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Poor Reliability of Express Web Connect for Credit Card Downloads - Repeat Issues w Synchrony

BarryMo

I am really getting tired of Quicken failing to download credit card transactions. Quicken reliability is getting worse. I use the Express Web Connect and am sick of having to nurse this process and do manual entry and work-arounds.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a gap in my Amazon Synchrony account where transaction were missing. I went to the website and downloaded/uploaded the QFX transactions “manually”. Quicken then hosed both of my accounts on Synchrony. Here is that saga: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20283059#Comment_20283059

Today, I have two issues:
(1) Again, I now have gaps in the same Amazon Synchrony account for about a 2-week period for late July. Transactions downloaded but only for the last week.
(2) Capital One card transactions failed to download. No error messages and no data. I did an account reset to address this item.

How often should I need to reset my accounts? How often do I need to validate and repair my file? Why is this product constantly unreliable?

When I initially called support for my issue several weeks ago, the rep was blaming my firewall. Then they blamed a corrupt file. The reality was that Quicken could not handle Synchrony federation of my accounts.

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Comments

[Deleted User]

@barrymo - if you look on your General tab in Account Details, what does it show for the Financial Institution? I have noticed a quirky behavior in all Synchrony credit cards where the Financial Institution will change to "Synchrony Bank Credit Cards" and transactions will stop downloading.

[Deleted User]

@barrymo - the FI will change to "Synchrony Bank Credit Cards" when you do a "Reset Account" or if you download from your Amazon online account (Web Connect). If indeed this has happened, you will need to change your FI back to "Amazon.com Store Card - Synchrony"

First make a backup of your data file.
Deactivate Online Services on the Online services tab in Account Details.
Clear out Financial Institution, Account Number, and any other online services information.
Set up Online Services and select "Amazon.com Store Card - Synchrony"
Go through the set-up process and link to the existing Amazon CC account in Quicken.

Ongoing any time you do a "Reset Account" or use Web Connect you will need to correct the FI.

BarryMo

You are totally missing my point. Why do have need to reset my account? Why is it so unreliable?

[Deleted User]

@BarryMo - I am not saying you need to reset your account. I am saying that whenever you do, that causes the problem.

Chris_QPW

BarryMo said:

You are totally missing my point. Why do have need to reset my account? Why is it so unreliable?

It is the nature of Express Web Connect. Given that the financial institutions have no standard for retrieving this information each "aggregator" (Inuit in this case) has to get an agreement with each financial institution on how to fetch that information from their "non standard/ever changing" website.

Some financial institution's provide "good interfaces" that don't change much and as such don't have many problems. Others and Synchrony is certainly one provide interfaces that relies heavily on navigating their website. And one has to understand what would be a minor "oh that page changed" to a human is "total fail" for a "script" that is trying to do it.

One thing that the + in Express Web Connect + is trying to do is standardize the connection API between the aggregator and the financial institution, which will hopefully make it more reliable. But in comparison to Direct Connect there are a lot more "players" involved and as such still plenty of place that other things can go wrong.

Note Quicken Inc pays Intuit for the connection services, they are Quicken Inc's "aggregator".
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7916268/my-explanation-of-the-different-term-services-that-quicken-has-provides-and-provided-in-the-past

[Deleted User]

@BarryMo I agree with @Chris_QPW that EWC is problematic and unstable at times, and everything is ok until one of the three (Financial Institution, Quicken, Intuit) makes a change to their setup, intentional or not. Add to that, the differences in hardware, operating system, Quicken version, or setup. There could be many reasons your installation of Quicken is unreliable. Sometimes you just don't know if the issue can be solved by one change in setup or options, or if it is major file corruption issue, so all you can do is diagnose by troubleshooting and a process of elimination.

At one point in time in the past, I had major issues with unreliable connections. I would be fixing CC-501, CC-502, CC-800 etc. on a daily basis it seems. At times Quicken would seem sluggish. I would reset and validate and try the usual troubleshooting steps that would sometimes work and sometimes not. Then I decided to learn all I could about Quicken issues, their causes, and how to fix them.

The biggest issue I saw was file corruption -

The Quicken data file is not robust, meaning it "breaks" easily. If I ever need to do a "Ctrl+Alt+Del" or stop Quicken before being able to properly shut down. I immediately restore a backup. To that end, I make backups frequently, especially when I troubleshoot an issue, or make any major changes to my Quicken setup. I have set both automatic and manual backups to run after each session of Quicken.
Open and use your Quicken data file from a local drive (C:) only. If you want to try a different location, try a copy of your file first. Any sign of issues, sluggishness, or odd behavior could mean trouble.
Even though it is possible to save Quicken data file backups to a network or the cloud. I would be cautious in doing so. I have tried both. Home networks can be pretty unstable. They are slow and can lose connectivity easily. I have found that backing up to OneDrive is very slow. If the backup process is interrupted or disconnected in any way, this could mean file corruption for either or both the main file and backup file.
Never leave your Quicken data file open on your computer longer than you need to. There are several Windows processes that could damage your open file by forcing it to close unattended.

Keep your Windows secure and updated -

I had some major connectivity issues with Quicken in April of this year. I validated, reinstalled Quicken, did a "Copy File", reset accounts, but after having no success in fixing them permanently, I decided to "start over again" and do a clean install of Windows. Then after installing Quicken (Mondo Patch) and restoring a backup file (one that I knew didn't have any issues), Quicken has never worked better for me. I have had no major issues since.
When I reinstalled Windows, I reviewed every Security and Privacy option I could. I shut off OneDrive and prevented anything from accessing it or saved to it. I turned off all file sharing, file syncing.
After learning more about Window settings, I have found many that have direct effect on Quicken. I have found many Windows settings that conflict with Quicken. Bottom line, if you do not need a feature or option in Windows, disable it or turn it off, especially the networking options in "Windows Features" and "Group Policy".
Keep your virus protection up to date and if anything seems out of place or if your system is not working right, or is sluggish, assume the worst and be ready to take measures or be proactive.
I never keep my computer on more than I need to. The longer you have your computer on and Windows open, the more chances of "outside interference".
If Quicken Customer Support indicated that your firewall might be the issue, then I would recommend, if they haven't already, to allow "qw.exe", "quickenPatch.exe", and "qwsubprocess.exe" to communicate through the firewall.

Keep Quicken Updated with the Latest Release -

There is a tendency to not upgrade or revert to an older version to fix an issue. There are several problems with this. There is no guarantee that doing so fix the issue. There might be better solutions available. You might be stuck in "limbo" indefinitely with an outdated version of Quicken.
Avoiding the latest release just "kicks your issues down the road" rather than solve them.

Use a VPN -

This one might be controversial. One of the troubleshooting questions is whether or not a VPN is being used. I have used a VPN since April after I had the issues, and in my opinion, Quicken works just fine with the VPN in place.

Use a Local Account in Windows instead of Microsoft Account ID -

I saved this one for last because not many Windows users would know what this means or even know it's an option. Microsoft mandates the use of a Microsoft Account ID but stops millimeters short of requiring it.
This is one of the first things I did to update my new installation of Windows. You can change to using a Local Account after you set up Windows, but it's better if you set it up from the get-go by doing the setup without an internet connection. Use the option "I do not have an internet connection" when asked.
Most users are not willing do this because they want to be able to share files and sync information easily with their phone and other computers.
I think though, for me, using a Local Account in Windows has made a big difference in how Quicken runs. I think the sync and file sharing in Windows somehow conflict with Quicken.

The steps I outlined above worked to solve my problems with Quicken and keeps it running smoothly and issue free. It is meant to give you some ideas of how to get you installation of Quicken to work better, but I cannot guarantee it will work for your situation.

BarryMo

@Damian Thanks for your comments.