Why do I have to login just to add a new account?

User882232

While I don’t drop in here very often at all, I am well aware of the gentle “knuckle raps” posters here receive when they complain about changes in Q’s business model over the years. So I’ll try as much as possible to be objective, through clenched teeth. (Although the model seems to be pretty much becoming the standard among all of big software, so I suppose when I do complain it isn’t solely against Q LOL) :D

I’m using Quicken Deluxe 2019, and do plan to use it for a few more years. I do upgrade every several years. I only use it for personal purposes, and my requirements aren’t really that sophisticated. I do all the updates manually because I’m old, and have an old person mindset, where I’d rather pay $300 every 5 years for something that was mine, vs. $100/year perpetually where I seemingly am required to forever interact with the supplier I don’t want to interact with.

Since it started, I’ve always felt that asking for a login when I just want to use the software locally to be a bit intrusive. Then that requirement seemed to go away. Or maybe it’s just because I disconnect myself from the internet before I use Q? Maybe. But that still doesn’t prevent the explosion of the obnoxious “Your subscription is expired” popups that I must hack through during every step of a session. Ahem, sorry, I’m digressing here. :#

Is there a question here? Ahem, yes. I am trying to add a new account, which I haven’t done in a long time. I’m wondering why Q is requiring me to log in before I can add a new account? I really don’t see any need why a login is required for that.

Thank you for any inputs. I use Q2019 on Windows 10. And Yes, I do disconnect from the internet when I’m using Q, as I only use it locally.

Greg_the_Geek

Are you trying to add an offline account? When you're disconnected from the internet, are you disabling the network adapter?

User882232

Thanks for the reply. Yes, trying to add an offline account. I've posted a link below I found where a guy had the same problem as I do. Just like him, I click on "Add Account" and I never get to any screen offering Financial Institutions or the Offline option. The "Enter Quicken ID" screen pops up and won't allow me to do anything else til I x it out. Considering it seems there was no solution for that guy there, I'm thinking I'm SOL on this one.

And yes, I'm disconnecting the network adapter.

Guess what I'll try is to do log in for a few minutes, and try to add the account while online. Then log out. I'm just trying every way I can NOT to log in and touch base with the mother ship bc I don't trust them to not add more nag features to my software. IIRC when my subscription expired I went a long time with no nag screens til I made the mistake of logging in.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7893862/how-to-add-offline-account-without-internet-connection

Greg_the_Geek

Are you disabling or disconnecting the network adapter. You want to DISABLE it.

User882232

Well, I thought "disconnected" and "disabled" was the same. What I've been doing is disconnecting it from my desktop wifi icon. I'll have to look at disabling it and seeing what happens. Will report back, thanks!

User882232

Well, disabling the network connector made no difference. Still, Q wants to stick their nose into my own personal business and force me to log in before I add a new account on software I purchased and personally own, and wish to use autonomously and anonymously on my own personal machine. I can understand the login requirement if I'm adding an account that will be using the online services, but otherwise it's obnoxiously intrusive imo.

User882232

Well I have read further here and seems like adding a new account triggers the login requirement. Since my new account is only a Treasury IBond account - fairly simple to track manually - I have decided my inelegant solution is to track this account on the back of a napkin and not on Q to avoid their totally unreasonably requirement that I log in for doing work that's solely OFFLINE on MY software on MY file on MY PC. Bite me Quicken!!!!

Greg_the_Geek

FWIW, you didn't actually purchase the software, you purchased a license to use the software according to the End User License Agreement that you agreed to when you installed Quicken. 

User882232

I do thank you for your time and efforts. Not sure if you and the other experts here are on the Q payroll or not, but guess that doesn't really matter. Yes, I'm painfully aware of that fact that I only have a "license" as I've seen it used here to bludgeon us luddite heathens back to our Q200whatevers on our old Windows Vista machines, many times. I will give credit where credit is due though and say that this is most often quoted by the folks most helpful here, as you are, thus my suspicion y'all are on the Q payroll. Alas not that it really matters.

The fact is this: I'm old, old fashioned, remember when things on Q were much more convenient and less frustrating, less intrusive, and yes, less expensive. Silly me, that makes me the fool, I suppose, in that I expect improvement in products/services over time. Guess the folks at Q (as well as most other giant software concerns) task is to cook up ways to survive, (even if most "upgrades" are only window dressing) even if it's at the expense of the consumer.

And Q will have the last laugh on me, as my SO is about to kick me out of the house for my back-of-a-napkin plan for my new IBond account, and is now angry at me. Now I'm wondering if She's on the Q payroll. So I will reluctantly be forced to crawl back to Q for now, to see if a login will allow me to create a new account. I'm not holding my breath, because I expect reduced functionality as time goes on. Part of the modern business model.

But I won't renew as long as I am not absolutely forced to, as a protest against what I consider an overly intrusive business model. While we disagree on this fact, this is nothing against you, I do thank you for your efforts!

volvogirl

There currently seems to be a problem adding an account.  They are looking into it. 

q_lurker

Methinks you have too much time on your hands such that you write such extensive posts ragging on Quicken's business model  trying so hard to be as opinionated as possible while claiming to objectivity.  Perhaps another hobby is needed to keep peace with your SO.  

This post help you find for constructive ways to spend your time.
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7918354/migrating-quicken-2017-from-old-to-new-computer-quicken-data-access-guarantee/p1
You might even find your luddite ways encouraged and enthralled by the possibility of getting back to Quicken 2013.  Imagine all the joys you might find in exporting all your data to QIF files just to make that process immune from the intrusive policies of 2022. 

And just to put a real fact out there for you - the only posters on this site on Quicken's payroll are those with Quicken in their username; they are honest in their roles.  So you can quit insulting the rest of us with your snarky implications.  Not that it really matters!

Greg_the_Geek

@User882232, as @q_lurker stated, SuperUsers are not on the Quicken payroll. We are just other Quicken users trying to help anyone we can with their Quicken problems.

I don't know what you consider old, but I'm 70 myself. Maybe you can use your big Social Security increase and purchase a new Quicken subscription. 

User882232

Greg and q_lurker, Thanks both for your comments, gave me a laugh. Didn’t you know that the grouchy old man with too much free time 2.0 now screams "Get out of my data!” instead of "Get off my lawn?" :D

To close up this thread, in the the end, I was able to create an account for my IBonds. It did finally require a login though, which I wished to avoid. Initially I thought that my paranoia/mistrust/cynicism in Q was well founded because after I logged in, all I got was error messages when trying to proceed past the login screen, accompanied by the link, “Reinstalling and patching your Quicken Subscription version after your membership has expired.”

I was royally peo'd bout facing all this extra work, but alas, all it took was a PC restart and all was good. After hacking through a thicket of "Your subscription is expired" popups, I was able to create new accounts.

And LOL about your comment regarding my SS increase, but instead of Q subscription maybe I should just apply that towards paying a real Financial person to manage my retirement accounts instead of laboriously sweating about all this. Cuz even in a world with a compliant and customer friendly Q, it's still not really my cup of tea.

jr7107

User882232 said:

Greg and q_lurker, Thanks both for your comments, gave me a laugh. Didn’t you know that the grouchy old man with too much free time 2.0 now screams "Get out of my data!” instead of "Get off my lawn?"

This is a very interesting post and I thank you for bringing up the issue of "get out of my data" because I believe this to be 100% correct. That data is yours and yours alone. The FI has the privilege of your business and not required to share. However, my FI's have claimed "more secure method" yet they add with that "you are subject to third party terms".  Quicken is a service.

I have asked the specific question, who has access to my data. I keep getting referred to the Quicken Terms of Use and Privacy statements. 

https://www.quicken.com/terms-of-use

https://www.quicken.com/privacy/us

https://www.quicken.com/privacy/us/ccpa/disclosures-customers-excustomers

Please review these and review those connections that share your data with an intermediary and then becomes subject to the terms of use and privacy agreements. You will be surprised what is collected and aggregated that goes to an undetermined location for usage.

I'm a SuperUser in the Community world that pays for my own subscription with a new focus on user data privacy. Thanks for being aware of the current issues. I handle a few accounts manually now and will increase in the future.

Chris_QPW

jr7107 said:

User882232 said:

Greg and q_lurker, Thanks both for your comments, gave me a laugh. Didn’t you know that the grouchy old man with too much free time 2.0 now screams "Get out of my data!” instead of "Get off my lawn?"

However, my FI's have claimed "more secure method" yet they add with that "you are subject to third party terms".  Quicken is a service.

One has to be aware of the fact that the financial institutions aren't comparing Direct Connect to Express Web Connect + when they state that Express Web Connect + is more secure, and what's more they (and Quicken Inc) aren't talking about your transactions. They are comparing different "aggregation" methods.

The financial institutions are switching to FDX (which Express Web Connect + uses for the connection between Intuit and the financial institution).

There are a few aggregators out there.  Intuit with Express Web Connect, Express Web Connect +, and Mint are just a few of the possible ones.  Before FDX aggregators logged in the same way the user did.  That implies storing the username and password, and also things like using 2FA.  This is what they are referring to being "insecure".  Giving a third-party aggregator they means to log into your accounts with no real restrictions.  Of course, this isn't about the aggregators themselves, but about what might happen if the aggregator is hacked.

FDX does away with the username/password and uses a security token.  This means two things. First off there isn't a fixed username and password to hack, and second that the access granted is restricted to what FDX supports, which is not "two-way", only transactions/balances can be downloaded.

Direct Connect falls into a different category and isn't really talked about by the financial institutions.  The change to FDX isn't just for Quicken/Intuit.

Note that if you want to talk about the privacy of your transactions, other than the "third-party" agreements that state they won't use any identifiable information, nothing else is stated.  As in you don't know if the transactions are encrypted on the Quicken and Intuit servers (and yes, they are on both of these servers, and note that from what recently see Quicken Inc's "servers" are in fact Amazon cloud servers).

Now compare that to Direct Connect.

1. Usernames and passwords only stored on user's computer.  Note the newer versions of the OFX protocol that Direct Connect uses allows for the same rotating security tokens, but neither the financial institutions nor Quicken support them.
2. Direct Communication so transactions aren't stored on any server.
3. Direct Connect allows for transfers and bill pay, which might be considered less secure by the financial institutions/Quicken Inc, but that support is independent of Direct Connect (which most financial institutions not supporting it even if they support Direct Connect) so I wouldn't really call this a "security concern".  If they were concerned about only that, they would have just disabled it and left Direct Connect for downloading transactions/balances.