Unable to Reconcile Bill Reminders

TPM

For years, using both Quicken Deluxe and Quicken Premier, I have been able to have a monthly bill reminder for a bill payment of the same amount done through EFT (e.g. for a car payment, health insurance, etc.). Recently, when the payment shows up, it does no longer matches to the reminder and when I try to match manually, the reminder is not on the list as available for matching. This is quite frustrating.

This is a Bank of America account, and I am guessing that it may have to do with the recent change in the way information is downloaded from BofA.

Any ideas how I should fix this?

I am running Quicken Premier version R44.28, Build 27.1.44.28.

Thank you.
Terence Ma

Boatnmaniac

There have been some (not many) who have posted that Reminders which are set to be automatically entered have somehow recently been corrupted and no longer functioned properly.  If this is what has happened with you, you might want to delete the repeating Reminder and then recreate it.  I seem to recall that fixed the issue for some of them.

Mark1104

there is an option to automatically enter the reminder into the register.  if you set that to automatically enter a few days before the payment date, won't the match work? 

Boatnmaniac

Are you trying to send a bill payment command from your account in Quicken to BofA?  Or are you trying to schedule a Quicken QuickPay payment from within Quicken? 

If so, you cannot fix it. BofA changed their connection method to EWC+ which does not support, DC Bill Pay nor Quicken's Bill Manager nor QuickPay. 

Lots of people aren't happy about this but BofA (and Chase) made the choice to switch to a new download protocol called FDX.  EWC+ is Quicken and Intuit's (Quicken's aggregator partner) response to FDX.  Other banks will follow suit but we do not know who or when, yet.

Your options to pay bills: 

• Use Quicken's CheckPay service.
• Schedule your bill payments online in your BofA account.
• Schedule your bill payments online via direct debits in your accounts with your billers.
• Mail checks.
• Switch checking accounts to a bank that still offers DC support.

Does this answer your question?

TPM

I have the reminder entered automatically into the ledger 30 days in advance (so I keep an eye out on my cash flow one month out). It used to work, but no longer does.

TPM

Thank you. That is not the issue.

I am no longer using Bank of America bill pay.

These are automatic withdrawals (EFT payments) set up with my health insurance company and car finance company, etc. do, every month those companies withdraw a set amount from my account.

I have the reminder in the ledger so I can track cash flow. In the old days, when the payment posted to my account, I would simply accept the match and I’m done.

Now, the software does not show it matching. It shows the payment as a “new” item. When I try to Match Manually, the ledger item does not show up as an option.

So, I am just confused.

Mark1104

@tpm - but the "reminder" is just that unless is it actually posted to the ledger - and that occurs by having it automatically posted a few days in advance of the actual payment date.  if you do it that way does it work out for you.  You not only have to set the "reminder" but set it to automatically post to the ledger.

TPM

Agreed. As I mentioned (I thought), I have it automatically posted to the ledger 30 days in advance. It does show up in the ledger. I just can’t “match” the expense to the ledger when the expense is downloaded from the bank.

Boatnmaniac

Thanks for the clarification.  Just to be sure that I correctly understand:  The Reminder is showing up in the register but the downloaded transaction does not match to it and cannot be manually matched to it, right?

Do you have the Status column (will have a blue dot in the column header) shown on the far left side of the register?  If not, go to the upper right Gear icon > Resigter columns > check the box for Status > Done.

What does it say the Status is of that Reminder?

TPM

@Boatnmaniac ... Your summary is exactly correct.

In the status column, it has an "Overdue" reminder icon (see attached).

Thank you.

Boatnmaniac

"Overdue" means that the Reminder has not yet been entered.  And that is also the reason why the downloaded transaction cannot be matched to it.

Reminders can still be shown in the register even when they have not been entered if the register is set to show Reminders in it.  

Click on the Reminder transaction and on the far right side you should see a Gear icon.  Click on that and then click on Enter this reminder.

If the Reminder got entered the status should be changed to Uncleared.  Now check to see if Quicken matched the downloaded transaction to the Reminder.  If it did not, are you able to manually match them?

Boatnmaniac

There have been some (not many) who have posted that Reminders which are set to be automatically entered have somehow recently been corrupted and no longer functioned properly.  If this is what has happened with you, you might want to delete the repeating Reminder and then recreate it.  I seem to recall that fixed the issue for some of them.

TPM

Thank you. I will let you know if that works. I appreciate your patience with me and your help.