Why do I get different results with direct connect (pull from bank) and web download (push from bank

GeneHead

Exporting from my bank to a web download file and then importing into quicken gives different results than do a direct connect to my bank. WHY????

Boatnmaniac

What kind of different results?

Tom Young

And, "what bank?"

Is it a matter of timing differences, i.e., transactions show up first in one place and only later in the other, or missing transactions in one or the other sources, or something else?

PRD

I’m guessing current day transactions show up when you download from the web, but not when you download through the Quicken servers. If you try to download through Quicken in the afternoon, the transactions will appear. I have this problem with my credit union. I’m guessing the Quicken servers run in a western time zone, and see the missing transactions as being posted a few hours later than they really are. Quicken must be using an internal cutoff time that doesn’t handle timezone differences between their server and the bank.

At least that is my guess.

Boatnmaniac

There are 4 different connection methods used by Quicken for downloading transactions:

1. DIRECT CONNECT (DC):  A 2-way communication method back and forth between Quicken and the financial institution (FI).  This method tends to provide the most current transactions downloads because it can be real-time data (but is not always so).
2. EXPRESS WEB CONNECT (EWC):  A 1-way communication method from the FI to the Quicken servers that is later downloaded into Quicken when we run One Step Update (OSU).  Quicken's servers generally connect with the FIs at night when the FIs provide a snapshot of the data on their system.  So when we update the EWC accounts during OSU we are generally downloading the prior day's ending data, not the current day's data.
3. EXPRESS WEB CONNECT+ (EWC+):  This is a new connection method that started cutting in last Nov with Schwab, followed by PayPal and Chase and is now being cut it in with Bank of America.  More FIs will be transitioning to it in the future.  EWC+ replaces both DC and EWC.  It is similar to EWC in that it is a 1-way communication and the data that is downloaded is a snapshot of the prior day's ending data.  It is different from DC and EWC in that instead of using PWs for security it uses tokens that are provided by the FIs.  It also does not permit Bank Bill Pay like DC does because it is not a 2-way communication method.
4. WEB CONNECT:  This is where we log into our online accounts and manually download and import the OFX files from there.  Some FIs will allow you to select the specific dates you want for transactions downloading.  Others will allow manual downloading of statements only.  The time period selected for downloading defines which transactions are downloaded.

So, yes, what gets downloaded into Quicken can be and often is a bit different depending on the connection method.  The differences are not because the data itself is different or inaccurate but because they are differences in what times the snapshots are of.

You can read more about the connection methods used by Quicken at https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank but note that this Support Article has not yet been updated to include EWC+.