Reconciling Credit Cards

Question

I have a few credit cards that have inaccurate balance information. I went through them one at a time, using the reconcile function and any of them that didn't come back with a 0 difference went on my list to inspect more closely.

For example: the account I'm working on is only $40 different. This account shows in the reconciliation history a difference of $4xx.xx from June 2021 and another of the exact same amount (both red) at the end of last months statement.

I thought I could go back and use the paper statements to find it, but quicken says there's a 0 difference when I enter those figures...I've done a few months, skipping ahead by 1-3 or 6  months hoping to bracket it, but in the reconciliation history It shows so much red and the numbers aren't matching up to help me find the errors.

I don't have any adjustments in the account, so that's not it. 
 I also do not understand what the reconciliation report is telling me.

This is what made me give up Quicken years ago...unable to fix my accounts. I'm looking for help in the hopes that I don't give up.

Jaybird180 · Answer

I cleared the reconciliation history and deleted any transactions that had the words "reconciliation" in the payee field. I then entered nearly 2 years of monthly statement data using the reconcile and let Quicken adjust the balances. The reconciliation report only reflects 2 transactions that differ by +$59 and -$59 and they are consecutive months, with 0 discrepancies in any of the months. However, when I search the register for reconciliation, Quicken has entered a cumulative of $1,320.96 into the register, with no discernible pattern.

I don't understand what it's doing!

Aha! It doesn't show a discrepancy in the report because it's added an adjustment to that month, which removes the discrepancy!

It would be more helpful if the reconciliation report would have a column for adjustments instead of having to pull the textual report to find it.

At least, now I think I can do a side-side comparison of the printed reconciliation report and the statements, starting with the earliest month looking for the errant transactions.

Jaybird180 · Answer

> @richardb5 said:
 > I feel for you..
 > 
 > I had the same thing happen when I did a validate about 6 months ago when one of my credit card accounts wouldn't connect with quicken.
 > 
 > I found the oldest transaction was a balance adjustment that was added (or some other transaction) and removing that worked to balance the account again.  Maybe I was lucky it was so easy, as I had 15 years and 300+ transactions in the credit card account.

I appreciate the empathy. I was able to find the transaction in one of the accounts. But unfortunately, wasn't able to validate my technique. I have a few more accounts to go.

richardb5 · Answer

I feel for you..

I had the same thing happen when I did a validate about 6 months ago when one of my credit card accounts wouldn't connect with quicken.

I found the oldest transaction was a balance adjustment that was added (or some other transaction) and removing that worked to balance the account again.  Maybe I was lucky it was so easy, as I had 15 years and 300+ transactions in the credit card account.