Scotiabank Investment Accounts not available in Quicken with Express Web Connect

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JMC-Canada
JMC-Canada Member

I am using Quicken Deluxe Classic and when connecting to ScotiaBank, it loads all of my credit card, chequeing, savings and even mortgage accounts but does not see my investment accounts. I tried calling Quicken support who sent me to Scotiabank and they pointed me back to Quicken.

I also use Mint which connects to the same Scotiabank connection and it downloads all accounts/transactions.

Mint is being discontinued and I cannot find another app that provides the features Mint does with the ease of integration it supports.

Best Answers

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023 Answer ✓
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    @JMC-Canada said:

    00025 00025 00025 Scotiabank http://www.scotiabank.ca 1-800-4-Scotia http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID335_LIDen,00.html ACTIVE BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

    Thanks for providing this information. I have put in bold font the key words in this listing: BANKING and CREDIT. This means they only support downloading bank accounts (like checking, savings) and credit accounts (like credit cards and perhaps loans).

    The listing would need to include INVESTMENT in order to download investments transactions/data from Scotiabank. Since the listing does not include INVESTMENT it means they do not support such downloads.

    If they support manual downloads of investments data in Excel, CSV, QIF or OFX formats, you might want to download and install a freeware converter program called ImportQIF. It can sometimes convert files downloaded in these formats into something that can then be uploaded into Quicken. This freeware program was developed by a long-time Quicken user and very active participant in this Community. Many (including some Super Users) use it and have said it works well. You can read up on it and download the program from https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/ . No guarantees that it will work for you but IMO it's worth trying it out. (EDIT: ImportQIF works with Windows, only. It does not work with Mac.)

    If it does not work for you or if Scotiabank does no permit manual downloads in one of these 4 formats, I think the only option you have is to manually setup the investment account into Quicken and then to manually enter and maintain the transactions.

    If you wish to get Scotiabank to support investment accounts in Quicken, you should contact them and request that they add that support by contracting with Intuit (the aggregator and owner of the FIDIR list) to add that support. If they get enough customers requesting them to add that support then perhaps they will be able to develop the business case justifying it.

    Sorry, I wish I had better news for you.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023 Answer ✓
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    Because they use different aggregators, different download protocols and different data file formats. Quicken uses a proprietary file format that no other 3rd party financial software can use. When a financial institution wants to support downloading of financial data into Quicken they must contract with Intuit (the aggregator) to get set up for that. No contract, then no downloading.

    I'm sorry to say, then, that your only option if you wish to track these accounts in Quicken is to set up the accounts as offline manual accounts and then manually enter your transactions into them.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

Answers

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023
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    Express Web Connect (EWC) cannot download investment accounts financial data and transactions. To do so, Scotiabank would need to support Direct Connect (DC) or Express Web Connect+ (EWC+) or Web Connect (WC). Even then the FIDIR (Financial Institutions Directory) list would need to show that DC, EWC+ or WC supports INVESTMENT as shown in following example listing. (Note: In the FIDIR EWC and EWC+ are both shown as EWC but if EWC is shown with INVESTMENT is is really EWC+.):

    00003 00003 00003 Scotia McLeod - English https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html 1-800-4-SCOTIA https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html ACTIVE INVESTMENT&WEB-CONNECT ACCOUNTINFO,INVESTMENT&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

    What you might want to do is to do a Windows Explorer search for FIDIR. When it has been found open it with Notepad. Then search (cntrl+F) for ScotiaBank. There might be more than one listing. Check to see if the listing includes INVESTMENT and for which connection method(s). (FYI: I would have done this search myself but I do not have Quicken for Canada so I do not have that particular FIDIR file.)

    Let me know what you find and we can then determine what the next step(s) should be.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • Stephen P Rikley
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    I have the same Scotia Mcleod issue with investment accounts not loading. I too just switched over from Mint where everything worked. Has anyone found a solution to the Scotia Investment accounts not loading?

    Thanks

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @JMC-Canada has not provided the requested information so I do not know if this is a Scotia McLeod financial institution issue or an issue with a different Scotiabank financial institution.

    The example listing for Scotia McLeod was intended only to highlight (in bold font) what the connection method(s) and type of accounts are supported. I do not know which Scotiabank FIDIR listing is actually applicable to @JMC-Canada's situation. It might be a different Scotiabank FIDIR listing. Only they can provide that information.

    As far as your situation is concerned: Please provide the FIDIR listing for the Scotiabank that you are using or want to get set up. I'll post the instructions here, again, for quick reference:

    What you might want to do is to do a Windows Explorer search for FIDIR.
    When it has been found open it with Notepad. Then search (cntrl+F) for
    ScotiaBank. There might be more than one listing. Check to see if the
    listing includes INVESTMENT and for which connection method(s). (FYI:
    I would have done this search myself but I do not have Quicken for
    Canada so I do not have that particular FIDIR file.)

    Post that listing in this thread in your next reply.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    @Arctic Hare would be the best to answer this question but I will point out that you can access the Canadian FIDIR.TXT file online here:

    https://ofx-prod-filist.intuit.com/qw2800-can/data/fidir-c.txt

    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
  • JMC-Canada
    Options

    My situation is in connecting to https://auth.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com/online? which I use to access the accounts connected to my bank card. Its also the scotia online account which includes registered accounts and scotia iTrade accounts which are not accessible by quicken.

    All accounts are accessible and downloadable by Mint although there is a glitch with 2 factor authenticatiin that Ive managed to work around by rentering credentials each time to update the transactiins. Regardless the update does work.

    For a paid service like quicken to have so many issues with financial institutions where free services like Mint work, is troublesome. Also I am finding quicken not as easy to use and it does require some knowlege of accounting principles to make it effective. With not being able to access all my accounts from one app however quicken is a non starter and I will likely just get my money back and find a better option.

  • Stephen P Rikley
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    I am new to Quicken. But, I believe this is the FIDIR line that is associated with what I need.

    00003 00003 00003 Scotia McLeod - English https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html 1-800-4-SCOTIA https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html ACTIVE INVESTMENT&WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

    Thanks

  • JMC-Canada
    Options

    The FIDIR for my account is

    00025 00025 00025 Scotiabank http://www.scotiabank.ca 1-800-4-Scotia http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID335_LIDen,00.html ACTIVE BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023 Answer ✓
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    @JMC-Canada said:

    00025 00025 00025 Scotiabank http://www.scotiabank.ca 1-800-4-Scotia http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID335_LIDen,00.html ACTIVE BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

    Thanks for providing this information. I have put in bold font the key words in this listing: BANKING and CREDIT. This means they only support downloading bank accounts (like checking, savings) and credit accounts (like credit cards and perhaps loans).

    The listing would need to include INVESTMENT in order to download investments transactions/data from Scotiabank. Since the listing does not include INVESTMENT it means they do not support such downloads.

    If they support manual downloads of investments data in Excel, CSV, QIF or OFX formats, you might want to download and install a freeware converter program called ImportQIF. It can sometimes convert files downloaded in these formats into something that can then be uploaded into Quicken. This freeware program was developed by a long-time Quicken user and very active participant in this Community. Many (including some Super Users) use it and have said it works well. You can read up on it and download the program from https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/ . No guarantees that it will work for you but IMO it's worth trying it out. (EDIT: ImportQIF works with Windows, only. It does not work with Mac.)

    If it does not work for you or if Scotiabank does no permit manual downloads in one of these 4 formats, I think the only option you have is to manually setup the investment account into Quicken and then to manually enter and maintain the transactions.

    If you wish to get Scotiabank to support investment accounts in Quicken, you should contact them and request that they add that support by contracting with Intuit (the aggregator and owner of the FIDIR list) to add that support. If they get enough customers requesting them to add that support then perhaps they will be able to develop the business case justifying it.

    Sorry, I wish I had better news for you.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • JMC-Canada
    Options

    My bank does not have a download option. Also, if the bank didn't support it, then how is it that Mint can download those transactions? I continue to access the same connection using Mint and it downloads all my investment transactions from the same connection that pulls bank and credit accounts.

    This is the same response I received from the Quicken support team who informed me that its a problem with my bank and not their problem.

  • JMC-Canada
    Options

    • *** my bank does not have a manual download option of RRSP or TFSA accounts.

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023
    Options

    @Stephen P Rikley said:

    00003 00003 00003 Scotia McLeod - English https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html 1-800-4-SCOTIA https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal.html ACTIVE INVESTMENT&WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA

    Per this FIDIR listing you should be able to download investment transactions via the Web Connect (WC) method. WC requires that you manually download the transactions in a .QFX (or "Quicken" or "Web Connect") formatted file from your online account at Scotia McLeod and then import that .QFX file into Quicken.

    To import the file into Quicken you can double click on the downloaded file and instruct Windows to use Quicken to open it. Or from within Quicken go to File > File Import > Web Connect (.QFX) file and follow the prompts.

    The first time you do this you will likely be prompted to decide what to do with that import file data. Make sure to Link it to your account (if it is already set up as a manual account in Quicken) or to Add it as a new account (if it is not already set up as a manual account in Quicken). You should not be prompted to do this, again, for future downloads.

    Let me know if you have any questions.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2023 Answer ✓
    Options

    Because they use different aggregators, different download protocols and different data file formats. Quicken uses a proprietary file format that no other 3rd party financial software can use. When a financial institution wants to support downloading of financial data into Quicken they must contract with Intuit (the aggregator) to get set up for that. No contract, then no downloading.

    I'm sorry to say, then, that your only option if you wish to track these accounts in Quicken is to set up the accounts as offline manual accounts and then manually enter your transactions into them.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R55.26 on Windows 11)

  • Arctic Hare
    Arctic Hare SuperUser ✭✭✭✭
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    There is very limited support for downloading investment transaction and account data for the Canadian version of Quicken. A small number of financial institutions (roughly 5) support download of some investment transaction data using Web Connect. There is zero support for Direct Connect for any purpose in the Canadian version and - apparently - Express Web Connect (without the +) does not - as a technology - support download of investment data. So, unless you hold your investments with one of a very short list of institutions, which doesn't include several big players, you won't be able to download investment transactions in the Canadian version. Furthermore, while I have never tried downloading investment transactions in the Canadian version, I understand that what is provided by those few institutions has limited functionality. The bottom line is that Canadian Quicken does not support downloading investment transactions and account information from most financial institutions. If you want to be able to download investment data into the Canadian Quicken, you should make support for this functionality a key factor in your choice of brokerage. I use two of the large discount brokers and neither supports Quicken. There are a few that do, however. So, if this is important to you, choose your broker carefully.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    If your financial institution allows for exporting an Excel or CSV file for the investment transactions with the needed information, you might be able to use my converter to convert to QIF (or maybe even QFX) format to import them into Quicken. The program (ImportQIF) is free.

    You find it on my website: https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/

    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
  • p7w7m7
    p7w7m7 Member
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    I'm having the same issue that Scotia investment accounts do not connect, but get this, just in the WINDOWS version. I first set up Quicken on my Macbook, and all of my Scotia accounts for savings, chequing, credit cards, RRSP, RESP etc imported perfectly with a really helpful interface to select specific accounts for inclusion. I had heard that Quicken for Windows had much better functionality than the Mac version, so I decided to rebuild my file on a Windows machine. The interface is certainly more complicated than the Mac version. So far, however, I'm running into deal breaker issues like missing investment accounts.

    I'm also a Mint refugee, really bummed that Mint is going away. It had been going downhill in my opinion, especially for Canadian users. One feature that Mint offered that few others seem to be able to offer is pulling the due date and amount due for credit cards. For a while it worked really well on Mint, but has gotten spottier over time.

    For now, I'm going back to the Mac version of Quicken, and I'll hold on for dear life until someone out there gets this right, and makes a product that works RELIABLY to track finances. If such a product already exists - with credit card due date and amount due - please let me know.

    😕

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    Unfortunately, this has always been a mixed bag, with maybe Quicken Mac having an edge on Quicken Windows Canadian.

    The history goes a bit like this. First off, people seem to think that Intuit (Quicken Inc's aggregator) can just put some information in a file and start downloading transactions from whatever financial institution they like. That isn't the case. Intuit has to get with the financial institution and get permission. And as it turns out it has always been not "Quicken" but Quicken Mac, Quicken Windows US, and Quicken Windows Canadian getting separate permissions.

    This has resulted is a very lobsided support for a given one of these, with Quicken Windows Canadian being the least supported.

    The story goes on more that Quicken Mac unlike Quicken Windows never got separated into US/Canadian. That alone changes the picture a lot. It means that where you buy Quicken Windows US and find that you can't access Canadian financial institutions and the reverse is true. Whereas Quicken Mac can.

    Then there is the fact that quite a few years ago it wasn't unheard of that a given financial institution wouldn't be supported by Quicken Mac, but was by Quicken Windows (and some of that still is there):

    And to mix it up even more, there was a push about a year or so to access some financial institutions that basically were these new ones that didn't have the "old APIs" and couldn't download transactions but could provide share and cash balance. This is about when the "Simple Investing" mode came in, and Quicken Mac got support for these, but Quicken Windows looked like they were trying to set this up, but never followed through (still see some of this like the fact that they have been added to Quicken Windows list of financial institutions, but still don't download).

    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
  • p7w7m7
    p7w7m7 Member
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    Interesting, thanks for the info! This part is especially frustrating to hear:  "And as it turns out it has always been not "Quicken" but Quicken Mac, Quicken Windows US, and Quicken Windows Canadian getting separate permissions." My life straddles the US and Canada, and I should be used to this by now. We were surprised when we first moved to Canada 20 years ago at how separate the US and Canadian banking systems are, and how simple things like different postal code formats can frustrate online exchange I was naïve and ignorant. I expected a seamless experience, but of course Canada has its own banking system separate from the US!

    I had a good long run with Mint, I'm sad to see it go. It was far from perfect, but at its peak it met my needs, handling all the various US and Canadian accounts I had, even Utilities like BC Hydro and cell phone providers like Fido during one stretch. The last few years have been frustrating, with only chat-based customer service and most issues going unresolved.

This discussion has been closed.