Truist Reconcile Issues - Direct Connection

widomj@

Anyone else having issues with reconciling Truist checking accounts: direct connections? In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed Quicken isn’t matching many of the downloaded transactions and I keep having to add a balance modification even though I know I’ve entered all the transactions correctly.

Patrice Lockhart

I'm having the same problems after Classic Quicken software updates. I enter manually and have done so for many decades. I am fastidious about making sure each statement is correctly reconciled before I move on. But the software changed a whole bunch of statement balances on me that had previously been balanced but no longer are. Quicken wants me to just let the software add or subtract the amounts so that it will reconcile. Really? If this were a business and they were told to do that, it would be called "cooking the books."

widomj@

ok. I thought I was going crazy!!

Quicken Kristina

Hello @widomj@ and @Patrice Lockhart,

To help look into this issue, could you please provide more information? When you reconcile, are you reconciling against the Online Balance, or against the Statement Balance? Are you finding any errors (missing transactions, duplicate transactions, etc)? Is the amount that the reconcile is off by following any pattern (for instance, wanting to add an amount in one reconcile, then subtract the same amount in the next reconcile)? Have you noticed any previously reconciled transactions or the opening balance changing?

Thank you.

Patrice Lockhart

I wrote a long note back and saved it but it has disappeared.

Patrice Lockhart

I use the paper statements, always have for decades, I now download them as pdf's and work off of them. I could never get Quicken to work out a good connection for syncing to my bank so I do all my entries and reconciliations by hand. I have decades of statements on pdf. During earlier years I had to scan my paper statements to put them on my computer, because there was no internet banking. This came in handy when I had to switch to a new bank because the old one was going out of business and they made a mistake and lost everyone's previous statements. So, it's a wise thing to download your statements pdf's to your computer to make sure you have them if your bank loses them. If you really want to be safe, keep the paper ones also.

To start reconciliation, I open that month's pdf on my left monitor and I highlight in yellow the beginning and ending balances for that month. It's different between checking and credit what I highlight. I'll take a quick look at the beginning balance to see if that matches what I see in Quicken.

Then I go into Quicken, and check "use paper statement." I click Reconcile and enter the ending statement date (for checking), the prior balance and the ending balance, directly from my paper statement for that month. I'm very careful doing this, as my bank doesn't go by the a monthly calendar, it may start with June 3 and end on July 2 for instance.

Then, as I am working on the statement, I first make sure that all entries on the "paper" statements are entered into the checking account in Quicken correctly. I highlight each amount in yellow and make a red checkmark on the right side of the entry on the statement to indicate that I have just entered each amount correctly. This makes sure my paper statement and my account entries in Quicken match. Then I double check that I have entered each transaction on the day the bank made it, not when I made the purchase. So for instance I buy groceries on June 30th but the bank enters it occurring on July 3, that has to be changed to a July date. When that is done, then I go back and make sure I have all the documents that are associated with each transaction and I attach them to the entry. If all looks good, I save that entry.

Then I focus on the reconcile window. I look at each amount in the window and then look back at the pdf of each entry and make sure that they match perfectly. If the amount matches then I make a red check on the pdf to the left side that indicates that it matches my reconcile window and then I select it on the list in the reconcile window. I work through all of the entries like this. Occasionally I will make an error doing this, I'll discover I have entered .06 instead of .08 for instance, this is where I catch those errors. I keep doing this until the ending balance in the reconcile window is 0.

Then I go back to the pdf statement, and evaluate the beginning and ending balances to the reconciled balances in Quicken. If they match, then I go back to the pdf statement and make a check mark next to the beginning and ending balances. Then I know, to that date, I have accurately entered each statement correctly. Finally, with the statement fully checked, I pen on the top of the statement "Reconciled" and the date. I save it and attach it to the final entry in that month.

It's a lot of work. But this is how I do it. To find that somehow all this work I have done is not correct is very upsetting.

widomj@

I can’t compete with that response. Mine is easier.

Quicken isn’t matching as many download transactions. I had 10 downloads that exact values and I had to manually match. (Note - This is a new ‘bug’. I’m accustomed to some match manual. This is crazy.)

For reconciling, Quicken isn’t using the correct online balance. It’s trying to use the pending transactions at Truist and USAA. Therefore, it keeps asking me to enter a correction. (Truist, I’m using direct connect.)

widomj@

example.

the cleared balance includes pending checks. they’re not yet “cleared” in my checking account.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your replies,

@widomj@,

Do you use Truist's bank bill pay at all (either directly through the bank or by scheduling the transactions through Quicken and sending the instructions to the bank)? With a Direct Connect connection in Quicken, some financial institutions allow Quicken to see pending bank bill pay transactions (but Quicken shouldn't be able to see any other pending transactions). Is that what is happening in your Truist account(s), or is it seeing all pending transactions?

There aren't currently any open alerts for USAA accounts having pending transactions reflecting in the Online Balance in Quicken, but there are a couple work arounds for that sort of issue:

1. Wait for the pending transactions to post, then reconcile.
2. If the account is too active for the first option to be viable, the reconcile against the statement balance instead of the online balance.

To report the issue with pending transactions reflecting in your USAA Online Balance, there are a couple options:

1. If you want a response when you report the issue, you would need to call Quicken Support directly. The Quicken Support phone number can be found through this link here. Phone support is available from 5:00 am PT to 5:00 pm PT, Monday through Friday.
2. If you don't need a response, then you can report the issue through your Quicken program by going to Help>Report a Problem and providing the following information: The log files (which should be pre-selected), the name of the Quicken file(s) where you have encountered the issue, the account name(s) in Quicken that are affected by this issue, and screenshots from the USAA website and Quicken that show the pending transactions are reflecting in the Online Balance in Quicken (blurring/obscuring personal information is fine; the main things they'd need to see are the transactions and the balance so that they can further investigate the issue).

@Patrice Lockhart,

It sounds like the reconcile issue you're encountering is significantly different. When did this first start happening? Is it affecting all of your accounts, or just some? Is this happening only after you update the Quicken software (then behaving until the next time the software is updated)? If not, is it happening every time you reconcile, or is it more random when it happens?

Thank you.

widomj@

This is happening with Truist and USAA. I can’t be the only person. :)

mshiggins

"Quicken isn't matching as many download transactions. I had 10 downloads that exact values and I had to manually match".

I don't have a Truist account; but I'm not seeing any matching problems with my downloads from multiple financial institutions (with either R50.16 or R52.28).

But "matching" is at least partially an art, rather than entirely scientific; no matching algorithm will correctly match all downloaded transactions. And in Quicken, the transaction "amount" is not definitive for matching.

Here is the Quicken downloaded transaction matching logic (from this KB article: )

"Quicken uses very basic criteria to determine whether a downloaded transaction is New or should be Matched to an existing transaction in your register:

"Downloaded ID, to see if the transaction has been downloaded previously or not. This Downloaded ID is compared to the <FITID> or <Transaction_ID> in the downloaded data. Date + Amount + Payee, to see the newly downloaded transaction matches one that was manually entered into the account register prior to the download."
[The user should never see a downloaded transaction that has the same <FITID> as an existing Quicken transaction; such a transaction would not be considered a "match", it would be a "duplicate" downloaded transaction which Quicken should simply discard.]


"For reconciling, Quicken isn't using the correct online balance. It's trying to use the pending transactions at Truist ....".

Quicken plays no part in determining the online balance (Quicken has no direct access to any financial institution data); Quicken receives a single "online balance amount" in the download, and presents that amount to the user.

The contents of "Direct Connect" downloads are entirely the responsibility of the financial institution; if the Quicken online balance for a Truist account is incorrect, it's because Truist sent (downloaded) an incorrect amount. 

There are multiple "Truist" financial institution names for Quicken: the only one of those names that appears to offer "Direct Connect" downloads is "Truist Online Banking".  If you are using "Truist Online Banking", only Truist can correct your online balance issue.

Until the incorrect online balance issue is fixed, you can reconcile to a printed statement.https://tinyurl.com/4kn3kkjh

-JP

AlexisoftheShire

I have two Truist accounts. One checking and one credit card. Both use express web connect. I also download, using OSU, every day and have no problems with either one. For some reason Truist's credit card and checking account processes are not in sync with posting transactions and updating balances so I will get pending transactions from Truist and the balance's may not be updated for a few hours. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I am very sure this is a Truist problem because I don't have issues with other credit accounts like Home Depot or Capital One. When I get the issue I unclear the pending download transaction, wait for the balance to update from Truist, and then clear the transaction(s) and do the reconciliation. A couple of times over the past few years with Truist (I was using BB&T before they merged too), I noticed Truist (or Quicken), can't tell which one, updated my beginning balance, so when I get an unsynchronized balance, that isn't caused by pending transactions, I look to my beginning balance and ensure it is $0.00. FYI on my experience.

widomj@

@mshiggins thank you. I am intimately familiar with the reconciliation process. All I’m saying is it looks like something has changed. Downloaded transactions that matched in the past aren’t matching any more and the software appears to be reconciling differently.