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"Pending" and "payment" transactions suddenly showing and causes incorrect running balance

BrandonW

I discovered when updating my accounts in Quicken today that a "pending" or "payment" transactions keep coming up, even if its already logged, for both payments and charges. This is throwing my balance off in my accounts and making it nearly impossible to keep track of things as I now have to reverify everything. It does allow me to delete it, but then it comes back immediately, and the pending balance (positive or negative) changes. If I delete it multiple times, the pending balance changes EVERY time (I did it 5-6 times in multiple accounts with the same behavior). I am unable to track my accounts properly due to this behavior. I see this was added in the last update, and I need to be able to disable this disruptive feature so I have a correct running balance.

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BrandonW

To correct myself; it does allow me to delete it, but then it comes back immediately, and the pending amount (positive or negative) changes. I cannot reliably track my accounts now!

BrandonW

Even better....try to report the problem through quicken, and it says its unable to send it and just closes the window down.

splasher

Why? Evidently a bunch of users asked for it and the financial institutions and Quicken listened.

IMO, transactions should only be downloaded after they are final posted by the financial institution.

The most recent release of Quicken has added the ability to include or ignore the pending transactions.

BrandonW

> @splasher said:
> Why? Evidently a bunch of users asked for it and the financial institutions and Quicken listened.
> IMO, transactions should only be downloaded after they are final posted by the financial institution.
> The most recent release of Quicken has added the ability to include or ignore the pending transactions.

The way its working now (suddenly) would imply users aren't actually tracking their accounts in real time as they purchase or make payments and are relying solely on updates of their accounts (which are not always accurate either).
What you describe is how it already worked; it was only downloaded after it cleared. Now instead of that, it is showing pending payments to cards and pending expenditures, so instead of just clearing what was manually entered, as it has always worked, its adding a line item, thereby duplicating the transaction and as such, reports a false balance (either high or low).
Pretty bad practice, especially to suddenly show up and be a forced installation. Kind of like the horrible billing page that doesn't even show all bills or properly track when they are paid if you use the manual billing method.

Anyways back on topic; I have not found a way to ignore the pending transactions.

Where is that setting? That might do the trick. I was unable to find it in quicken (desktop/Windows) or in the online help.

BrandonW

I am trying to find if there is a way to disable this functionality...
The only way I have seen that will do the trick (seemingly) is to convert to manual tracking only, which for me makes the product pointless. I checked the online help and it only says a new feature for this was introduced; I have not found a way to turn it off though.

splasher

I'm not running the latest version, but I believe I read that there are new icons at the bottom of the register for the handling pending transactions.

zx504

[Removed - Rant]

zx504

I'm on R43.32 - can't find anywhere to turn this "feature" off
I think this is related to the "improvements" associated with the new type of online connections with the major banks

zx504

Edit->Preferences->Setup->Early Access Features->Enable pending transactions when available
there is a check box that is checked by default; when you uncheck it and click OK
it does NOTHING - if you go back to the same Preferences screen, the checkmark is back
COME ON QUICKEN!!!!!!!
R43.32

BrandonW

> @zx504 said:
> Edit->Preferences->Setup->Early Access Features->Enable pending transactions when available
> there is a check box that is checked by default; when you uncheck it and click OK
> it does NOTHING - if you go back to the same Preferences screen, the checkmark is back
> COME ON QUICKEN!!!!!!!
> R43.32

Thank you!!!

I unticked that button, but it didn't do anything initially. I then noticed an hourglass icon at the bottom of the application, and when I clicked it, it had an option to exclude "ending and current balances". I clicked that, then had to click the "hide pending transactions" selection under the same hourglass menu (those are the only 2 options). I had to do it in that order, as trying to hide first did not work.
In my case, this has to be done for each individual account in the left hand pane showing the pending transaction!
NOTE: If you had already tried manually deleting the pending transaction and experienced the running balance change, disabling this "feature" will end up with you still having an incorrect running balance (it will adjust for what the original amount should have been, but does not account for the buggy changes it does to the running balance). I have simply been putting a line for balance adjustment to fix it, but of course that line will never show as cleared.

[Removed - Rant]

zx504

CONFIRMED:
At the bottom of the register window there is an hourglass icon with a dropdown triangle.
Click on that then you can de-select "Show Pending Transactions."
You have to do this for EACH and EVERY account that is enabled for online download transactions.

cmarshall52

> @zx504 said:
> CONFIRMED:
> At the bottom of the register window there is an hourglass icon with a dropdown triangle.
> Click on that then you can de-select "Show Pending Transactions."
> You have to do this for EACH and EVERY account that is enabled for online download transactions.

That certainly wasn't obvious! Thanks for the tip. How in the world did you figure it out?

You are correct, it has to be done for each account and Quicken seems to need to completely reload each time you change the setting for an account.

cmarshall52

There are two problems with this feature as currently implemented: 1) for my checking accounts, virtually all transactions are entered up front a month or more in advance, so deducting the pending transactions from the running balance means they are double-counted. 2) For credit card accounts, the amount that actually processes is very often different from the initial authorization due to tips, pre-authorization for a larger amount, hotel "holds", etc. The option to Include in "Include in Current and Ending Balances" is grayed out for me. It would be OK if they just showed the transactions but didn't include them in totals. For now I will leave it turned off.

Pam F.

This may be the worst thing EVER on Quicken. Thank goodness for this page because I repeatedly called Quicken customer support and was immediately disconnected!!!....I have used this program since it was a DOS version, and whoever introduced this "pending thing" obviously never used this service!!!! The "hourglass" feature enabling or disabling needs to be MUCH MORE TRANSPARENT!!. This is a huge mis-step for the Quicken users. It should be "disabled" by default, NOT enabled!!

splasher

@Pam F. I agree with you, downloading pending transactions is a huge mistake.
On a lighter note, it doesn't need to be "more transparent", it is already hard enough to find, it needs to be "MORE APPARENT", it needs more visibility.

James Reach

When the pending transactions are finally cleared by the bank, what happens in Quicken? Do they move out of Pending Transactions and get entered into the register? So far, I haven't had any move.

Pam F.

Ok....Now, I get endless duplicate transactions whenever I download from BofA. This would be less of a prblem if they didn't show up as "cleared", so they don't warrent review before insertion into the register. I always add pending charges whenever I use the card or pay the bill then it clears when the bank posts the transaction. Begining last week, I've had so many problems downloading transactions from this account I'm considering not using this card anymore!!!.....Quicken support is an Effing NIGHTMARE...hours waiting on the phone to talk to tech support. Yesterday, I couldn't get through at all. My only recourse has been to restore an earlier backup and then bring it up to date and back it up again..rinse repeat. I seem to have "fixed" the pending transaction problem, thanx to this community..Now if I could just get this duplicate transaction problem fixed and a solution if it happens again, I'd be good. Over 20 years of using this program, and this is one of the most frustrating times EVER..................Quicken, you SUCK!!!!!!

GergEnyap

This needs to be fixed ASAP. Causing all kinds of problems with reconciling. Clearly this was not beta tested well!

splasher

GergEnyap said:

This needs to be fixed ASAP. Causing all kinds of problems with reconciling. Clearly this was not beta tested well!

Vote for this idea: Reverse decision to include pending transactions in downloads