Issue with Tracking Method Simple - Fidelity NetBenefits (Double Value of Account)

djmatsolo

In simple view on my Fidelity NetBenefits accounts (Fidelity Roth IRA works fine) the account is doubled when syncing and a cash amount is added that equals the actual balance in the account. There are no cash balances in 401k or 403b accounts. When switching to complete tracking method where you see each transaction the erronous entries can be removed to get the correct balances. If you try to adjust the cash balance to 0 in the simple tracking method it just comes back when you sync next time. I do not have this issue when choosing Tracking Method - Complete. I like the simple tracking method and this works fine with my Roth accounts. I have opened multiple support issues over the last year and see posts about the same issue being reported by everyone that use Fidelity NetBenefits. The same posts report other financial instituions with the same problem. These posts on Quicken site date back to Jan 2021. There is no way to fix this issue using the simple tracking method and the complete tracking method is the workaround according to Quicken. All previous posts have been closed about this issue but the issue remains. I do not think this is a Fidelity NetBenefits issue because Fidelity has no idea what tracking method I am choosing. I am using the Direct Connect option to transfer data from Fidelity NetBenefits to my Quicken. I hear if you use the phone app the correct balance is reported but not on the desktop app. I do not use Quicken cloud sync and is disabled. This tells me it is a Quicken bug that apparently existed for years. I have a support case open with Quicken Ticket number 10698835 but do not expect to hear anything back. There is no fix for this and I would like Quicken to correct the problem because the simple tracking method is set by default and much easier to read for me. I just received a email from Quicken that prices are raising again because of Quicken's superior product but having a bug in the software that is not fixed for years makes no sense. If frusterated about this particular problem please post here.

djmatsolo

I feel like Quicken is not encouraging and people posting they have just gave up. Quicken has been great but not sure I will renew at the higher price. I can do the same in a spreadsheet like I did 20 years ago.

Chris_QPW

This tells me it is a Quicken bug that apparently existed for years.

It has existed for exactly the length of time that Simple investment mode has existed, which is about 2 years, I think.

I do not think this is a Fidelity NetBenefits issue because Fidelity has no idea what tracking method I am choosing. I am using the Direct Connect option to transfer data from Fidelity NetBenefits to my Quicken.

Now think about this, there isn't any problem with 401K accounts from most financial institutions. There aren't any problems even with Fidelity for other account types.

So, why do you think that the problem is in the Quicken?

The problem is in the data that Fidelity is sending and given the length of time this has be reported, I would venture to say they care. There is a sprinkling of other financial institutions that have similar problems.

The bottom line is that Complete mode works off of the transactions downloaded, and because this is what has been the standard until Simple mode was introduced some 30 years ago, that is working. But with the transactions there has always been the "summary" information that tells how many shares of each security and the cash balance. The share of the securities has been also used all this time for the "compare" (the one that will trigger a placeholder if it isn't correct), so again this has had 30+ years to be corrected, if it was ever wrong. On the other hand, the cash balance has never directly been used because the investment accounts don't support reconciling to the online cash balance.

So, how do you convince Fidelity to change something that in their minds has been working for 30+ years and it only because Quicken Inc decided to create this new mode that it isn't "right" anymore?

This is like the Online Balance for non-investment accounts, some financial institutions do the right thing and send consistent data that matches the transactions they send, and some don't.

Try to blame this one on Quicken. For Chase, for checking accounts only, on the weekends or holidays only, Chase will send an Online Balance that includes the pending transactions when they shouldn't. For all other account types, and other times everything is fine.

wdc

@djmatsolo

Did you ever get a resolution? I'm seeing the same thing with my Principal account. I've verified that the position fields (POSMF) in the qfx file are correct but the simple view shows double the shares. Investing > Portfolio shows the correct numbers.

Thank you

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20417195#Comment_20417195

You said "QFX file" are you really saying that you are importing a QFX file while using Simple investment mode?

wdc

Yes. Principal's only supports downloading a qfx (to my knowledge; it's the only option listed at Principal).

I've been downloading to Quicken from Principal for ~16 years. Last summer, I created a brand-new Quicken file and added Principal in Simple mode. Sometime since then the Shares and TOTAL VALUE are doubled. In Investments>Portfolio the value and shares are correct; in the Account Bar, the value of the account is correct.

wdc

Follow up: the qfx is working in that the share balances are updated properly (this is a 401K with receiving regular contributions and I download a qfx after each contribution is posted). It's only on one screen that they're incorrect.

Chris_QPW

@wdc thanks. That gives me something that I can troubleshoot to see exactly where the problem is. Before I thought it was only in a downloaded 401K account and I don't have one to see what the data looks like. I do have my wife's 401K that is with Merrill Lynch, and it too can only be imported using a Web Connect/QFX file, so I can test with that.

wdc

Thanks, Chris.
I can argue that the issue is cosmetic given that two of three sources are correct (the portfolio screen and the Account Bar). I posted here out of curiosity; I haven't placed a Support call yet but I planned to do so if nothing popped up on the forum. That's my way of saying that I appreciate you looking at it.

Chris_QPW

@wdc I tried Simple investment mode with my wife's 401K account, and it doesn't have this doubling problem, so I don't know what is triggering it.

I did eliminate some possibilities.

Quicken doesn't look at the <INV401KBAL> or <INVBAL> sections.

The only way I could get it to include cash was to add it in the <INVPOSLIST> as a security.

wdc

Thanks for looking into it!
I'll open a support case and see what they say. I won't do it right away as I imagine I'll need to carve out a couple of hours of time to focus on it. In the meantime I put together an illustration: the Simple Tracking screen, the Investments portfolio, and the holdings in the qfx file.

Once I have a resolution I'll post it here. Like I indicated - don't look for it "right away."

Chris_QPW

Wow, that is "different" (based on the other comments, but I have never been able to get to bottom of their problems so that is speculation).

The "doubling" that people talk about is stated as the cash balance should be zero, but instead it is set to the same value as all of the securities combined.

Maybe that isn't what is happening at all (it isn't the cash balance, but instead something that triggers Quicken to double all the shares for the securities).

EDIT: but like you said, only on the account Simple window.

Quicken Kristina

Hello All,

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to report this issue, though we apologize that you are experiencing this.

We have forwarded this issue to the proper channels to have this further investigated. In the meantime, we request that you please navigate to Help > Report a problem and submit a problem report with log files attached and (if you are willing) a sanitized copy of your data file in order to contribute to the investigation.

While you will not receive a response through this submission, these reports will help our teams in further investigating the issue. The more problem reports we receive, the better.

We apologize for any inconvenience!

Thank you.    

(CTP-9052)