Fidelity reauthorization incorrectly linked to Schwab cash account

Question

Today's Fidelity account reauthorization did not go well. Somehow, I ended up with the "Fidelity - Investments & Retirement" connected to the cash account of a Schwab investment account. The result is that every time I update, Quicken asks me to reauthorize my Schwab account.

I've tried to remove the connection by removing online access to all Fidelity and Schwab accounts. But the connection between Fidelity and the Schwab cash account remains, which I can see in the Online Center.

I've also tried to delete the Fidelity financial institution in the Online Center using Ctrl-F3-Contact Info, but when I do, I get the error message "You must disable all Quicken accounts that are currently enabled for online access to this financial institution before this institution can be deleted."

How can I fix this, short of closing my Schwab account? I have decades of history there that I need to preserve and keep continuity with. My whole investing workflow will be broken if I can't preserve my Schwab account.

Thanks,

Adam

Boatnmaniac · Answer

Which Fidelity financial institution.  As mentioned earlier, there are 33 different Fidelity financial institutions in QWin.  I am not getting prompted to reauthorize for my Fidelity Investments accounts so maybe it is a different Fidelity for you?

Regarding the Schwab account not listed as an option to connect to:  When you get that popup, make sure the Type and Nickname in Quicken fields match exactly to the Schwab account information that is already shown in Quicken.  If that information is wrong, you probably will not be given the opportunity to Link the download to the Schwab account.  If that information is incorrect, try changing it.  Once changed you should then be able to Link to the Schwab account.

If you still have a problem Linking to the Schwab account:

* Back up your data file before proceeding.
* Go to the Online Services tab of Account Details and if there is a button for Deactivate, click on it.  Then try to connect to it, again.
* If #2 did not resolve the issue for you:  Go to the General tab of Account Details and remove the Financial Institution Information (everything above the Contact Name field).  Then try to connect to it, again.

Another option which sometimes works to resolve issues like this:  Deactivate all of your Schwab accounts.  Then do Add Account or Set Up Now to reauthorize them for download.  This process should download data for all of your Schwab accounts allowing you to Link them to the Schwab accounts you already have in Quicken.

adamwadesmith · Answer

Forced to reauthorize.

I tried using a backup file. Unfortunately, it requires me to reset every connection, and then it failed to connect one of my Schwab accounts - it was never listed as an option to connect to. I can try going back further.

Boatnmaniac · Answer

You are the first person I've seen post about reauthorization of Fidelity accounts.  There is a lot of confusion surrrounding the Alert that was posted yesterday because it says nothing about which "Fidelity" financial institution (there are 33 different ones in QWin) and it says nothing about what the connection method is or will be.

Which Fidelity accounts do you need to reauthorize?  Fidelity Investments?  Fidelity NetBenefits?  Or….?  (I've suspected it is Fidelity NetBenefits because the "Fidelity - Investments & Retirement" financial institution points to the NetBenefits website.)

Were you forced to make this reauthorization?  The Alert says that if you had DC set up previously set up for your accounts they would not need to be reauthorized.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7943910/new-12-13-23-fidelity-accounts-authorization-includes-investment-accounts

Specifically to your issue:  Do you have a recent backup file you can restore?  It might be the fastest and easiest way for you to put things back to the way they were before you reauthorized.

Also, during the reauthorization process you should have been prompted to decide what to do with the downloaded data.  It is really important to not blow through that process and to make sure that everything is properly linked to the existing accounts in Quicken.  Here is a picture of things to look for during the review of that popup: