Quicken server connecting to my bank without me asking it to ... what's up??

Barry Demchak

Hi, all ...

This issue is similar to this issue: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7897185/auto-connection-to-bank-accounts-without-permission.

I use Quicken Windows Deluxe and *no* Quicken Web/Mobile product that I'm aware of.

My bank notifies me when Quicken tries to access my bank account. Mostly, it accesses the account when I perform a One Step Update in Quicken. But it also accesses the account on weekends when I never even started Quicken. For example, the bank claims the last access was this morning at 1AM EST (my time, Feb 13). I hadn't used Quicken since Feb 10.

The reported server is on AWS (e.g., 206.108.41.102).

Why would Quicken Cloud be accessing my bank account without me asking it to? What does it do with the information it receives from my bank? I assume it's accessing accounts at my banks that don't notify me, too.

This is very troubling ... any ideas what this is about?

Thanks!

Jon

If any of your accounts are connected using "Express Web Connect" or "Express Web Connect+" then Quicken Cloud is periodically connecting to those accounts to get updates, independently of when you run Quicken on your desktop. When you run Quicken & update those EWC/EWC+ accounts, all you're doing is getting the latest information from Quicken Cloud.

The only way to avoid this happening is to only use Direct Connect or Web Connect as your connection method (or disconnect the account entirely) and turn off Mobile Sync.

Barry Demchak

Thanks very much, @Jon !

This is very useful information. I can see more about this in the help article: "About the connection methods used by online services"

The Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect+ methods seem to be automatically selected when I activate the Online Services for my bank. I don't seem to have a choice. Would that be right?

Looking at my accounts, it seems that several of the accounts I care about have Express* connections.

The implications of this are rather concerning. For this to work, Quicken Cloud would need to have credentials for all of my Express* accounts, and would be storing my transactions (and whatever else). (Is this true?) This could be a *big* problem when (not if) Quicken Cloud gets hacked.

Do you know how can I get comfortable that Quicken Cloud won't spill my information?

Thanks!