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Fidelity Investments & Direct Connect Possibly Going Away?

jfclague

I have seen a few posts in the Quicken Mac Forums (I find it easier to view all the discussions then just Quicken Windows discussions) that Fidelity Investments is moving away from Direct Connect on investment accounts, does anyone know if this is true?

This would be a nightmare for me since I have all of my investment and cash management accounts with Fidelity.

Thanks, Jim

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Quicken Kristina

Hello All,

The most recent clarification we have received is that Fidelity is migrating Express Web Connect accounts to Express Web Connect +. Direct Connect should not be affected.

I hope this helps!

All comments

Boatnmaniac

You are not the only one that is asking questions. The Alert that was posted is pretty cryptic and raises more questions than it answers.:

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

Specific questions in my mind:

Is this about EWC+? If not, which connection method? When there is messaging about an EWC+ transition, they typically use the word "Reauthorization" not "Authorization" so that would be unusual to use this word in reference to EWC+
Which "Fidelity" is this about? There are 33 "Fidelity" financial institutions in QWin. Only 2 are Fidelity Investments. The Alert says, "…the Authorization flow for Fidelity will see ALL Fidelity accounts displayed when authorizing the accounts on the Fidelity Website, even investment accounts." If this is about Fidelity Investments, then what are all these other account types because currently Fidelity Investments can download only investment accounts?
I've seen no other announcement in this Community nor from Fidelity Investments that there is a connection method transition pending. Yet, this Alert makes it sound like it is something that has already been announced.

Should this be about Fidelity Investments, then it sounds like currently connected DC accounts will not be transitioning (at least not right away) because the Alert states "…users can keep the investment accounts connected via Direct Connect," just that new accounts will not be able to be set up with DC.

If this is about an EWC+ transition for Fidelity Investments, then I would not like it but my EWC+ experience with Cap One, Chase, US Bank, PNC Bank Wells Fargo and Paypal generally has been pretty good (after a few initial startup issues) so I'm not too concerned about it….provided it doesn't follow the same troublesome path that Schwab has taken. Generally, EWC+ is much more stable than EWC and is approaching the stability of DC, but it is slower than DC. And we will be able to keep current DC connections for at least a while.

I've made inquiry with the Quicken Team to get some clarification on this matter. Hopefully response will be coming soon.

Boatnmaniac

I have gotten no response from the Moderator (or any Quicken employee for that matter) regarding what is going on regarding Fidelity and clarification of this Alert.

But I am now seeing more posts from others that they are being pushed to reauthorize their Fidelity accounts (again, no one says anything about which Fidelity financial insitution it is that is affected). Here is a QMac thread on this if you wish to read it:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7943918/new-fidelity-connection-requirements

I think the most disturbing part for me is the number of people who posted that reauthorizing changed their Fidelity accounts from Complete Investing to Simple Investing with no ability to switch it back to Complete Investing. That would be a deal-breaker for me if/when Fidelity pushes me to reauthorize.

At least for now, we can keep DC for at least the time being.

Bob.

I'm shocked no one has replied :) I'd like to know as well. of course!

What is the different between Complete and Simple Investing? Not sure I have come across that yet.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20403720#Comment_20403720

Complete Investing is the traditional account register view showing all the transactions and details.

Simple Investing does not have a register. It simply reports the positions (i.e., shares held, current price & value, etc.) and total account value in a dashboard format that looks like this:

When an account switches from Complete to Simple, the transactions history is retained but it is no longer visible. By switching back to Complete from Simple that historical data will again be present but any transactions that were completed after Simple was implemented will not be in the register because they were not imported. So, it is not a good idea to switch back and forth between them.

Simple was requested by users who really don't care to see all the investments details. All they want to see is the high level summaries shown in this dashboard. But for many users (like me) I want and need to see all of the transactions details for a variety of reasons so Simple Investing is simply an unacceptable option.

One investment company (Vanguard?) took the jump last year and stopped downloading in anything except for Simple. Now it sounds like perhaps Fidelity is starting to head down this same path. I really hope that is not going to be the case because for me it removes a big incentive for me to keep my accounts at Fidelity (yes, I will drop them like a hot potato) and to also question the long term relative value of Quicken if this is the path that most/all investment companies will be taking.

Bob.

Thanks so much. Had no idea. Glad to be complete and need to stay there :)

Bob.

So now we need to get some answers!!

@Quicken Anja ?? Can you help do some serious clarification for us?

Quicken Kristina

Hello All,

The most recent clarification we have received is that Fidelity is migrating Express Web Connect accounts to Express Web Connect +. Direct Connect should not be affected.

I hope this helps!

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20403757#Comment_20403757

Thank you @Quicken Kristina. I suspected this and it is helpful confirmation. But it still leaves a big question unanswered: Which "Fidelity" FIs are affected?

There are 33 different Fidelity FIs in QWin. Some are totally different businesses from each other but others are simply different FIs for the same corporation. Some have EWC accounts set up but others have have only DC set up.

Based upon what you said here, I'm assuming that Fidelity Investments and Fidelity NetBenefits are not affected because they are set up only with DC. I've also gotten no reauthorization notification for my Fidelity Investment accounts so that is making me feel better.

But every time I ask someone who has been pushed to do this reauthorization which "Fidelity" it is for, they always come back with just "Fidelity". That is rather meaningless. Do you have any insights into which "Fidelity" FIs are affected? That would be really helpful.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply @Boatnmaniac,

The current list includes both Mac and Windows BIDs. Please note that for BIDs that support both Express Web Connect and Direct Connect, only the Express Web Connect needs to be migrated:

BID Number - BID Name

7783 - Fidelity Investments Mac

66779 - First Energy Corp Savings Plan

67046 - Fidelity Net - Outside U.S.

66584 - CHET Advisor College Savings Plan

66600 - Fidelity Netbenefits

66433 - NetBenefits Worldwide - Fidelity

66901 - Novant Health - Retirement Plus Online

66905 - Boeing Company 401K

66754 - EDS Benefits Connection

66432 - Microsoft - Fidelity NetBenefits

66847 - Verizon - 401k

66412 - Connecticut Higher College Savings

7895 - Fidelity 401k

65942 - Fidelity Rewards Credit Card

Thank you!

Boatnmaniac

Thanks, @Quicken Kristina. What is "BID"? I haven't seen that acronym before. I've always referred to all the listings in the FIDIR list as FIs. Are they the same thing?

Some comments regarding the list you provided:

66600 - Fidelity Netbenefits: This number is not in QWin but there is a 10482 Fidelity NetBenefits in QWin but it is DC only so no QWin user should be affected by this change, then, right?
70419 Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts: This is not in the list you provided but it is in the QWin FIDIR and in QWin's Add Account. It is also shown only as EWC (EWC+?). I do not recall seeing this FI in QWin before this week. Several posts have been made by people saying their connection was changed to this FI and it is causing them all kinds of problems. Some have said they were able to go back to the old FI and set up with DC, again, but others say they have not been able to do that. The URL listed for this is nb.fidelity.com. In the past "nb" meant "NetBenefits" so maybe this is a replacement for Fidelity NetBenefits? But then why would people be prompted to switch from Fidelity NetBenefits which is DC only to this new FI EWC connection? I didn't think that was supposed to happen.
65942 - Fidelity Rewards Credit Card: There is a 65942 zzz - Fidelity Rewards CC listing in the QWIn FIDIR but that "zzz" prefix usually means it is being obsoleted or taken out of service. And Fidelity Rewards Credit Card no longer shows up in Add Account. It was an EWC connection and a couple of people have commented that they had to reauthorize but I think they were QMac users. I wonder why no QWin users have been complaining about how they lost their Fidelity Rewards Credit Card connection with nothing to replace it? (Maybe we were more successful this last Sep-Nov than I thought in people following our recommendation to stop using the Fidelity Rewards Credit Card FI and use instead the Elan Financial Services FI?)

None of the other BID numbers and BID names in that list you provided are found in the QWin FIDIR list nor in QWin's Add Account.

One last comment: It appears that almost all of the FIs in your list, except for the CC and Fidelity NetBenefits, are different employer retirement or savings plans. These types of accounts historically have fallen into the realm of Fidelity NetBenefits. So, except for the CC, does this mean that it is really Fidelity NetBenefits plans that are affected by this EWC+ change?

Craig in ER

This is all so darn confusing. Can't anyone at Quicken really take the time to explain (clearly) what is going on with Fidelity Investment account connections to Quicken? Or, do they really not know themselves? Is the trend in the Investment Company (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, etc) business to force us to use Simple Quicken account information which is useless to most of us? I have a Fidelity Cash Management Account which is really my checking account. If I can't download checking account transactions to report on and reconcile then Quicken is really useless to me as is Fidelity.

Bob.

@Quicken Kristina This really screams for more clarity and research. Can you get complete and accurate information for us?

Boatnmaniac

For everyone wanting more information, see @Quicken Anja's summary posted this afternoon at the following link. It provides a lot more clarity for me. (Click on the time of the post in this picture to see the entire thread.)

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20404613#Comment_20404613

Bob.

There we go. Very helpful.