Downloads and Account Reconcile Treat Pending Transactions Differently

JamesSmith

Running Quicken for Mac Version 6.10.2 and working with FirstBank of Colorado. When I download accounts, Quicken doesn't download pending transactions for that account. However when I try to reconcile that account, Quicken includes the pending transactions in the account balance. Thus the Quicken balance and the account balance don't match and I can't complete the reconcile function. Since I have multiple transactions each day, this often means I am unable to reconcile the account for several days/week. Any solutions for this? Thanks for your help. Jim

jacobs

@JamesSmith  This has been reported for a number of financial institutions in recent months. In the past, I would always say it was the fault of the financial institution: Quicken gets only the posted transactions, so the financial institution should also be sending Quicken the online balance for only posted transactions. But Quicken Windows released, and then disabled due to some bugs, a feature to allow users to optionally see pending transactions in a separate window. That suggests that financial institutions are downloading pending transactions, and Quicken is filtering them out. So it's not clear the financial institution is to blame for sending a balance including the pending transactions. But since Quicken Mac does not display the pending transactions, I don't know how the only balance can work correctly unless the financial institution sends only the posted transaction balance.

The workaround requires you to log onto the financial institution's website to obtain a posted balance as of whatever day you want, and in Quicken to use Reconcile to statement balance where you enter the posted balance from the website. So it's an extra 30 seconds of work each time to log onto the bank website to get the balance, but at least it gives you a way to get your Quicken reconciliations to work.

I suspect the dust will settle regarding pending transactions in the months ahead, but right now, it feels like we're in the middle of the dust storm and it's impossible to know who to blame or to request to make changes. (I've asked the Quicken Mac product manager for an answer about what is or isn't happening, but I haven't received any response.) 

JamesSmith

Jacobs - thanks for the quick and thorough reply. I can use the work around for now. Thanks for letting Quicken know of the issue so they can get it on their bug list. Have a great day! Ji