Bank of America....EWC+ Connection

denmarfl

Am I understanding this correctly....Bank of America discontinuing DirectConnect & Express Web Connect with Quicken and switiching to EWC+.   This will take place mid October....after that date Quicken Bank of America Customers who connected DirectConnect...and did in-Bank Transfers between accts and...BILL Pay....then connected with Bank of America thru Quicken Software..WILL NO LONGER be able to do that with Quicken.  After the switch to EWC+ Bank of America if I underdatnd this change...will only provide downloaded Transaction connection....one way...download...No longer Updates?

Part of Bank of America Email Annoucement

What will happen to your Bank of America Bill Pay

Once you change your connection, you won’t be able to access Bank of America Bill Pay or Bank Transfers in Quicken.

Scheduled or recurring payments you’ve set up will still go through.

However, to schedule new payments, make changes, or make account transfers, you’ll need to use Bank of America’s website or mobile app.To learn more about how this change will affect your Quicken experience, click here.

Have I understood this correctly?  After chnage over connection date I will need to performed Transfers and Bill Pay at THE BANK OF MAERICA Online Banking website or thru their APP?  I will only be able to DOWNLOAD Transaction from BofA into Quicken.... 

Chase thru Quicken announced it also was changing over to EWC+ but I do not recall their annoucement reading customers would no longer be able to Transfer or Pay Bills with Quicken...just that the New connection was a faster and more secure connection.

Jim_Harman

Unfortunately you read that correctly. Bank Bill Pay depends on the Direct Connect connection and is not supported by the new EWC+ connection method.

denmarfl

So going forward customers of both Bank of America and Chase Banks using Quicken that pay Bills and Transfer funds using Quicken....after the conversion to EWC+ Customers of these Banks will enter Bill Pay and Transfers at the Banks Online Banking Websites...and the Quicken connection will only Download cleared Transactions (the actions we know today that take place with ExpressWebConnect).

My guess is BofA have 35,000 or more DirectConnect customers...many such as myself that will be very disappointed that complete banking with these 2 banks will require Entering Bill Pay & Transfers mean going to the banks Online banking sites....and to confirm processing connect with Quicken to get the cleared Transactions....2 different sites/Softwrae, 2 difference places....extra work.  

Does anyone know of a Bank that offers DirectConnect?...If so please advise in reply.   

This is not a good thing for Quicken..and I realize they are going to offer Free Quicken Bill Pay thru October 2023 (but nothing as to Transfers)....Quicken and these Banks will be losing a lot of customers once Quicken Customers understand how this connection change will impact how they do their Banking with these 2 Banks.  I see no real benefit of using Quicken...if I cannot Upload Bill pay and Transfers....so I will be looking for a bank that offers Direct connect.

This is typical of a bank thinking that customers will remain after setting up their Bill pays...most customers will not want to start all over agin....many I am wrong and mnay will just accept this inferior Banking process...that is how I see thos change.  These Banks are pushing the chnage as a faster...more secure connection...I am sure to sell the change and keep customers.  I am sure it will be afster because there will only be a Download taking place when connecting to the Bank using Quicken.

I have been a BofA Customer for over 35 yrs, began doing my Online Banking in 2002 when they 1st offered DirectConnect/Quicken.  So all those years I saved them lots of Money because I was doing the Job of a Teller...as well as their Backroom processing....and now they have decided (BofA and Chase) to dump the service....in about 6 weeks from Now.  

Lastly, I contacted BofA to make sure I understood this change..NO One...and I repeat, No one at BofA had a clue on what I was referring to nor could find any resource at BofA that I could speak with...and I would image this will be so if I tried to contact Chase.

Customers mean little to nothing....and when I leave BoA after 30+ years...No one there will care....

Rocket J Squirrel

denmarfl said:

Lastly, I contacted BofA to make sure I understood this change..NO One...and I repeat, No one at BofA had a clue on what I was referring to nor could find any resource at BofA that I could speak with...

I have always at least gotten a response sending email through the link on the page

https://www.bankofamerica.com/customer-service/contact-us/feedback-form/

and one time I even got a phone call. This seems to be the only way to send a message to a level higher than ordinary customer support.

csavard

If true, there's little reason to continue using Quicken or banking with BOA.

rwakeman

I also contacted BAM customer service. All they could do was read a script stating this was a change that Intuit has made and gave me the customer service # for Quicken. Full circle.

I have been using Quicken for 26 years using Bill Pay from the same checking account. Without this Bill Pay feature, one of the 2 is going away. Either Quicken and the new subscription model w/o the most important feature, or changing banks. Time to decide.

denmarfl

Why would Quicken orchestrate this change?  And, why is BofA referring to Quicken still as Intuit?  Shows how intouch they are with todays Quicken ownership.  This change as I have read is less costly for the Banks and saves them money...it is certainly not in Quickens best interest...so why would Quicken have brought about this chnage...the answer is, they would not have.  This is a strong armed approach by BofA and Chase to move Quicken Customers to be full time Wensite Online banking.  We will make you enter payments and Transfers Online....and you'll dump Quicken.  I mean after this hange the only real benefit of Quicken is to have a duplicate copy of your Cleared Transactions.  Will the Banks Websites allow REPORTS like we have in Quicken...like, being able to create a report that incompasses your 2021 payments to your Elecric provider?  I know of no such feature at BofA.  If this is so because I use Quicken to Track Rental Property Income/Expenses...so at years end I have One concise report to enter Income/Expense for tax purposes. 

This change is a very BIG disappointment and I do see this as having a negitive impact for the future of Quicken....combines BofA and Chase customers using Quicken have to be a large number and certainly a percentage of those customers will stop using Quicken. 

Chris_QPW

@denmarfl Express Web Connect (and Express Web Connect +) flow:
Quicken -> Quicken servers/Quicken Cloud dataset -> Intuit -> Financial institution's website.

Quicken Inc owns Quicken, but still pays Intuit for the "aggregation service" to do that actual connections to the financial institutions.  It even maintains the list of financial institutions including for Direct Connect and Web Connect (all the URLs that are needed).  As such for the most part the financial institutions deal with Intuit, not Quicken. Quicken is a customer of Intuit, just as you are a customer of Quicken Inc.

And see my thoughts on this belief that Quicken Inc is driving this in this thread:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20291954

KenL

Agree that this will cause a significant loss of utility.  From my perspective, bill pay with BOA is a major feature and, as such, one off the main reasons I use Quicken.  Regardless of who is responsible, or why, it may be time end my long-term usage of the program and move to a lower cost tool that merely aggregates my total financial picture.

denmarfl

Does anyone know of any Banks that offer DirectConnect....

Joesc

This was a major reason why I was using Quicken with my BofA account. It was quick and easy and allowed me to do all my bill payments through the program. Once this goes into effect, [Removed - 3rd-Party Software]. I'm very disappointed.

denmarfl

Had a excellent conversation today with an agent at BofA...in Online Banking.  Not that I needed it, but all my understanding of the termination of DirectConnect to EWC+ is, no more Uploading from 3rd party Sofware after 10/10/22...only Downloading.  So to Bank Online with BofA and Chase...all Bill Pay & Transfers must be entered at Website...but for now, you can download cleared Transactionsinto Quicken.  The conversation basically was, Banks want to be in complete control of Online banking and do away with 3rd party Software which the banks feel is another layer of security outside of their control.  The opinion was all banks will be following this chnage.  I sounded like eventually EWC+ with Quicken may also be terminated.  In otherwords, BofA want customers to do online banking (Bill pay\Transfers) BUT only at their Online banking Website.  There are No plans to create an In-House Software that will allow Personal PC's to work with the Banks Online Banking system.  I just feel having to go to the Banks Website and enter requests....than entering the information again in Quicken duplicates the the work effort...but if you want/use Customized reports to Track Yearly expenses that is not something that can be created at BofA Website, you have no choice but to use a Duplicate 3rd party software to manually make entries.   I have been banking with BofA using Quicen since 2002, before that BofA utilized an In-House Software called NBPAY...that worked similar to Quicken, and now to wrap my head around chnaging the way I do my banking after 25 yrs...it is very concerning.  I do use Quicken Customized reports to Track property rental expenses to make doing my Tax Filing real easy to have those Numbers at the Click of a Mouse.  At the same time I have a problem paying Quicken an annual Subscription fee for a software that will do LESS for me after the change to EWC+.  

I do wonder what will become of Quicken in the future with Banks following this trend to get all Online banking totally processed In-House.

I do see CiTi bank is still DirectConnect....have not heard any rumors about them changing...but bets are..they will...not a bank I would go to.  

Bob.

Thanks for that post. I am now more concerned than I was. I do and have done the same with Wells for many years. Without that, I may have to lear about Quicken's Bill Pay or whatever it is named this month. Disconcerting.

Rocket J Squirrel

denmarfl said:

I do see CiTi bank is still DirectConnect....have not heard any rumors about them changing...but bets are..they will...

Sure they will. They are "on the list":

https://financialdataexchange.org/FDX/FDX/The-Consortium/Members.aspx

Alberico

I have been a long standing (25+ years) Quicken customer as well. This is not good news. I agree with the majority of comments and will be re-evaluating how I handle my banking and banking software. Perhaps an XL spreadsheet will work just as good given this new loss of important features.

BrianShea

I am ok with this. And it makes a tremendous amount of sense from a security aspect. I've been using Quicken from the beginning, before we even had anything close to online banking.
I suggest adjusting our expectations of things staying the same when it comes to technology and security.

While we all benefited from the ease of use, so did fraudsters and hackers.

Let us not earn the title of "ok Boomer", and adjust to increased security protocols.

I am just annoyed that the transition to EWC is buggy, and not connecting easily to established accounts in Quicken. I'll wait a couple weeks to see if there is a proper fix for this.

denmarfl

I sent an email to Honey O,Neill as suggested by another Poster within this Thread...and I got a phone call from a BofA Agent calling on behalf  of Ms O'Neill....the BofA President with 4 hours.  The agent tells me the same cutomized Reports I get from Quicken I can get thru the BofA website...under Tools.  I have not looked at TOOLS..but I doubt it is anywhere what I need that Quicken can allow me to create to Track Income & Expense reports for Rental property.  As I am knocking this around in my head....I could do my Banking at the Banks Online Site, manually enter all activity in Quicen....not renew my subscription...this however means a duplication of entry work...Banks site...Quicken Registers. I see little value to pay for a Subscription just to download cleared transactions....if I must go to the Banks website to enter Payments/Transfers I can look at the Online sites lists of cleared transactions.  I honestly feel this is the beginin of the end of Quicken......and I sincerely hate to see it full usefullest go away is 6 weeks from now.  The option to use Quicken Bill pay free for 1 year is not appealing to me...because after the 1 yr freebie I would have the costs of Quicken subscription plus Bill Pay...and still be required to go to the BofA Site to enter Transfers.  One thing that may keep me with a subscription ...and its a maybe...is I use Quicken to download my Investment activity as well.....wow...for me so much to think about 

Bill Blakey

Yeah this is really bad. I also have been using quicken for 25+ years and the same BofA checking account since 1996. Paying bills, transferring funds is a daily morning routine for me that I depend on. I'll be looking around for another bank or process I guess...one step forward and now two steps back.

Chris_QPW

denmarfl said:

The conversation basically was, Banks want to be in complete control of Online banking and do away with 3rd party Software which the banks feel is another layer of security outside of their control.  The opinion was all banks will be following this chnage.  I sounded like eventually EWC+ with Quicken may also be terminated.  In otherwords, BofA want customers to do online banking (Bill pay\Transfers) BUT only at their Online banking Website. 

I have often wondered why financial institutions ever allowed programs like Quicken to access their customer's data because clearly Quicken allows customers to move from one financial institution to another without losing their history, and that is a nice big "club" to keep customers from leaving (you lose that history).

In the past when the financial institutions didn't have good websites it made more sense to allow it, but less now.  On the other hand if you really analyze it does make sense.

And I don't believe you will see an end to Express Web Connect + and Quicken for a reason that lines right up with what the financial institutions want.

Over time financial institutions have realized that one way to keep customers is if they allow for pulling account information from their competitors to give their customers a more complete view of their finances.  These days all of them do this.  It isn't ideal where they can get you to change to have everything at their financial institution, but it is better than losing them to their competitors.

So, How do you think that is done?  The financial institutions use "aggregators" too to do this.  So, the creation of FDX and supporting it really isn't about Quicken at all.  That is where Quicken users fail to realize that they are a small percentage of a given financial institution's customers, but in fact a much larger percentage is using an aggregator in one form or another even if they don't realize it.

denmarfl

It appears Well fargo is using Quicken DirectConnect.  Anyone using WellFargo...can you confirm?  has Well FargoSent out any Notices that they are converting to EWC+?

As far as Security; I understand that a Bank will be more at risk when a Product Uploads than if only a Download.  But, surely the Smart Tech units could enhance, firmup the Upload part of DirectConnect to safeguard both the Banks and Customers.  Not to write it has not happened, but in the 20+ years I have been using Quicken DirectConnect with BofA I have never heard of any Security Breaches.  I believe this is about more control....and yes, better security for the Bank...but also...it may well be a Money saving issue as well.  Quicken charges for DirectConnect and EWC are different and maybe I am wrong, but, EWC+ still includes Quicken is the Download process.  

denmarfl

So after reading BrianShea Post....can't feel good about the conversion from DirectConnect to EWC+.....perhaps his experience using the EWC+ thus far is an isolated case....  I am not going to make the change....until it forced upon me on or around the conversion date of 10/10/22

DreamKiller

I don't see this as a big deal and I have been using Quicken and BOA for as long as I can remember. All my regular bills are on auto payment to a BOA credit card (for cashback rewards and/or a bill discount) or direct auto eCheck to my BOA checking account. The only bill I actually schedule by hand is to pay off the BOA credit card every month. I have been doing this via Quicken and BOA direct connect bill pay. But now I'll just do this with Quicken Bill pay or I can just make the CC payment auto pay on the BOA website. All I have to do is make sure the checking account always has enough money in it, not a problem. I do make the occasional BOA account to account transfer, but just as easy to do that via the BOA phone app. Same amount of work IMHO. So while a pain to learn a different way, ultimately not a big deal as I see it. Your mileage may vary..... now if they terminate transaction downloads, that is something else entirely!

Jim_Harman

To tell for sure if you are using Bank Bill Pay, go to the bank account and click on the gear at the top right.
Select Edit Account details and click on the Online services tab.
If it says Yes next to Bank Bill Pay, that is what you are using for that account.

wrb

My main issue with EWC+ is that Intuit will have access to anyone who uses Quicken to download data. Does Equifax ring a bell?
Add to this concern is that Schwab will not honor their Security Guarantee if someone at Intuit (or Quicken) uses this information to access your accounts.

SteveN

Before switching entirely to entering bills on the BofA website, I'm going to give Quicken Quick Pay a try. That said, when I go to switch to doing that, I get prompted to link the transaction to an eBill. Do I have to link to an eBill in order for this to work?

Chris_QPW

denmarfl said:

It appears Well fargo is using Quicken DirectConnect.  Anyone using WellFargo...can you confirm?  has Well FargoSent out any Notices that they are converting to EWC+?

Based on what I remember from posts on here Wells Fargo has Direct Connect, but you have to pay a small monthly fee.

SteveN said:

Before switching entirely to entering bills on the BofA website, I'm going to give Quicken Quick Pay a try. That said, when I go to switch to doing that, I get prompted to link the transaction to an eBill. Do I have to link to an eBill in order for this to work?

If you try it I suggest that you schedule to pay your bills early so that you can rush a payment to them if they don't show up on time.

denmarfl

Wells Fargo no longer charges fees for Direct Connect per their Website...seems hard to believe because they would do this for someone with $100.00 in deposits?  Doubtful.  

wenglish

This may be a hint of the future for BofA users. In addition to BofA I also use Chase, and got the warning about EWC+ for Chase a long time ago. Finally they sprung the change on me recently. It's been a mess.

I authorized (as required), thinking that would be the end of it until some not-to-close time when the authorization would expire and I would have to reauthorize. Instead, I am having to reauthorize each and every time I do an update of my accounts.

To add insult to injury, it recognizes I have already authorized my one account with Chase, but then "finds" another account called "CMA" (which matches my nickname for a totally different account with Fidelity whose last 4 digits of the account number are not the same as my Chase account's). Luckily it won't let me choose anything except "don't add", and also luckily I didn't tell Quicken to automatically add new accounts it finds at Chase. Imagine the mess if it downloaded someone's random date into my Fidelity CMA register in Quicken.

If they tested the BofA integration as well as they tested Chase's implementation, beware.

Edit: P.S. Looking at the "last download" info at the top of each of my registers in Quicken, I see my Capital One account converted (probably before Chase converted?) and as near as I can remember went fine, but what is more odd is that for the Chase account it says it is still using Direct Connect. So maybe this problem is happening because we are in the grace period prior to being required to use EWC+ (if there is a grace period).

Edit2: Hmm, my CMA account (with Fidelity) has been altered in Quicken to show it's a Chase account. Not sure if that is the cause of this confusion (if it is, I have no idea how it got changed), or the result. My money is on the latter.

denmarfl

I also got the Chase alert...its been over a month...and have not seen anything since.  Hopefully BofA will work with CHASE to understand the failures with the Chase conversion to EWC+...but that might be done...shame.
I am researching other banks that offer DirectConnect.  I have appts with Wells Fargo and Truist.  My thoughts are, Thruist just having gone thru a merger with BB&T, merging their Online systems...might not be too quick in making the Change from DC to EWC+ in the near Future.  Speaking with BofA, at a Corporate level, you get sorry if you leave us.  But I will report, 2 years ago I caught wind of a Rumor about BofA terminating DC.  I called back then and spoke to a source I had developed with a BofA employee who worked in the Online Unit that included Quicken.  He told me there was Nothing to what I had heard...did he know?  But the bottomline here, many rumors many times become...the truth.  BofA could have improved the DC Connectivty to better protect their systems..they chose to simply terminate it about 20 years of DC being available at BofA.  Actually about 7 years ago BofA no Longer let new Users to use DC with Quicken, but allowed those using it to be grandfathered.  So perhaps this entire change has been in the works for 7 years....or more.  

CrunchTheNumbers

While you might find another FI that supports DC, I suspect it's just a matter of time until they pull the plug. In the end, I suspect everyone will be on EWC+.

I've enjoyed the convenience of being able to initiate Bill Payments from one place (my Quicken file), but it sounds like that's going away.

A long time ago, I wrote paper checks, so I'm sure I can get it done, somehow.

Jim_Harman

CrunchTheNumbers said:

While you might find another FI that supports DC, I suspect it's just a matter of time until they pull the plug. In the end, I suspect everyone will be on EWC+.

I've enjoyed the convenience of being able to initiate Bill Payments from one place (my Quicken file), but it sounds like that's going away.

A long time ago, I wrote paper checks, so I'm sure I can get it done, somehow.

To be clear, you will still be able to initiate payments from inside Quicken. The change is that the payment instructions would go to Quicken Bill Manager (Quick Pay and Check Pay) rather than directly to your bank.