This file gets updated fairly frequently.

If you are like me and either don't know how to write that type of script or are not good at it, then you can open the FIDIR.txt file in Notepad.  But I would start with a list of banks that I know and would be comfortable doing business with.  Then do CNTL+F to search for each bank individually:

• If the bank shows up it means it supports Quicken.  If it does not show up it means it does not support Quicken.
• If the bank shows up, look down the line to the right to see if it shows PAYMENT&DIRECT.  If it does show that it means they support Bank Bill Pay.  If it doesn't show up it means they do not support Bank Bill Pay.
  

Other things the FIDIR list can/does show:

• EXP-WEB-CONNECT:  Means they support Express Web Connect.
• WEB-CONNECT:  Means they support Web Connect.
• BANKING:  Means then support banking accounts (i.e., checking, savings).
• CREDIT:  Means they support credit card accounts.
• INVESTMENT:  Means they support investment accounts.
  

Whatever service a FI does not show in the list is something that they do not support.

A few other comments:

• Some FIs will have multiple listings in the FIDIR.  Each listing represents a separate set up link in Quicken.   So it is important to not stop your search with the 1st search result.   I suggest doing the search in an abbreviated manner.  For instance, instead of searching for PNC BANK, search for PNC.  Then if the first listing for PNC does not include the service you are looking for you can continue your search for the next listing for it and so on.
• One other thing regarding Bank Bill Pay:  Many banks do not charge a monthly fee for DC and/or Bank Bill Pay but some do.  You will need to contact the bank and/or check their website to see if they do charge any fees for this. 
  
• Also, some banks have special login and authorization requirements for DC.  You will need to get this information from their Customer Service and/or website.
  

I hope this helps.

Rocket J Squirrel

Boatnmaniac said:

If you know how to write a script to pull data from a TXT file, pull up the FIDIR.txt file from your hard drive and write the script to pull up all the banks with PAYMENT&DIRECT listed in the line.

I wrote this script a while back. Here's what it outputs today.

BK

I would like to add one more comment to the comprehensive write up by @Boatnmaniac which is, there seems to be a trend that some financial institutions are investigating a move away from Direct Connect method unfortunately for a variety of reasons (like Schwab, Chase, etc).  So when you make your selection do keep in mind that future possibility.  And a workaround alternative is to setup payments directly within the institutions website.

ajonak

Hi Everyone for the comments, much appreciated. I found a local credit union that supports it but I really don't want to move from away from Chase after all these years. I think I'll try out the Quick Pay under Bill Manager (I have Premier some each month anyway), to see how it works. Have you had a chance to use it? Does it work well?

Thanks again!

Andy

BK

ajonak said:

I think I'll try out the Quick Pay under Bill Manager (I have Premier some each month anyway), to see how it works. Have you had a chance to use it? Does it work well?

Andy, I suggest that you research it within this community and read the posts to make a more informed decision and be on the alert since users have reported missed payments.  My personal view for me is why add 3rd parties into the mix (potential points of failure) when I can go directly to the source (my bank) to schedule, automate or at will pay my bills.  Financial institutions offer variety of robust auto-pay features where we can set it and forget it.  All of my bills are automated directly thru my financial institutions.