just checking if Quicken still making pre-charge prior to renewal

Question

Hello,  A previous thread addressed this similar question but it was from Spring 2021. And it referred to subscribers with a two-year renewal.
 My subscription changed last year or before, to annual renewals.  I believe others received that change, too.  And of course, with price hike for just one year.

I received an email from my paypal account saying Quicken is charging account $1.00. This is the first sentence of it.
 From Paypal:
 "You authorized a transaction to Quicken Inc. Money won't leave your account until Quicken Inc processes your order."
 NO MENTION OF RENEWAL.

And then says, see your paypal to view full transaction.
 NOTHING SHOWS UP AT PAYPAL, EVEN AFTER A WEEK SINCE EMAIL.

Is this legitimate?
 (I sent the email to Paypal as a suspected phishing email. Paypal thanked me for the notice. But they wouldn't know Quicken's practices.)

Thank you!

massachusetts234 · Answer

Just to close this out and sorry for the delay. Late Sept. the Quicken subscription was renewed, and can't recall specifically how I learned, but the small amounts were part of the process for Quicken to renew my subscription.

What also threw me off is that it is the first time Quicken has done this validation process with my money account, except maybe the very first subscription I took years ago.
 I understand they can't give an email with full explanation (since it's by PayPal), but it would help to know in that email more about  their process.  And maybe advising to lookup the explanation at Quicken's website.

Just need to be careful these days.
 Thanks so much Jacobs.
 Massachusetts

massachusetts234 · Answer

I'll show you what came up when I clicked the "transaction #" in the email --

''Sorry, we couldn't confirm it's you
 Need a hand?, We can help.''

(The full message is attached. Couldn't copy the image into this Quicken message.)
 But this is also what made me suspicious.
 Otherwise, I tend to think you are correct - that this is legit. I am due for renewal end of month.

Thanks so much!

Capture.PNG

jacobs · Answer

That sounds like Quicken processed an authorize-only transaction to verify that your payment method is still valid this year. Authorizations like this don't turn into real transactions which charge your account.
The message from PayPal doesn't mention your renewal because PayPal doesn't know anything about your pending renewal; all they know is that Quicken processed an authorization for $1. Sounds pretty normal to me.

Phishing? Did the email give you a link to ask you to verify your account? If the email didn't take you to a fake site where you needed to enter information like your login credentials or other personal info, then it's not phishing.