New transactions only downloading once a day (edit)

Jibby

Hey folks, I'm using the Windows version. Relatively new at this. I have noticed that I only seem to be able to download transactions once a day even when there are more to download. Let's say I do an update in the morning, then go to a few stores and then in the evening want to download again it won't get the new ones. I usually have to wait for the next day.

Well now it is Sunday and I did my last update yesterday morning and there are a good 10 transactions outstanding on my Simplii bank account but it is not downloading them.

Any idea what's up with that?

Ps56k2

At your bank - are they showing as Pending ?

It all depends on the merchant and how often they send to the bank
and then how often the bank marks them as received
and lastly how often the bank passes them over to the shadow file system for downloading by Quicken -

Jibby

Oh it sounds like this shadow file system is the issue - dang. I'll have to complain to my bank about it.

Ps56k2

didn't say if they showed as Pending -

What bank -

What version …. Help —> About Quicken

QuickUserPSP

@Jibby being able to only download once a day has always been the case. Intuit/Quicken servers pull transactions from your financial institution once a day, usually overnight, depending on where you are located. So, no matter how many times you update transactions on Quicken, it will only change once a day, usually the first time you update that day.

As for the 10 transactions you see on your bank's website, they could be pending. Some financial institutions include pending items on their update files, but most don't. That is why @Ps56k2 is asking his questions.

NotACPA

Ideally, Q should only download (your FI should only provide for download) transactions that have actually posted to your account (i.e. NOT pending).

Since that typically only happens overnight, you can't download multiple times a day. The 1st download should get everything that's eligible.

Ps56k2

BTW - it appears to my Quicken - that there are updates all day long to my various EWC+ accounts - Chase, CapOne, Schwab,
I use the OSU every time I happen to open Quicken - as it updates all my Quotes and transactions ….
As I then see new CC charges, deposits, ATM, etc - along with my updated Stock Quotes for all my equity accounts.

QuickUserPSP

@Ps56k2 do you see multiple downloads intraday for a single FI? Does this happen only with EWC+ accounts? I have only one EWC+ account that I use once in a blue moon, so I haven't noticed this behavior myself.

Ps56k2

Lots of moving parts…..
- charge with CC - so, how long before that charge actually hits the bank - sometimes immediate, sometimes next day
- next - sits in Pending - until swept into the billing system - maybe nightly batch process -
- next - after becoming part of the system - how long before data transactions are made avail from bank for Quicken downloading

So - have 3 CC charges from today - sitting in Pending at Cap One - have been watching all day -
and running OSU for any other account updates …. just some Chase charges from last couple of days -

Boatnmaniac

I think it largely depends on what data the FI wants to download and how frequently. It used to be that DC would take a real time snapshot of transactions and online balance. A few years ago I noticed that a couple of my banks no longer do that. They instead download the previous night's online balance and posted transaction, nothing from the current day.

I've also noticed that some EWC accounts will download data only 1X per day and from the prior night. Several of my EWC accounts still do that but a couple of them will download data at least 2X per day. Elan Financial and PayPal are two such account that do this.

I haven't quite figured out EWC+ yet. Someone (I can't remember who) once said that EWC+ will pull the data at the time of OSU and it can be done more than once per day. That does seem to happen sometimes with PNC Bank but I do not see that behavior with Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo and other EWC+ accounts that I have.

Chris_QPW

@QuickUser said:

@Jibby being able to only download once a day has always been the case. Intuit/Quicken servers pull transactions from your financial institution once a day, usually overnight, depending on where you are located. 

Sometimes it doesn't really pay to listen to what Quicken Inc says about stuff like this, since many times it is out of date or misleading:

Here is one such FAQ on the subject, but the "once a night" statement goes way back to the beginning of when Express Web Connect was first introduced.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7851859/faq-how-quicken-connects-with-your-financial-institution-tips-tricks-and-best-practices

The truth is more like "these days they still do the once a day for some reason, and that is why people see the server logins at night, but for most financial institutions if you kick off a One Step Update, will "mostly" actually do it at that time too."

As others have pointed out there are many contributing factors. Everything from the financial institution not allowing anything over once a day, to allowing it, but not updating the information, to Quicken servers caching the information and as such back-to-back One Step Updates don't actually make the call to the Intuit servers (Intuit is Quicken Inc's aggregator that does the actual connection to the financial institution for Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect +)

Note I'm even seen reports of some financial institutions only supporting downloading of transactions after the monthly statement.

Chase is Express Web Connect +, and basically only updates the bank and credit cards at the once a day, but I think that has to do more with the fact that they process the pending transactions only once a day. On the other hand, investment transactions are pretty much real time.

I have had Direct Connect credit cards that were real time, and others that were basically once a day. I have had accounts that don't process transactions on weekends and holidays.

For sure, if one wants real time, they don't want Quicken. My recommendation for real time would be go to the source (the financial institution's website/app).

QuickUserPSP

@Chris_QPW I don't think any account on Quicken can be real time or feasibly updated more than once a day. FIs batch process and post transactions overnight so transactional information is available only once a day, so it makes no sense for the Intuit/Quicken servers to pull information more than once a day. What one may see intraday in their online accounts at their FI are pending transactions. I think the OP is looking for these pending transactions to be available to post to Quicken as they happen (or intra-day). That is not possible unless the FI allows this to happen and Intuit/Quicken have the resources and technology to pull pending transactions as they happen. I don't think this will ever happen because of the way information is pulled or "scraped" from FI accounts. I totally agree with your last statement, if the user wants to see real time transactions, they need to go to their FIs website. But even then, real time (pending) transactions are usually limited to credit card accounts. And even then, the pending transactions may not be accurate depending on how the retailer or merchant enters the pending amount.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20420587#Comment_20420587

I disagree. When I make a transaction with Paypal, it will download into Quicken within just a few minutes of it occurring. Paypal is EWC+.

I will also get DC transactions downloaded real time from Fidelity and I used to get them real time from a bank that I used to use (Compass). It is not the norm, I agree, but it is possible. As I said earlier, I think it is more about what the FI allows for than it is a Quicken or Intuit restriction.

QuickUserPSP

@Boatnmaniac that is interesting. I have never had any account of any kind on Quicken download in real time. Over the years, I have had literally over 100 bank, investment, and credit card accounts on Quicken. Most of the accounts have been EWC. Currently most of my accounts are DC and I have 5 EWC and one EWC+

Chris_QPW

It absolutely can be real time, but that is entirely up to the financial institution.

I remember when I had Direct Connect way back in the 2000s, I would purchase fast food for lunch and drive back to the office to eat it, and would bring up Quicken, and it would already be there. And as said I above, my investment transactions with Chase are real time. Well, as real time as Quicken servers will let it be. Quicken servers cache the data and will not update with back-to-back running of One Step Update. That is the reason Express Web Connect + looks much faster the second time you run it (it isn't getting anything). I haven't pinned down exactly how long it will refuse to do a full update, but it is at least an hour. So, if I haven't done a One Step Update in a few hours and then buy a security, I can do a One Step Update right after that and get that transaction downloaded.

On the other hand, Chase can take up to a day just to change the status of a credit card or bank transaction from pending to cleared.

Over the years I have had "real time" with every connection type. But yes, it is rare.

And if we are counting accounts, mine is 136.

As far as what is "real time", I should have said "as real time as possible", because as you said even at the financial institution it might not be real time.

In fact, it might not even be accurate. I have recently caught both Chase's and (another I think it was Citi) as being wrong on their website for some hours. Chase is like this every month (and come to think of it on weekends for just their banking accounts). What is wrong is the current balance. They show pending transactions, the current transactions and the current balance. I have the monthly payment set to automatically be paid. The payment doesn't show in either the pending transactions or the current transactions but is shown in the current balance, it updates sometime late at night. This is reflected in the data that Quicken gets too. On the day of the payment the online balance will be wrong from at least the afternoon (maybe sooner) to the next day.

I have even had situations where Direct Connect is definitely tied directly to their database, even when their website isn't. In other words, I got more current information than their own website.

Boatnmaniac

@QuickUserPSP - I usually run OSU in my main data file 2X each day (on weekdays)….from 7-9 a.m. and again from 6-8 p.m. My primary credit card is the Fidelity Rewards Visa which I download from Elan Financial Services. Elan is EWC. It is quite common for there to be an updated online balance and new posted transactions downloaded in the morning and for the samething to occur in the evening. But sometimes in the evening the online balance is not updated so reconcile to the online balance cannot be completed. The next morning the online balance updates and reconciliation can then be completed.

I see this same thing happen with just a few of my DC, EWC and EWC+ accounts but most of my accounts only update 1X/day. It is this variability that makes me think it is more up to the FI than it is up to Quicken/Intuit as to how frequently and how real-time downloads can be done.

QuickUserPSP

@Chris_QPW , @Boatnmaniac I guess I am absolutely amazed that for any of my accounts I have never had any of them download in real time. I have 126 accounts (including 30 credit cards) set up in Quicken over the years and you would think that at least one would have downloaded "real time" and/or updated more than once per day. I am pretty sure none have because I update several times a day. I also update transactions to my CC accounts as they happen. That's how I know it takes at least a day for transactions to be updated and posted on Quicken.

Ps56k2

just trying some simple experiments with our Chase accts - EWC+
also - our CapOne CC had 3 pending charges from yesterday - and today only 1 was downloaded…. the other 2 are still Pending -

Chase - 1:00pm nothing new - so created some tests…..
transfer $80 between 2 checking accts -
and pay $40 toward Chase CC -

will see when these "journal" transactions are actually avail & downloaded by Quicken - none are Pending -
most of the other transactions involve the outside world via ACH or other means -

Rocket J Squirrel

The variance of observations here is weird. In all my decades of Quickening, I have never had any of my FIs download transactions more often than once in 24 hours. This is fine with me, who needs more often than that? But I'm surprised to learn that others have different experiences.

Chris_QPW

BTW I have had go the "other way". I have had times/financial institution's that wouldn't update on the weekends or holidays, and so there could be a 3 day or so delay.

Ps56k2

still watching my accounts- my Chase transfer transactions are now showing as Pending on Chase. My Simplifi also shows them as Pending - but Quicken OSU is still in the dark.

Ps56k2

This is so weird - not only between the various Quicken puzzle pieces, but even Chase itself -

1:15pm today - on the Chase website I entered a couple of test transactions - and the results are very weird -
Have been checking with OSU every couple of hours - and even over on Simplifi -
Here are the weird results - only shows up at 10:15pm tonight - after checking several times during the day -

1:15pm - $40 paid to Chase CC - entered on the CC section, so guessing it will pull $40 from the specified checking account.
10:15pm - it downloaded into Quicken account via OSU -
shows up in Chase Checking as Pending -
but NOT yet anything in the Chase CC account -
10:45pm - it now shows as a paid transaction on Chase website

1:15pm - $80 transferred from Chase main checking account to Chase school checking account
10:15pm - nothing downloaded into Quicken via OSU -
both Chase accts showing transactions as Pending

BTW - for the OSU process with the EWC+ accounts - the progress screen shows 2 different flows….
- Waiting — Updating Account — Processing Data — Downloading Transactions — Complete

it would appear, for some reason or trigger - the "Updating Account" is NOT always performed -
and, we don't know what that "updating" action might actually involve…

Chris_QPW

@Ps56k2 As I said above, I have certainly caught the Chase website in inconsistent states.

it would appear, for some reason or trigger - the "Updating Account" is NOT always performed -
and, we don't know what that "updating" action might actually involve…

I believe that you are referring to the Quicken server just returning the cached information.

Afterall first sync, that gets the transactions (if available), takes minutes, the second takes seconds. There is no way the two processes are the same.

One has to understand, that Quicken (the program) has no idea what is actually happening between the Quicken server, and the Intuit server, and between the Intuit server and the financial institution. It only has what the Quicken server tells it about the "sync". I have had this same discussion in another thread where people want it to give more of the status like it did before they put the Quicken servers in the middle of this flow.

Chris_QPW

And for good measure, Citi credit card. Statement closed yesterday. Online Balance downloaded (Direct Connect) is missing the last two transactions that cleared yesterday. I know that by the morning it will be correct again. In this case though the Citi website is consistent and has the updated balance.

Ps56k2

it's 11:45pm - Friday - and doing an end of day OSU -
Did a few during the day - a quick way to get all the quotes for stocks and see any big changes since yesterday.
During the day - had a few Chase and Schwab transactions download…. just once -

Now late at night - received a couple of additional downloaded transactions for Chase CC and Schwab brokerage - so multiples -

QuickUserPSP

@Ps56k2 I think when you get another download late at night, it really is a download for the next day. It may seem like you are getting multiple downloads in one day, but I think it's a matter of what time zone you are in vs. your FI.

Ps56k2

I was thinking the same thing - with so many puzzle pieces and players, it’s hard to understand/guess at all the outcomes …

It’s been an interesting discussion 😎

Chris_QPW

For Chase banking/credit cards my guess is one time a day for the very reason that Chase probably only processes pending transactions once a day. Most likely later in the night. Whereas investment transactions have no "pending" and that is why it basically real-time.

I might add that Chase seems to keep transactions in the pending state much longer than I was true in some of my other financial institutions.