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Error Importing OFX file

roulette

I am running into the following error when I try to import a OFX file containing transactions from 2x bank accounts (checking and savings). I don't want to establish a connection with this institution, I would like to set this up as a offline account where I periodically sync transaction data by importing OFX files. Is this possible?

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roulette

Apologies for some reason the error message / screenshot did not attach

Screen Shot 2024-02-25 at 4.33.50 PM.png

[Deleted User]

@roulette what are the banks? What is the error message?

roulette

Bank is First Tech Federal Credit Union. I attached the screenshot in my 2nd message, attaching it here again.

jacobs

I'm curious why you're trying to import an OFX file. First, Quicken requires a QFX file to import; QFX is an OFX file which has a financial institution identifier as a participating Quicken institution.

Is there a reason you're not connecting your account to download directly from First Tech? What I see is that First Tech FCU is supported:

Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 10.31.35 PM.png

If you click the Advanced button, it shows that First Tech seems to support Direct Connect and Quicken Connect (also known as Express Web Connect):

Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 10.31.46 PM.png

Note that it does not show Web Connect, which is the method you're trying to use to import QFX files. Have you tried each of these methods to see if one works?

roulette

Thanks. For some background/context: I am a new user, I was trying to avoid the "connection" route due to privacy concerns. As a plan B, I was trying to export data from my financial institution and import it manually, hoping to circumvent the Intuit/Quicken servers. This is where I ran into this error.

I am curious why Quicken advertises support for OFX? Under import option, OFX shows up as a supported option.

As Direct Connect is supported by this financial institution, I'll try to use that option. But for a institution that doesn't support Direct Connect, is there a manual import / sync option so I can avoid intuit/quicken servers?

Thank you for your help.

jacobs

I am curious why Quicken advertises support for OFX? Under import option, OFX shows up as a supported option.

OFX and QFX are the same, except for a line or two in each downloaded QFX file containing the ID number of the financial institution, which Quicken (Intuit, actually, which runs the connectivity process) uses to verify that this is from a valid, participating financial institution. (You could technically edit an OFX file and insert the ID number of a different financial institution to get Quicken to accept it, but it's not a practical thing to do every time you download transactions.)

Some financial institutions download a file as OFX, but it has the secret code, so it's really technically QFX. Quicken will read an OFX file, but if it doesn't have the correct ID code, it will display the error you've seen.

The "why" behind all this goes back decades, when Quicken was originally part of Intuit. Intuit made a lot of money from getting financial institutions to pay to be active participants. Quicken has been indepedent pot Intuit for 8 years now, but Quicken still contracts with Intuit to handle connectivity services, which is a big job and one a small company like Quicken couldn't do on its own. I don't know what the financial terms between Intuit and financial institutions are nowadays; my understanding is that supporting OFX/QFX imports didn't require an annual fee, but did require a bank to sign up with Intuit. In your case, the credit union is obviously signed on with Intuit. You'd have to get someone in their technical support to tell you why they don't support QFX downloads.

But for an institution that doesn't support Direct Connect, is there a manual import / sync option so I can avoid intuit/quicken servers?

Yes, if they provide downloads of QFX files (whether it's labeled as .qfx or .ofx). That said, you're not completely avoiding Quicken's servers even with an OFX file. First, as discussed above, Quicken validates the financial institution ID in the file. But there are also processes Quicken runs in the background on your data to help clean up payee names and to automatically categorize many transactions — so I believe your data temporarily passes up and back through Quicken's servers even with an imported OFX/QFX file, even when it isn't stored in a Quicken cloud file associated with your desktop file.

To my knowledge, the only way to completely avoid Quicken ever seeing your data is to (a) turn off cloud Sync, (b) reset the Cloud file associated with your desktop file, and (c) enter all your transactions manually. There are some of us who do exactly that (in my case, it's not over data privacy concerns), but the vast majority of Quicken users want to import their data and not enter it manually.

I do understand that some people have a variety of concerns about the privacy of data, and everyone evaluates those concerns differently. Is your concern that Quicken might some day get hacked? Is it that you don't want Quicken or Intuit to be able to compile anonymize aggregated information about the customer base to use in selling marketing partnerships? If you dig into their data security and what they can do with your data, it may reassure you that it's really not a problem, or it may alarm you and make you want to crawl into a bunker. 🤣

[Deleted User]

The other thing to secure your data file is to not use the same Quicken ID for your data file and this Quicken Community.

jacobs

The other thing to secure your data file is to not use the same Quicken ID for your data file and this Quicken Community.

I'm not sure how using your Quicken ID for this forum makes your data feel any less secure.

Ps56k2

here is the current config info - from the QWIN side - which does show WEB-CONNECT as an option -

13024 13024 13024 First Tech Federal Credit Union
https://www.firsttechfed.com/ 855.855.8805
https://banking.firsttechfed.com/Authentication ACTIVE
BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&DIRECT
BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT
BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT

Chris_QPW

Here is a link to the file for Quicken Mac:

https://ofx-prod-filist.intuit.com/qm2400/data/fidir.txt

And yes, First Tech Federal Credit Union is in there and it should support WEB-CONNECT/QFX file.

Also, it is impossible to avoid Quicken servers and use Quicken, period. The only question is how much data is stored on them. And that depends on what services you are using.

I believe that Quicken Mac has less on the Quicken servers than Quicken Windows, but that is mostly due to the fact that Quicken Mac has less services.

To start with you have the Quicken Id. The very fact that you have to log in, means that you are dependent on some information on the Quicken server, as people that are using Quicken Windows 2014 through 2017 found out when that login was broken by a change on the server.

To top this off, Quicken Inc never tells us exactly what is stored on the server at any given time.

Lots of people like to put down California for its crazy people/laws and such but if you are concerned about this, one of those laws might help you:

https://www.quicken.com/privacy/us/ccpa/ca

The first link in there allows for requesting the send you a copy of the data they store. I did it and there is quite a lot, but for me I'm not that concerned about it. BTW I don't think they really check that you are a California resident.

Web Connect, contacts Quicken server, you can't import without this, this isn't logging into your financial institution. EDIT: I should have pointed out that none of the transactions are stored on any server.

Direct Connect, Quicken (the program) talks directly to your financial institution, Quicken servers. EDIT: Note that Quicken servers are contacted to get the information on contacting the financial institution's OFX server, but transactions aren't stored there.

Quicken Connect, Quicken (the program) connects to Quicken server, which definitely stores some number of transactions on it, which in turn connect to Intuit servers (Intuit is Quicken Inc's aggregator), which also stores some number of transactions, which then connects to the financial institution.

Also, as mentioned by @jacobs during the process of importing transactions there are various options that allow Quicken to guess at categories and such, I do believe that Quicken servers are involved in at least some of that.

Sync to Mobile/Web, by definition you are putting your transactions on a Quicken server so that the Mobile/Web apps can access them.

Quicken Bill Pay, not exactly sure how much information is stored on the Quicken server, but for sure some, and on the third-party service servers that provide the service.

smayer97

But there are also processes Quicken runs in the background on your data to help clean up payee names and to automatically categorize many transactions…

BTW, You can turn some of this off in the settings.