Bank of America no longer updates BillPay transactions with One Step Update?

Joseph Witkin

I have several BOA BillPay transactions that I enter as scheduled transactions in Quicken, but enter manually on BOA website. I then run OSU, and in the past (for years), BOA always downloaded the BillPay transaction (red checkmark) and assigned it a "check" number when I manually matched it to what I had entered.

Recently, no sign that OSU sees the transaction at all. The bank website shows that the payment is scheduled, but Quicken appears not to know it.

(I believe it is supposed to be possible to enter a BillPay transaction in Quicken and have OSU actually create the transaction at BOA, but I had issues with that way back, and never do it that way).

I tried deactivating and reactivating online download (bank-hosted permission form) and my accounts re-linked successfully, but still nothing. I sometimes change the transaction amount (on BOA website) after I have entered it but before it has been paid, and each change also used to download as a new transaction showing "payment change", and accepting it would update the amount in my register.

Is this functionality really gone or do I have a problem with my Quicken file?

Quicken Anja

Hello @Joseph Witkin,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your question.

With the new Express Web Connect+ (EWC+) connection method, scheduled bill pay transactions will no longer download as they did before as this was a Direct Connect feature. The new connection method only downloads posted transactions.

We apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you.

ljshein

is there a way to restore the previous functionality?

Greg_the_Geek

You would need to switch to a FI that still supports Direct Connect as well as Bill Pay.

UKR

If your bank recently required you to reauthorize your account and/or your bank has changed from "Direct Connect" to either "Express Web Connect" or "Express Web Connect+" you can no longer use Online Bill Pay direct to the bank or Quicken Bill Manager's Quick Pay function. The banks no longer support this function through Quicken.

Alternatives:

1. Use Quicken Bill Manager's Check Pay
2. Logon to the bank's website and make your bill pay payments from the bank. In parallel to that, in Quicken use a regular Scheduled Reminder to record your payment. Repeat every time another payment is due.
3. Logon to the biller's website once and set up their Autopay, APS, Direct debit, etc. to make the current payment and all future payments on Due Date directly from your checking account. In parallel to that, in Quicken use a regular Scheduled Reminder to record your payments before they come due.
4. Write (or print with Quicken) a paper check and mail it to the biller, making sure to mail payment early enough (around 10 days before due date) to allow time for delivery and processing.

I've been using a variation of method #3 for decades, since before the Internet and dial-up were even invented. It's easy to get used to this process. And I have yet to miss a single payment.

Mark Leach

I'm also very disappointed that this feature no longer is available. it creates extra work for me and has resulted in some missed payments. I've been using Quicken for 30 years, and this, along with the switch to subscription is making me look for alternatives to Quicken.

Greg_the_Geek

Maybe you should look for a new bank since it was BoA's decision to switch from DC to EWC+.

jtruckey

This is terrible and time consuming. This is because of the bank? We need this on Quicken, entering on Quicken and entering on the bank suck!

Greg_the_Geek

@jtruckey, complain to BoA, it was their decision.

Joseph Witkin

My understanding is that Direct Connect, hosted by Quicken, cost financial institutions some fees. But it worked perfectly for years. Banks seem to have problems setting up their own systems frequently. Quicken should not support the use of bank run systems and should require Direct Connect. Bank of America can afford it. IMHO.

Chris_QPW

@Joseph Witkin What makes you think that a tiny company like Quicken Inc can dictate to a huge company like Bank of America?

All Quicken Inc's insistence for financial institutions doing what they command is that they will end up with no support at all for that financial institution.  Note that at the start only about 4000 financial institutions supported Direct Connect out of more than 35,000 financial institutions in the US alone.  That number is less than 2000 these days.  I hate aggregation like Express Web Connect, but if Quicken didn't support it, they would be out of business long ago because Quicken is useless to the majority of customers if they can't download from their financial institutions.

Greg_the_Geek

@Joseph Witkin, the financial institution decides how Quicken communicates with it, not the other way around. 

Chris_QPW

BTW at one time I do believe that the financial institution really wanted to support Quicken to get and hold customers.  But those days are long gone.  Quicken customers are a tiny fraction of a given financial institution's customers.  And back when it was important the financial institutions didn't all have good websites and mobile Apps.  From the financial institution's point of view, they spent a lot of time and money to provide the services most of their customers use and are fine with.

I really believe that if it wasn't for the fact they are also using aggregation for other purposes like allowing you to see the balances of other financial institution accounts in your summaries on their site, they probably would have just cut Quicken off all together.

Quicken (Desktop) (any Desktop personal finances software) is dying breed.