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Important Bank of America clarification

dz709

Quicken sent around an email today announcing that Bank of America was going to discontinue its direct connect functionality in quicken. I just spoke to a BofA rep who said that existing Bank of America Quicken users would not be affected - they will be grandfathered in. The Cut off will only apply to New users.

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Jim_Harman

bwentzel13 said:

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have been using Quicken for much the same way for over 30 years. Initially I printed checks but since the advent of electronic bill payment I have been using some form of that ever since and Quicken was always the sole interface. For example, I reconcile a credit card account and a few button clicks later the payment is sent to BoA; I set up a recurring payment for a car loan and Quicken/BoA take it from there. What is the best way of doing this from now on with Quicken as the primary interface?

If you are currently using Bank Bill Pay through Quicken with BoA, that will no longer work. You have 2 choices to continue paying electronically:

Rather than manually or via a Reminder entering an Online Payment in Quicken, you record the payment as if you wrote a paper check (Enter rather than Pay for Reminders) . Then you go to the BoA website or app and enter the payment there. You will find that online payees you set up in Quicken are already set up at BoA.
You set up Quicken Bill Manager to do essentially the same function as BoA's Bill Pay via Quicken's 3rd party provider. This may or may not be as reliable as the BoA bill pay, and it may be more difficult to deal with exception cases such as lost checks.

Note that for many larger billers, utilities for example, you can set them up for Auto Pay, where the biller sends you a notice and takes the money directly from your bank account or charges your credit card when the bill is due. That will continue to work as it does today. In that case, you simply record the payment in Quicken and it is matched when the transaction clears at the bank.

bwentzel13

@Jon,

Thanks again. Based on these comments my understanding is:
- Quicken and/or financial institutions are deprecating Direct Connect (DC)
- Since I am a Quicken Premiere customer, I can switch over to Quicken Bill Manager (QBM) and stay with BoA at no additional cost.

I'm not familiar with QBM. Does that function the same as Direct Connect? Are there additional/fewer capabilities? I assume there's a document somewhere describing the steps to migrate from DC to QBM.

Does Quicken have a publicly available list of financial institutions that support DC?

Thanks

Jon

bwentzel13 said:

What is the best way of doing this from now on with Quicken as the primary interface?

You'll need to either switch to using Quicken's Bill Pay service (which will cost you money if you're not already paying for a Premier subscription), or switch to a different bank that still offers Direct Connect (with no guarantee that they'll continue to do so).

bwentzel13

> @Jon said:
> Yes, that's what it means. Without Direct Connect, you'll have to log in to the BoA web site if you want to use their Bill Pay service or transfer funds between accounts.
>
> if this is really a deal-breaker for you, you can try to find another bank that uses Direct Connect but most banks don't. The last time I checked (about a year ago) only 10% of the financial firms that Quicken can interact with supported Direct Connect and it appears to be trending downward. Chase and BoA have been high profile cases of banks dropping Direct Connect but I wouldn't be surprised if other smaller banks were also doing so with less visibility.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have been using Quicken for much the same way for over 30 years. Initially I printed checks but since the advent of electronic bill payment I have been using some form of that ever since and Quicken was always the sole interface. For example, I reconcile a credit card account and a few button clicks later the payment is sent to BoA; I set up a recurring payment for a car loan and Quicken/BoA take it from there. What is the best way of doing this from now on with Quicken as the primary interface?

Screenshot 2022-09-01 104356.jpg

To add to the previous comment, I setup all my billing directly thru BofA's website perhaps back in 2005, I set it and forget it, and any changes in Quicken will have no impact on me.

Jon

bwentzel13 said:

Does this mean I can no longer use Quicken as my sole interface to create and manage payments and deposits in our BoA account?

Yes, that's what it means. Without Direct Connect, you'll have to log in to the BoA web site if you want to use their Bill Pay service or transfer funds between accounts.

if this is really a deal-breaker for you, you can try to find another bank that uses Direct Connect but most banks don't. The last time I checked (about a year ago) only 10% of the financial firms that Quicken can interact with supported Direct Connect and it appears to be trending downward. Chase and BoA have been high profile cases of banks dropping Direct Connect but I wouldn't be surprised if other smaller banks were also doing so with less visibility.

Eli Sherer

So here's my question:
I do NOT use Quicken Bill Pay OR Quicken Bill Manager. All of my online bills are paid using "Bank Bill Pay" (that's what the setting is called under the Quicken payment method in Online Services setting).

When Quicken debuted Bill Manager a while back, I got into a song-and-dance with the rep telling me how Bill Manager and Bill Pay work together, but I needed to change blah-blah-blah. At some point in the conversation I mentioned that the setting said "Bank Bill Pay" and he said, "oh... then you don't really need to change anything because that's all done through "signaling" to the bank!

So now the question is: Will this new Quicken+BoA change mean anything to me? It seems silly to have to jump all around as long as the bank still gets the signal to send the payment.

Am I missing something?

Quicken Pic.JPG

Monte Bliss

bwentzel13 said:

I don't want to speak too soon without knowing the facts but if that is the case it is so-long BoA.

I'm in exactly the same boat as you and I agree with every one of your statements except this one. I am thinking why use Quicken anymore? I will be forced to determine the value of using Quicken. I want the process to be easy. I already have all of the payees set up in BofA and will be forced to either pay them from there or start setting up most of them as autopay either at BofA or at the business' website. I know some of the longtime experts here in the community have advocated those strategies anyhow as the Online Biller functions are buggy. I won't pay Quicken for Quick Pay or Check Pay and why would I pay from BofA and then turn around and enter it again in Quicken. I don't want that extra step. The whole Chase Connections thingy was already changed on me this month and I can no longer use Quicken's Online biller function effectively with that bank. I am hoping the direct connect doesn't change and this possible looming decision is a moot one.

bwentzel13

I also received the two emails referenced above and I'm confused how they will impact me. We use Quicken and BoA to pay all our bills and I'm not thrilled with the need to change that process. Does this mean I can no longer use Quicken as my sole interface to create and manage payments and deposits in our BoA account? I don't want to speak too soon without knowing the facts but if that is the case it is so-long BoA.

Okayish

That 5+4=9 Check Pay.

Okayish

I already have more that 12 Quick Pay per month. 5 (+4 more for Quicken Premier) but I don't like having to rely on USPS to deliver payment checks on time, every time.

Okayish

Go to Help, Manage my Subscriptions, My Quicken Account, Subscriptions. Bill Manager Promotion-Extra, *look down at the bottom of the box and* Buy More Payments

Okayish

This sucks. plus Quicken will start charging for Quicken Bill Pay and Quicken Check Pay.

dz709

> @Jim_Harman said:
> I received 2 emails from Quicken yesterday.
>
> One was a joint announcement with BoA titled
> Coming soon from Quicken and Bank of America
> It has "Learn More" link that says among other things
> This change will impact all Bank of America Direct Connect and Express Web Connect accounts, including Direct Connect Bill Pay; we will be contacting Bill Pay users directly with more information.
>
> The second email was titledUrgent! Changes to your Bank of America connection in Quicken
>
>
> and it says in part,
>
> Bank of America is changing the way it connects with personal finance management solutions like Quicken. To keep Quicken connected to your Bank of America account, you'll need to switch your connection method on or before October 10, 2022.
>
> Once you change your connection, you won't be able to access Bank of America Bill Pay in Quicken. Any scheduled or recurring payments you've already 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.
>
> If you’d like to continue to pay your bills within Quicken, you can still use Quicken Bill Manager, which is included with your Quicken subscription.
>
> Use Quicken Bill Manager to make payments at no additional charge—up to 12 electronic payments using Quick Pay and 5 checks using Check Pay each month.
>
> Plus, to thank you for being a loyal Quicken customer, we’ve given you FREE upgraded access to 4 additional checks using Check Pay each month until October 31, 2023.
>
> Please note that Quicken Bill Manager does not provide a connection to or make payments through Bank of America Bill Pay, so you will need to re-establish your payees in Quicken Bill Manager. You can set up and try out Quicken Bill Manager in parallel with Bank of America Bill Pay to see if it meets your needs.

Thanks. We’ll certainly find out in October won’t we?
>
> I certainly take that to mean that Bank of America's Bank Bill Pay will no longer be available with Quicken for existing customers like me.

gmpizzuto

i believe the grandfather statement related to ongoing setup payments, where you never change details, or never add new payees. But, I hope I am wrong.

gmpizzuto

Contacted Bank of America's digital Services last night, and they didn't know anything about this. They advised me to contact Quicken. Here we go, round and round. As a many, many year Quicken customer, I am very unhappy about this change. It sounds messy, and labor intensive, when the current method of using Direct Connect was seam

Jim_Harman

I received 2 emails from Quicken yesterday.

One was a joint announcement with BoA titled
Coming soon from Quicken and Bank of America
It has "Learn More" link that says among other things
This change will impact all Bank of America Direct Connect and Express Web Connect accounts, including Direct Connect Bill Pay; we will be contacting Bill Pay users directly with more information.

The second email was titled

Urgent! Changes to your Bank of America connection in Quicken

and it says in part,

Bank of America is changing the way it connects with personal finance management solutions like Quicken. To keep Quicken connected to your Bank of America account, you'll need to switch your connection method on or before October 10, 2022.

Once you change your connection, you won't be able to access Bank of America Bill Pay in Quicken. Any scheduled or recurring payments you've already 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.

If you’d like to continue to pay your bills within Quicken, you can still use Quicken Bill Manager, which is included with your Quicken subscription.

Use Quicken Bill Manager to make payments at no additional charge—up to 12 electronic payments using Quick Pay and 5 checks using Check Pay each month.

Plus, to thank you for being a loyal Quicken customer, we’ve given you FREE upgraded access to 4 additional checks using Check Pay each month until October 31, 2023.

Please note that Quicken Bill Manager does not provide a connection to or make payments through Bank of America Bill Pay, so you will need to re-establish your payees in Quicken Bill Manager. You can set up and try out Quicken Bill Manager in parallel with Bank of America Bill Pay to see if it meets your needs.

I certainly take that to mean that Bank of America's Bank Bill Pay will no longer be available with Quicken for existing customers like me.

dz709

@Jim_Harman can u please clarify: was there an email from Bank of America? I only saw the one from Quicken.

Chris_QPW

Rocket J Squirrel said:

dz709 said:

Quicken sent around an email today announcing that Bank of America was going to discontinue its direct connect functionality in quicken. I just spoke to a BofA rep who said that existing Bank of America Quicken users would not be affected - they will be grandfathered in. The Cut off will only apply to New users.

You wish. I wish too, but phone reps are not always fully and correctly informed.

Jim_Harman said:

I will believe that when I see an email from Bank of America that corrects what they sent earlier today.

Me too, brother.

You might also believe it when the cutoff date for the change over comes and goes and Direct Connect is still around.

But personally I agree, the most likely one that is wrong with such conflicting information is the phone reps.

Rocket J Squirrel

dz709 said:

Quicken sent around an email today announcing that Bank of America was going to discontinue its direct connect functionality in quicken. I just spoke to a BofA rep who said that existing Bank of America Quicken users would not be affected - they will be grandfathered in. The Cut off will only apply to New users.

You wish. I wish too, but phone reps are not always fully and correctly informed.

Jim_Harman said:

I will believe that when I see an email from Bank of America that corrects what they sent earlier today.

Me too, brother.

Jim_Harman

I will believe that when I see an email from Bank of America that corrects what they sent earlier today.