Does PNC support Direct Connect interface method with Quicken?

endmaker

Does PNC support Direct Connect interface method with Quicken Home and Business?

If so, is there a charge?

Boatnmaniac

Yes, PNC does support DC for all editions of Quicken (Starter, Deluxe, Premier, Home & Business). There is only one Quicken software. The various editions are simply different features being turned on or off per the subscription we are signed up for.

It also supports DC Bank Bill Pay (schedule bill payments from within Quicken, Quicken then sends the bill payment commands to PNC and PNC will confirm back the bill payment schedule, when the payment has been process and when the payment has posted).

There is no monthly fee for the personal checking/savings accounts. I believe they charge $2.00/month for business accounts. You should contact PNC to confirm this and any/all other bank fees that you might be subject to.

Setting up DC for PNC is a little more involved than it is with most other banks. Once the accounts are set up for online banking on PNC's website, you will need to contact them to request the UserID and PW for DC. The UserID might be your SS or it might be something unique…they will let you know which. The PW is something they will send to you separately via the USPS. After you receive the PW you will be able to set up the DC service with PNC.

I've been a PNC Bank customer since Oct 2021 when PNC acquired BBVA USA which was my previous bank. Overall I've been pretty pleased with them. PNC has worked pretty reliably and dependably with Quicken.

Did this answer your question?

Boatnmaniac

Yes, PNC does support DC for all editions of Quicken (Starter, Deluxe, Premier, Home & Business). There is only one Quicken software. The various editions are simply different features being turned on or off per the subscription we are signed up for.

It also supports DC Bank Bill Pay (schedule bill payments from within Quicken, Quicken then sends the bill payment commands to PNC and PNC will confirm back the bill payment schedule, when the payment has been process and when the payment has posted).

There is no monthly fee for the personal checking/savings accounts. I believe they charge $2.00/month for business accounts. You should contact PNC to confirm this and any/all other bank fees that you might be subject to.

Setting up DC for PNC is a little more involved than it is with most other banks. Once the accounts are set up for online banking on PNC's website, you will need to contact them to request the UserID and PW for DC. The UserID might be your SS or it might be something unique…they will let you know which. The PW is something they will send to you separately via the USPS. After you receive the PW you will be able to set up the DC service with PNC.

I've been a PNC Bank customer since Oct 2021 when PNC acquired BBVA USA which was my previous bank. Overall I've been pretty pleased with them. PNC has worked pretty reliably and dependably with Quicken.

Did this answer your question?

Ansar

Thanks much. I have 15 accounts at Chase. Been with Chase since 1982. In the beginning it was MSN, Chase and maybe BofA that went immediately to DC.

When Chase dumped DC or visa versa, I stayed with Chase. Had to initiate payments from the Bank Chase which certainly can be done, but it’s clunky and does not relate to your register. You have to go back and put the payees and information in the register. Once the checks clear, it’s worse. They do download
Into the register line already set up manually by you. The download information does not even match up to the payees if you have check numbers. What a hassle.
This change in technology and supposed ADVANCEMENTS are worse than manual.

You are very lucky you have not had to experience not using DC.
If CHase were smart they would incorporate a register function directly into their own bill pay.


I pray PNC keeps DC and between Q and PNC or other banks, keep the DC system up.

Sure, I am older, but started bill pay years before
the internet and with Q and banks who support DC, you can bill pay, deposit, transfer, manage and reconcile, monthly statements for 15 accounts in short order.
Thanks so much for the heads up.
If there are other banks you may know about near Chicago that support DC, I’d like to know.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20350602#Comment_20350602

You are welcome. I find it interesting that you and @endmaker are at the same time both looking for a bank in the Chicago area that supports DC. You might want to read the reply post I provided @endmaker a few days ago.:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7932018/what-chicagoland-banks-still-support-quicken-direct-connect

The issue that we DC-lovers are faced with is that much of the financial industry is moving away from DC and toward a new standard called FDX. EWC+ is Intuit's/Quicken's response to that.

There are a large number of financial institutions that are participating in the FDX Consortium. So far the number of financial institutions that have converted to EWC+ in Quicken is pretty small: Schwab, Cap One, PayPal, Chase, Bank of America, American Express and, I think, USAA (I might have missed a couple).

There are more that will be switching to EWC+ but we do not know which ones nor do we know when. I think it is a safe bet that most if not all of the FDX Consortium Sustaining Members will be transitioning from DC to EWC+ at some point. What the Standard Members will do regarding this is anyone's guess but I think given enough time many will transition, as well.

If you want to read more about FDX/EWC+ you might want to check out this thread. There are a couple of links in it, one of which shows who are in the FDX Consortium….and you will note that my two favorite DC banks (PNC and Wells Fargo) are both Sustaining Members.:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20302613#Comment_20302613

akalati

@Ansar

Many of us are in the same exact boat as you. Been on Quicken and Chase (and several others) since forever. And this cycle of dumping Direct Connect / DC across all institutions is an absolute farce and shame. Ended up switching banks away from Chase just because of this! It's so sad that the most critical functionality for Quicken, and one that's been around for 2 decades, is being killed. Without DC and Bank Bill Pay, going through all of the manual hassle is like going back to the stone age! There's very little reason to continue using Quicken without the Bank Bill Pay integration.

Is there a way that we can start a petition or something to compel the company to somehow provide this critical integration; if not using DC then enhance EWC+ to include billpay??? Is there an ear that will listen to the community that's been diehard fans for so many years?

I've sent the below to them via Twitter DM in response to the most recent CEO letter, whitewashing things as improvements. But obviously fell on deaf ears:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE implement Bank Bill Pay within your new connectivity integrations. I've been using Quicken for 2 decades and the inability to use bank billpay makes Quicken obsolete and this notion is shared by countless other users who have shared this sentiment online. Do what's right for your users and for your product before it becomes totally disposable.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20356473#Comment_20356473

It is not Quicken that is deciding to transistion from DC to EWC+. It is the banks. My contacts at Quicken have said that the banks essentially told them that they (the banks) were making this change affecting all 3rd party financial softwares (Quicken and Quicken's competitors) and that if they (Quicken) want to continue offering their customers the opportunity to continue downloading from the banks they (Quicken) will need to make this change. Either do that or they (Quicken) tell their customers that they will no longer be able to download into Quicken at all.

EWC+ is Quicken's/Intuit's response to the new download format standard call FDX. FDX is a 1-way protocol (download only) and does not have the 2-way (download + upload) capability of DC and needed for Bank Bill Pay. If and when the consortium decides to offer a 2-way FDX-like protocol, then we can petitition Quicken/Intuit to jump on board with that. But until then there is absolutely nothing Quicken/Intuit (nor any other 3rd party software) can do about that. So we can petition all we want but it will be pointless.

Also, there has been no announcement made that all financial institutions with DC will transition to EWC+. In the past 1-1/2 yrs there have been only 6 (that I know of…Schwab, Capital One, Chase, BofA, Amex, USAA) that have completed this transition. One other did not have DC but transitioned from EWC to EWC+ (PayPal). And one more has just recently announced that they are planning to transition from EWC to EWC+ (US Bank)…no announcement was made about their transitioning DC to EWC+. While it is safe to say financial institutions will follow suit there is no telling how many will nor when that might happen but it's been a pretty slow transition process so far.

Everyone finds value in Quicken for different reasons. I think most people find a lot of value in Quicken for a lot of different reasons other than DC and Bank Bill Pay. But those who feel that the only value Quicken has is because of DC Bank Bill Pay will have a decision to make regarding their continued use of Quicken when their financial institution(s) transition from DC to EWC+.

akalati

[{"type":"p","children":[{"text":"Thanks much for your detalied response. My understanding from other sources is that this transition was (at least partially) motivated by financial considerations and that DC is much more expensive for the banks than the alternatives. But regardless, it's us loyal users who are getting really hurt with this shift. it's sad and frustrating."}]}]

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20357057#Comment_20357057

Yes, it's been speculated that the reason for moving away from DC to EWC+ is because Intuit does charge Financial Institutions (FIs) for DC but there is no cost from Intuit to the FIs for using EWC+. So, that's very possibly an incentive to the FIs to make this change.

But the FDX Consortium (which is the driver behind the EWC+ protocol) says their objective is to standardize on a single protocol (a single protocol would also be a big cost reduction driver for the FIs) to improve security for the FIs. Key to improving security is to not allow 3rd party software to intrude into their systems like DC does….again, another speculation.

But I agree with your (and we are far from being alone) that elimination of DC (especially DC Bank Bill Pay) hurts the Quicken user and is not a good thing.

akalati

Thanks for the response. Also a big surprise that such a new protocol wouldn't include a method for pushing payments/transfers up to the FI instead of just pulling down transaction info. Maybe they will come to their senses and add that soon.