Ally CD transactions won't download

Trish107

I have two CDs at Ally. Quicken sees and has added them in the Tools → "Add Account…" section. One Step Update doesn't download the transactions. My other accounts at Ally work perfectly. It's almost like the CDs don't exist.

How should I proceed?

NOTE: All other accounts at my four other institutions work fine too.

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Trish107,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about this issue.  I'm sorry to hear you're running into this problem. Are the CD accounts under the same username with the financial institution, or a different username? When you try to update the accounts, what happens? Are you getting any error messages or error codes? If not, what shows on the One Step Update Summary (for instance, does it show the accounts, but 0 transactions, or does it not show them at all, or something else)? Have you checked the financial institution website to verify that there are new posted transactions do download for those accounts? Were the accounts previously connected and downloading fine, or has this been an issue ever since you first connected them?

Thank you.

Trish107

The CDs are under the same username.

When updating → Nothing happens. It's like they don't exist.

No error messages/codes or anything to indicate they even exist.

One step summary… I have four accounts at Ally, two of them are these CDs. The other two accounts show up but not the two CDs.

I have checked the Ally website and there are new transactions but I have to manually enter them into Quicken.

I had a few previous CDs that worked fine but have matured. These two are fairly new and I only had one of them download transactions in the first month but ever since, neither work.

If I go into "Tools - Add account…" all four of my accounts show up and are matched to each of the "register" accounts in Quicken but after that… crickets for CD updating.

NOTE: Going into either CD I can select Update Now (Ctrl-Alt-U) and nothing is listed in the window and the "Update Now" button is grayed out and not selectable.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

To narrow down if this is a file specific issue or a connection-related issue, I suggest creating a test file and adding these accounts to see if the same issue occurs with transactions not downloading.  It is recommended to save a backup before proceeding with troubleshooting steps in the event that you would like to return to your original starting position. Below are instructions on how to create a test file:

1. Choose File menu > New Quicken File.
   
2. Select New Quicken File
   
3. Click OK
4. In the File name field, enter the name of the new file, then click Save. Use a name like "Test File" to tell it apart from your main file. Avoid using any of these characters: * ? < > | " : \ / (asterisk, question mark, left and right-angle bracket, pipe, straight quotation marks, colon, BACKSLASH, FORWARD SLASH). Also, don't add the .qdf extension; Quicken does that for you.
   
5. Select to not use Mobile.
   
6. Click Add Account to start adding accounts to the new file.
   

After adding accounts, see if you are experiencing the same problems in this test file. 

Once you are done in the test file, you can switch back to your main file by following the directions in this article (How to alternate between multiple files section). Please let me know what happens in the test file!

Note: I saw you had trouble posting your response. When you post and it immediately vanishes, that usually means it got flagged for review and will reappear in a few hours.

Thank you.

Trish107

The "Test File" worked without fail and downloaded all transactions for all four accounts.

Should I remove those two CDs from my main data file and add them again? When I added the CDs to the test file it downloaded all transactions since they opened.

Also… Thank you for the note about my frustrated multi-posting!

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

I suggest that you try validating and/or super validating your main data file.  Please save a backup file prior to performing these steps.

Validate: 

1. File
2. Validate and Repair File...
3. Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

If the issue persists, proceed to Super Validate. If the issue is resolved after performing validation, then please disregard the instructions to Super Validate.

Super Validate:

1. File
2. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
3. Super Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.   

Thank you.

Trish107

I should have mentioned that prior to asking this question I had both validated and super validated the file.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

Let's try deleting and re-adding those two accounts. Prior to deleting them, please make sure to backup your file. If the issue persists after you have re-added the accounts, the next step would be to try restoring a backup from before the issue started, if possible.

Thank you.

Trish107

Deleting and re-adding "appears" to have worked. I say "appears" because another weird anomaly cropped up. I had to "Add Account" twice before both CDs showed up. In one case it wanted to match it to a checking account I closed over a decade ago.

That's why I want to do this…

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7937654/clean-my-data-file-without-losing-prior-information

If you have any insights or "tips and tricks" concerning the wiping complete obliteration of data, please let me know.

Thank you so much for your help! It's very much appreciated! 😊

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

I'm glad to hear that both CDs seem to be working.

When I look at that other discussion, there isn't much I can add that hasn't already been said. The only other thing I can think of is if you aren't happy with the year end archive, you can opt to Create a copy or template (File>Copy or backup file>Create a copy or template). That would give you the option of choose the date range you want to carry forward (and you'll still be able to switch between the original file and the copied file if you need to reference older history). One thing to keep in mind is all online services would be disconnected in the copy, so you would need to reconnect everything in the newly copied file.

Thank you.

Trish107

I noticed the two CDs are not connecting or downloading transactions from Ally again. I have a checking and savings account that are still working just fine.

It's the same issue that started this line of questioning.

Here's what I see. Bear in mind I have 4 accounts at Ally. The two updated here are my checking and money market, not my CDs.

If I go into the CD that actually has two transactions and try to "Update Now" (Ctrl+Alt+U) this is what I see.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

Have you tried restoring a backup from before the issue started? If you haven't tried that yet, then that would be the next step to correct the issue. If that is not a viable solution, please let me know so we can troubleshoot further.

Thank you.

Trish107

The oldest backup I have is from early April and the problems started in the middle of February, maybe earlier. I've been manually entering the few monthly transactions that long.

That and the other weirdness I've been dealing with over the past two years makes me think I should just "bite the bullet" and start over from scratch.

The only reason I haven't done it before now is reminders, categories, tags, etc. that I've entered and accumulated over the past 20+ years. I don't want to lose those and have to manually re-enter and/or forget something that's only used rarely but is important (insurance, taxes, etc.).

Unless… (fingers crossed) There's a way to export reminders, categories, tags, etc. and then import them into a new data file? 🙏

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

There are export options, but they would not bring over all the information you want to bring over. If you haven't already tried this, I suggest that you create a copy of your data file, which will rebuild all of the internal lists and database tables. If successful, you would then move forward with the copied file. To create a copy, please navigate to File > Copy or Backup File... > Create a copy or template (see examples below) which will also allow you to select a date range to move forward with.
If you wish to move forward with your entire data file, please check the full date range of your entire data file before copying so you can enter the correct date range if you do not wish to "shrink" your file by eliminating certain dates.

It's important to know that all online services will be disconnected in the copied file, and you will need to sign back in with your Quicken ID and reconnect all of your online accounts, online billers, Quicken Bill Manager services, etc if you plan to use that copied file going forward. The reason for this is that the new copy also creates a new and separate dataset ID.

If the issue is not resolved in the copied file either, then feel free to switch back to your original file.

Thank you!