Bank of America - EWC+ Optional Cutover

mcachosilver

I got the notification to upgrade to EWC with Bank of America but Quicken is asking me to share my personal data. How can I avoid sharing my personal data, I'm very concerned about this.
I have a MacBookPro.

Chris_QPW

mcachosilver said:

Hi Chris, Thanks, not sure why @Jon provided me with that link. I have been using Quicken since very early its conception, 1989 and of course I don't want erase my data. I just don't want to share my personal and financial data with any 3rd party.
Hopefully there is an easy way because I want use the new EWC.
Thanks again.

If you want to use the new Express Web Connect + you don't have any choice.  You have to agree to that "agreement" or not use the service.

For what it is worth, it is my opinion that these agreements are written by lawyers to protect the companies as best they can from any unforeseen situation. They really don't imply exactly what will be shared.  I don't really believe that Bank of America will share any more information than is absolutely needed to provide the service, and to anyone other than Intuit.

So, lets get right down to what information is needed to provide the service.
Express Web Connect + works by you authorizing it at Bank of America.  In turn Intuit uses a rotating security token to connect to Bank of America.  Notice that unlike the old Express Web Connect, at no time does Intuit get your username and password.

Express Web Connect + like Express Web Connect only allows for downloading transactions. So, it isn't going to be exchanging any other information other than the downloaded transactions.  There isn't any need for any other information, well there is also the Online Balance/date, but that is it.

So, your transactions will be on the Intuit servers and the Quicken servers for "some time".  It is generally been suggested that for the transactions on the Intuit server they only cache them and as such after maybe a month or two they are removed.  With the Quicken servers no one has stated how long they will be there.  Anything about that is speculation, but note that the "sync/Quicken Cloud dataset" used for getting the transactions from the Quicken servers is the same as the one used by Quicken Mobile/Web with the exception that your transactions are visible in Quicken Mobile/Web unless you turn on Sync to Mobile/Web.

Chris_QPW

In a nutshell I believe that you are sharing only your transactions with Intuit and Quicken for the purpose of providing this downloading of transactions service.  And that based on their agreements (Intuit's and Quicken Inc's) it is possible that they might "share your transaction data", but in an anonymously manner.

Say for instance, they might pass along on average Quicken customers spend $XXX.YY per month on food.

NOTE I don't know that this even do this with the data, but the agreements say that they can.

Jon

If you don't want to share your transaction data with Quicken & Intuit, then you have three options:

1. Switch to using Web Connect (assuming BoA offers this). This is less convenient than EWC+ (since you have to download the data file yourself).

2. Take the account offline & stop downloading any data at all; enter & reconcile all transactions manually.

3. Switch to a different bank that still offers Direct Connect & hope they don't switch to EWC+.

mcachosilver

Thanks Jon,
The last statement on the sharing my data says (Provide Consent): "You can revoke future access at any time."
I thought Quicken would provide me the link and the steps to revoke future access of my personal data at anytime.

Provide Consent
-You authorize and direct Bank of America to share information about yourself, your Bank of America relationship and your accounts at Bank of America with Quicken (via Intuit), a "third party"
-You should use caution and ensure that the privacy and security of your information is appropriately protected by them and other third parties with whom you share your information.
-Use of your information by the third party is governed by your agreement with them, not by Bank of America.
-You can revoke future access at any time.

Kindly provide me with the Quicken link and the steps to protect me from sharing my personal data.
Thanks,
Mcachosilver

Jon

mcachosilver said:

Kindly provide me with the Quicken link and the steps to protect me from sharing my personal data.

One of the Quicken mods posted a link to this site recently & said it would work for anyone not just CA residents; this is the only option I'm aware of for deleting your data. But note that deleting your data requires cancelling your subscription. 

https://www.quicken.com/privacy/us/ccpa/ca

Chris_QPW

I think one needs to understand what is being shared and where (well as much as they will actually tell us) and what you have been sharing all along.

"You can revoke future access at any time."

This is in references to Express Web Connect +.
I'm going to show what this looks like on Chase, but Bank of America should look similar:


This stopping of the sharing of data can be done for all accounts or for individual accounts.

Past that really nothing else changes between Direct Connect and Express Web Connect +.
As in with Express Web Connect + you are giving Quicken (their servers), Intuit's (their servers) access to store your transactions.  And I might add there is a big difference between Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect +.  At no time do you give Intuit your username/password with Express Web Connect +. You authorize the access on the financial institution's website, and the communication between Intuit and the financial institution is done using a rotating security token.  With Express Web Connect it uses the username and password which is stored on the Intuit servers (hopefully encrypted).

The very fact that you have a Quicken Id, and especially Quicken Subscription means that Quicken Inc has some of your personal information depending on what services you use.  This isn't different though between Direct Connect and Express Web Connect (+)

Also note that Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect + are Quicken Windows terms.  In Quicken Mac this would all be known as Quicken Connect.

Chris_QPW

P.S. The link @Jon gave is for people that want to completely wipe their data from all the servers, and stop using the services.  Everyone has to evaluate their own risk/reward for any given service.

mcachosilver

Hi Chris, Thanks, not sure why @Jon provided me with that link. I have been using Quicken since very early its conception, 1989 and of course I don't want erase my data. I just don't want to share my personal and financial data with any 3rd party.
Hopefully there is an easy way because I want use the new EWC.
Thanks again.

Chris_QPW

mcachosilver said:

Hi Chris, Thanks, not sure why @Jon provided me with that link. I have been using Quicken since very early its conception, 1989 and of course I don't want erase my data. I just don't want to share my personal and financial data with any 3rd party.
Hopefully there is an easy way because I want use the new EWC.
Thanks again.

If you want to use the new Express Web Connect + you don't have any choice.  You have to agree to that "agreement" or not use the service.

For what it is worth, it is my opinion that these agreements are written by lawyers to protect the companies as best they can from any unforeseen situation. They really don't imply exactly what will be shared.  I don't really believe that Bank of America will share any more information than is absolutely needed to provide the service, and to anyone other than Intuit.

So, lets get right down to what information is needed to provide the service.
Express Web Connect + works by you authorizing it at Bank of America.  In turn Intuit uses a rotating security token to connect to Bank of America.  Notice that unlike the old Express Web Connect, at no time does Intuit get your username and password.

Express Web Connect + like Express Web Connect only allows for downloading transactions. So, it isn't going to be exchanging any other information other than the downloaded transactions.  There isn't any need for any other information, well there is also the Online Balance/date, but that is it.

So, your transactions will be on the Intuit servers and the Quicken servers for "some time".  It is generally been suggested that for the transactions on the Intuit server they only cache them and as such after maybe a month or two they are removed.  With the Quicken servers no one has stated how long they will be there.  Anything about that is speculation, but note that the "sync/Quicken Cloud dataset" used for getting the transactions from the Quicken servers is the same as the one used by Quicken Mobile/Web with the exception that your transactions are visible in Quicken Mobile/Web unless you turn on Sync to Mobile/Web.

Chris_QPW

In a nutshell I believe that you are sharing only your transactions with Intuit and Quicken for the purpose of providing this downloading of transactions service.  And that based on their agreements (Intuit's and Quicken Inc's) it is possible that they might "share your transaction data", but in an anonymously manner.

Say for instance, they might pass along on average Quicken customers spend $XXX.YY per month on food.

NOTE I don't know that this even do this with the data, but the agreements say that they can.

mcachosilver

Thank you so much Chris_QPW,
Really appreciate the detailed explanations and feel more confortable using the EWC+. It's just the way it is required when enrolling, that is intimidating.
Very appreciative,
Mcachosilver

5Drummer*

Thanks. This appears to answer my question which is: Does denying sharing your account information with Quicken cause any blocking of one step update?

Journeyman

The authorization to share personal data with Bank of America includes tax data which is very confidential, such as:
Tax Statements; Account Holder SSN; Capital Gain; Federal Income Tax Withheld; Gross Distribution; Interest Income; Taxable Amount.
Aside from the issue of the current EWC system glitch, is there any way to continue Quicken downloads of BofA account data, once the glitches are fixed, without authorizing the release of tax data certainly not needed by any bank?

Chris_QPW

5Drummer* said:

Thanks. This appears to answer my question which is: Does denying sharing your account information with Quicken cause any blocking of one step update?

Sorry, I missed your comment when you posted it and I’m just now seeing it.  The answer is if you deny the access then you won’t be able to download any transaction data.

Journeyman said:

The authorization to share personal data with Bank of America includes tax data which is very confidential, such as:
Tax Statements; Account Holder SSN; Capital Gain; Federal Income Tax Withheld; Gross Distribution; Interest Income; Taxable Amount.
Aside from the issue of the current EWC system glitch, is there any way to continue Quicken downloads of BofA account data, once the glitches are fixed, without authorizing the release of tax data certainly not needed by any bank?

As I stated above, without authorizing the access you will not be able to download transactions, but I would also state that I believe that the statement by Bank of America was written by lawyers to allow them the greatest protection for anything that might be used in the future or such, and not really what is happening today.

As you have said Intuit/Quicken Inc have no reason to have your tax data or information like your Social Security number, and I don’t believe they do have it.  It is contrary to what they (the financial institutions) are trying to achieve with this changeover to Express Web Connect +/FDX.

With Express Web Connect (an other aggregators) your username and password would be saved on the aggregator’s server (hopefully encrypted).  This is a security risk, that they wanted to get rid of.  With Express Web Connect +/FDX the aggregators no longer use your username and password to access your accounts.  Instead they are using rotating security tokens.  See below about the security of different connection types:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7922729/my-explanation-of-the-security-of-the-different-connection-types

As you can see the main reason they (the financial institutions, and Quicken Inc) are declaring that Express Web Connect+/FDX is more secure is the limiting of information that would allow hackers to access your accounts.

So, actually sending information like your Social Security number and tax information to the aggregator (Intuit), makes no sense at all.

mcachosilver

Dear Chris_qpw,
I was able to download from this bank (checking transactions) for about a month and earlier this week I could not connect anymore. "Banco Popular Puerto Rico EWC (20772)", kindly check the screenshots attached.
Thanks,
Miguel

Chris_QPW

@mcachosilver this thread is discussing Bank of America.  I suggest that you post your own question about the problem you are having with "Banco Popular Puerto Rico".  Select New Post from the top of this webpage.