Quicken says I have an online bill payment to send, but there are none (with fix)

Erik Stone

I'm a long time Quicken user and have experienced this problem more than once. I've just fixed the problem again and offer this post as a more complete set of resolution steps. If Quicken prompts you to send payments, but none exist, this is what I've tried and what worked:

1. Validate file: File>Validate & Repair File>Select Validate File>OK
2. Super Validate file: File>hold [ctrl]+[shift] then select Validate & Repair File>Select Super Validate File>OK
3. Reset Online Setup w/Bank: from register gear (upper right)>Edit Account Details>Online Services>Reset Account
4. Then Confirm there are no register entries or bill reminders waiting to be sent

In the past, steps 1-3 have occasionally worked, where sometimes the stuck transaction re-appeared, and I was able to delete it in step 4. However, most recently none of the above resolved my issue. I further tried canceling all pending payments and deleting all Payees in Online Center, then repeating steps 1-4 and still the issue was not resolved. Quicken Support and others have suggested restoring an old version, dating back prior to the problem. In my case, given the timing and volume of transactions (across cash, credit, and investments), that effort would require many frustrating hours to roll the transactions forward and reconcile.

Good News step 5: I finally found the source of the issue by checking the status of individual online payments in the register. These are identified by the lightning bolt next to check#. When you highlight the individual line item, the "status" link appears below the check#. Selecting the links, I found one more recent payment with status "pending" even though the item had cleared my bank and status was flagged reconciled. I manually reentered the payment and deleted the original: problem solved.

I hope this is helpful for others.