Why does Quicken download monthly interest payments for my brokerage account as Misc Exp?

Question

Note - I originally posted this last month but it shows as being closed - why?

My Vanguard brokerage account uses Vanguard Cash Deposit as the settlement account. Each month it pays a dividend but it's downloaded as Miscellaneous Expense causing me to have to delete it and add it back as Div/Int. Why does it do that?

This has been going on for at least 6 months. It's not a big deal but it is annoying to have to fix it each month.

Chris_QPW · Answer

it is up to the financial institution, how they in code, a given transaction.  Unfortunately it isn’t that uncommon for them not to do it right on some transactions.  For instance, for my wife’s 401(k) account with Merrill Lynch reinvested dividends are always downloaded as buys.

@Quicken Kristina, i’m sorry, but I disagree with both of your recommendations.  For a problem like this person should not be told to deactivate and reactivate, and renaming rules do not apply to investment accounts.

samsquared · Answer

Thank you for your quick reply.  I tried de-activating the account but when I tried to activate it again, even though I selected "I have a Vanguard sign-in" it said that it failed and took me back to that same window.  Not knowing what else to try I restored the backup file.  Would it be helpful to have any of the log files when the problem occurs again?

Quicken Kristina · Answer

Hello @samsquared,

To troubleshoot this issue, please provide more information.  Do you have multiple accounts with Vanguard that download dividends?  If you do, is this the only account that is changing them to Misc Expense?  If that is the case, then that may indicate a file specific issue.  I suggest testing for that by making a backup of your file, deactivating the account, then adding it back in as a new account rather than linking to the existing and checking to see if the information downloads correctly in the new account.

If you have multiple accounts that are displaying this unwanted behavior, then I recommend that you go to Tools>Renaming Rules and verify that there isn't a rule causing this to happen.

To answer your question about why your earlier post was closed unanswered, the Community is a forum where users help each other and there are a handful of moderators like myself who can do some troubleshooting with you. Posts on the Community are not the same as contacting Quicken Support. A post is not a trouble ticket and will get closed when it has been inactive for about a month, even if the issue is not resolved.

I look forward to your response!