Discover Card Quicken for Windows Reflects Pending Transactions in Account Balance

Surfer2839

The total account balance for Discover Card which is listed under "Accounts" includes pending transactions. The balance in the register that shows individual transactions does not reflect those pending transactions but does agree to the online balance. I believe that pending transactions should not be reflected in any account balance but should only be provided as a payable or receivable since they have not been posted to the account by the provider. This would be in line with current accounting practice when the books for a company are audited.

Quicken Jared

Surfer2839 said:

The total account balance for Discover Card which is listed under "Accounts" includes pending transactions. The balance in the register that shows individual transactions does not reflect those pending transactions but does agree to the online balance. I believe that pending transactions should not be reflected in any account balance but should only be provided as a payable or receivable since they have not been posted to the account by the provider. This would be in line with current accounting practice when the books for a company are audited.

Hello @Surfer2839, 

I am sorry about this problem with balances including inappropriate information and displaying incorrect amounts. Thank you for discussing this with us here on the Quicken Community.

First, have you changed connection methods for this account? Have you experienced any online banking errors in association with this account, recently? If this sounds unfamiliar, be sure to save a backup by navigating to File > Copy or Backup File... in the upper menu at the top of the screen, then make use of the steps listed in the Support Article linked here in order to change the connection method of your Discover accounts. Let us know how this works!

I look forward to your response. 

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

UKR

Please read this discussion about the new function to include/exclude pending transactions in EWC or EWC+ connected accounts. Applies to R 43.xx or R 44.xx Quicken versions. Not available for DC connected accounts and offline accounts.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7920731/new-pending-transaction-shows-incorrect-total-on-menu#latest

Surfer2839

I initially did have an issue downloading transactions with Discover Card after Quicken informed users that they were required to reconnect to Discover Card in order to sync Quicken with its' transaction download method. That was resolved by Quicken after they determined that another of my accounts was incorrectly linked to Discover.

The issue I was addressing in my former note related to the manner in which pending transactions are used to inform users of their account balances. Prior to Quicken reporting pending transactions, the total account balance for an account was the same whether it was reported in the register under "All Transactions" for all accounts or for the individual account. After pending transactions were incorporated in Quicken, those transactions were included in the total account balances for the account under "All Transactions" but did not change the account balance for the individual account in the register. Not only does this create unnecessary confusion to see two different account balances for the account but in my mind is not in line with accounting principles since pending transactions have not been posted by the provider but are either a payable or receivable and should agree to the online balance reported by the provider.

I do appreciate seeing pending transactions on an FYI basis without including them in my balance. In fact, I would like to see all pending transactions, not only those reported by the provider, but those that have been posted by the user. Currently those transactions only get reported if they occur within the current reconciliation period. I understand that this adds a level of complexity and may affect other aspects of Quicken which makes this unrealistic and possibly create more confusion for the user if not handled properly. I bring this to your attention only because Quicken has opened the door reporting pending transactions.

Surfer2839

I just discovered that pending transactions are an option on an individual account basis. Apparently not all institutions report those transactions. In regard to my issue with Discover Card is resolved when I turn off pending transactions for that account. That switch is located next to the ending balance at the bottom of the register. The switch looks like an hour glass.