Direct Connect to Fifth Third Bank

tbauer

:( Just opened new savings and checking accounts at Fifth Third Bank for the sole purpose of using Quicken for online bill pay. (My old bank, Vystar, broke the Quicken connection feature.) The 5/3 accounts were installed by Quicken with no apparent issues. Subsequently, when I try to update the accounts I get an error message in Quicken that simply says, "An error has occured." No codes, no hints. I called 5/3. They claim the transaction showed successful on their end. They suggested I contact Quicken for support. I have used Quicken for decades on many accounts and banks. I have never seen Quicken behave like this. I also tried online bill pay with 5/3. It appears to work in Quicken, meaning it posts the payment in the 5/3 check register with Send in the Check column, as I would expect. But when I try to Update Now from the account, it throws the An Error Has Occured message. Checking 5/3, the bill I'm trying to send does not appear in their check register or their bill pay system. I really need for this to work. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Quicken Anja

Hello @tbauer,

Thank you for taking the time to report your issue here in the Community, though we apologize that you are experiencing this.

Based on the issue you described, it would be better suited for you to please reach out to Quicken Support by phone or chat directly for further assistance and possible escalation if they see fit.

We apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you.

harris48154

As I recall there was a delay getting 5/3 going as well.
I was not able to connect to the 53.com web site for 14 days after creating the account. No indication on the web site but confirmed with a phone call. (argh!) It may have been because I created the account on line rather than going into the branch, not sure. If you do decide to go back to 5/3, you might run into that issue.
So far, I like 5/3 better than PNC. 5/3 seems to post deposits much quicker than PNC. That was always my one gripe about Chase. They were very slow to post transactions. I also like the 53.com web site better than PNC. The PNC site is cluttered and confusing. The PNC fee must be a geographic difference. Here the checking account is no charge.
I've finally gotten my banking straightened out. Took more than 8 weeks. Very stressful.
Best of luck.

harris48154

Further update...
I am really pleased with Fifth Third Bank. They call it "Momentum Checking". Unlike Chase, no fee, no minimum balance. The service is excellent. The people are wonderful.
Moving my Quicken Payees over from Chase to 5/3 is much easier than I expected.

Quicken Anja

Hello @tbauer,

Thank you for taking the time to report your issue here in the Community, though we apologize that you are experiencing this.

Based on the issue you described, it would be better suited for you to please reach out to Quicken Support by phone or chat directly for further assistance and possible escalation if they see fit.

We apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you.

tbauer

After spending over 4 hours on the phone with 5/3 and Quicken tech support, Quicken gave up. The Quicken guy said, "we only support web connect. You are trying to use direct connect. Sorry." I closed the accounts at 5/3 and am moving on. My next stop is PNC bank which swears that they support direct connect and online bank bill pay from Quicken. I'm waiting for my Quicken pin to come in the mail along with final set up info. Let's hope that works. If not, I see positive results from Q users and TD Bank.

harris48154

Hi tbauer,

The problems you've been going through to get set up with Quicken bank bill pay so closely parallels mine it's spooky. In my case it was not Vystar but Chase that dropped support for Direct Connect. After weeks of frustration with the 5/3 account I had decided to close that account and move on. I had already opened another checking account, this one at PNC. I wouldn't be working the next day so the plan was to go into the 5/3 branch to close the account. Much to my surprise, that same day, I got a call from a representative from Fifth Third Bank, just to ask how things were going with the new checking account. Katie was incredibly nice and supportive as I explained the ordeal I had been going through trying to get the account to "work". She encouraged me to visit the local branch and she made an appointment for me, for the next morning, to meet with a bank representative.

Like you, I was terribly frustrated with several phone calls to Quicken tech support that yielded no more helpful information than you had gotten from them. I was so encouraged by the call from Katie, however, that I spent the rest of the day, late into the evening re-reading suggestions posted on this forum that insisted that I simply wasn't doing things correctly to set up the bank bill pay. It finally clicked, I got it to work. This forum is an superb resource. The contributors are remarkable. I did keep the appointment at the branch, the next morning, but did not, of course, close the account.

This is what worked for me-

My Fifth Third Bank checking account was a "Momentum Banking" account (no fees)

It is necessary to enable bank bill pay in 5/3 account, they cannot do it, but you can. Log into the web site, at onlinebanking.53.com. Select "Transfer & Pay", then "+ Add Payee". Go through the process of adding a payee, as though you were going to initiate the payment, not from Quicken, but from the 5/3 web site bill pay. Once you have added a payee, Quicken will accept the account with Direct Connect and Bank bill pay enabled.

Add the account in Quicken. Select "Advanced Options", then select Direct Connect. The added account should be Direct Connect with Bank Bill Pay activated. (see attached picture)


Now I have 2 checking accounts, one at Fifth Third, one at PNC, bank bill pay is enabled in Quicken for both of them.

tbauer

Well that was pretty sneaky! Congrats! I had everything looking and working perfectly in bill pay in Q but every time I connected to 5/3 I would get, "An error has occurred." No hints or CC numbers but I got correct account downloads. I know I was very close and I wish I hadn't closed the accounts so hastily. I like 5/3 and their branch is a mile from by house, plus they were very nice people. I didn't think to set up a payee in 5/3 online. You're saying if I had, Q would have started to work. Too bad all the techies at Q and 5/3 couldn't figure that out. The Q support tech blew me off by saying Q doesn't support Direct Connect. huh. I'm waiting for the Q pin to arrive in the mail from PNC. Is that how you set up at PNC? If PNC doesn't work, my last resort is Wells Fargo. In my quest to get Q to pay online bank billing I have opened accounts at Capital One, Navy Federal, Mainstreet, USAA and 5/3. I've wasted about 2 man weeks on this but refuse to dumb down.

harris48154

Yes, you were very close. I missed a step in my previous message. Once you create the Payee in the 5/3 account, then you need to Deactivate the Online setup in Quicken, then reactivate it. When it reconnects it should be ready for bill pay.

I was also very disappointed in the poor support I got from Quicken.
The Fifth Third Bank people were really nice to me as well. I plan to stick with that account for bill pay.

For PNC, I waited to receive the Pin via mail. It took a while to arrive. Once you get it, the setup is quite straightforward.

tbauer

Harris48154, Thanks again for your help. I did read about that Deactivate trick on the 5/3 website. I did try that but as you know I didn't create a Payee at 5/3's site first. I'm getting a little irritated that PNC would take so long to send me that Pin. Opened the accounts on Nov 18 and requested Q access the next day. I did get a letter saying I was approved for Q access and that the Pin would arrive shortly. So, guess it is in the mail... It won't take much aggravation from PNC to tip me back to 5/3. A branch is about a mile from my house. From what you have told me, I bet I could get 5/3 up and running tha same day. I'm trying to clean up this Q banking mess by Jan 1. That will involve changing 4 direct deposits - not likely to make that date but I can bank transfer funds. PNC required $5,000 in direct deposits to get free checking but at this point I'm willing to pay anything... Thanks again for the notes and assist. At least now I have a backup plan to PNC. Feel free to direct email me. I believe my email is available in my profile.

harris48154

As I recall there was a delay getting 5/3 going as well.
I was not able to connect to the 53.com web site for 14 days after creating the account. No indication on the web site but confirmed with a phone call. (argh!) It may have been because I created the account on line rather than going into the branch, not sure. If you do decide to go back to 5/3, you might run into that issue.
So far, I like 5/3 better than PNC. 5/3 seems to post deposits much quicker than PNC. That was always my one gripe about Chase. They were very slow to post transactions. I also like the 53.com web site better than PNC. The PNC site is cluttered and confusing. The PNC fee must be a geographic difference. Here the checking account is no charge.
I've finally gotten my banking straightened out. Took more than 8 weeks. Very stressful.
Best of luck.

harris48154

Further update...
I am really pleased with Fifth Third Bank. They call it "Momentum Checking". Unlike Chase, no fee, no minimum balance. The service is excellent. The people are wonderful.
Moving my Quicken Payees over from Chase to 5/3 is much easier than I expected.

tbauer

I finally got the PIN from PNC today. It took 14 days and I had to call them. What a drag. So, I was totally confused about what exactly to do with the PIN. Luckily, I found a post by BoatnManiac that detailed exactly how to use it. Simply Deactivate and set up as a new account but using the listing for PNC Direct Connect. So, why doesn't PNC put that info within customer reach? All they say is use the "product help" for gaining access. I would not have figured out which PNC to access without BoatnManiac's post as there are about 20 of them. The thread was closed so I couldn't tell him that. Anyway, I sent two payments to PNC. They left Q like they worked as expected. They aren't showing up at PNC yet and their billing system doesn't show the two payees I sent, yet. I read that it takes PNC days to post things and I think you mentioned that too. So, thanks again for your help. 5/3 is still on the table if PNC is too sluggish for my liking.

Boatnmaniac

tbauer said:

I finally got the PIN from PNC today. It took 14 days and I had to call them. What a drag. So, I was totally confused about what exactly to do with the PIN. Luckily, I found a post by BoatnManiac that detailed exactly how to use it. Simply Deactivate and set up as a new account but using the listing for PNC Direct Connect. So, why doesn't PNC put that info within customer reach? All they say is use the "product help" for gaining access. I would not have figured out which PNC to access without BoatnManiac's post as there are about 20 of them. The thread was closed so I couldn't tell him that. Anyway, I sent two payments to PNC. They left Q like they worked as expected. They aren't showing up at PNC yet and their billing system doesn't show the two payees I sent, yet. I read that it takes PNC days to post things and I think you mentioned that too. So, thanks again for your help. 5/3 is still on the table if PNC is too sluggish for my liking.

I'm glad to hear that my previous post helped you get PNC setup correctly. 

Regarding your scheduled Bill Pays not showing up on their system:  You won't see those show up in their system until the payments have actually posted there.  Instead, you will need to rely on the Bill Pay status lightning bolt in the Check # field of the transaction.  Click on that lightning bolt and you will see all the pertinent status/schedule information. 

Not being able to see the scheduled Bill Pays in my online account has always bothered me, especially since I do schedule my Bill Pays as much as 1 month in advance of the due date.  But PNC has proven themselves to be highly dependable in faithfully executing the bill pays as scheduled.

tbauer

B. I haven't given up on PNC but I'm also working with 5/3 Bank. I like their website better than PNC but it appears the the bank bill pay works about the same as PNC. So, I'm using them both. With either bank, they are far better than NO Connection like I'm have to put up with at Vystar Credit Union. What a disaster their Mobile Banking Upgrade has been. They crashed the entire system in May 2022. No third party downloads work. Best they can do is CSV files. Very cumbersome. PNC has started to throw error messages in Q that simply say, An Error Has Occurred. Not at all helpful. But the uploads still seem to work. Did you have anything like that happen to you? If so, how did you resolve it? Thanks again for your very excellent post on getting PNC up and running.

Boatnmaniac

tbauer said:

B. I haven't given up on PNC but I'm also working with 5/3 Bank. I like their website better than PNC but it appears the the bank bill pay works about the same as PNC. So, I'm using them both. With either bank, they are far better than NO Connection like I'm have to put up with at Vystar Credit Union. What a disaster their Mobile Banking Upgrade has been. They crashed the entire system in May 2022. No third party downloads work. Best they can do is CSV files. Very cumbersome. PNC has started to throw error messages in Q that simply say, An Error Has Occurred. Not at all helpful. But the uploads still seem to work. Did you have anything like that happen to you? If so, how did you resolve it? Thanks again for your very excellent post on getting PNC up and running.

I have not been having any issues or error messages with PNC downloading into and uploading from Quicken.  Would you be able to do a screen print of that error message, save it and then click and drag it to the Leave a Comment field (or you can use the "Attach File" icon to import that file to your next post)?  A picture can sometimes be worth a thousand words.

Also, can you tell if you are getting the error message from your checking account or some other account you have set up with PNC?

tbauer

I pasted an image of the error message two different ways.

A couple of weeks ago, I tested two future payment uploads to a Chase credit card using PNC bank bill pay. I never found them again on the PNC website in either bill payments or the check register. I thought they were lost and not processed by Q although they did both have check numbers which I thought made them good and valid. Today, one the payments appeared in the PNC online check register as paid. PNC's billing system still says I haven't uploaded or paid anyone from their bank. Kinda hard to deal with no confirmations anywhere on their site as to whether things are working, or not... I usually run the Q bank check register out at least 60 days to manage cash flow. If PNC can't confirm payments, I don't see how this is going to work. As I mentioned, I'm also using 5/3 bank and am not having any of these issues there. They don't post to the online check register until a bill is paid but I can see the bills stacked up on their bill pay system so I know they were upload from Q and they are in my 5/3 register in Q as Sent. So, that's comforting.

As to which account is throwing the attached error message, I'm using Update from the PNC check register in Q as well as One Step Update. Also, when I set up Direct Connect to PNC, Q didn't let me add the Reserve and Growth accounts. Q found them but they were grayed out and hard coded, "don't add to Q." If I try to add them now using DC, Q/PNC wants a new PIN because the old one doesn't not work anymore. Q won't let me past the PNC DC login where it asks for SSN and PIN numbers. I tried adding the accounts manually and then hook them up online using WC but that failed too. Pic attached. So I don't see a way to add the two Reserve and Growth accounts now. They would be fine on Web Connect but don't see a way to do that in Q without messing up the DC to checking.

Please don't waste any time busting a gut trying to figure out these PNC issues. It doesn't look like the bank for my cash management style. However, if you have some quicky ideas for me to try, I am curious and would still rise to the challenge.