Issue with payee renaming rules

Rick2022

Here are 2 payees that get downloaded from my CC.

Spectrum 123-456-7890 Mora78787878 for my phone bill

and

Spectrum 123-456-7890 Morc91919191 for my internet bill

All numbers after Mora or Morc change every month so I can't use the full name. It seems the name with an "a" signifies phone and "c" signifies internet as they are the only consistent difference between the two.

For the phone rule, I have Spectrum 123 456 7890 Mora to rename to Spectrum Phone and for the internet rule I have Spectrum 123 456 7890 Morc to rename to Spectrum Internet. Those settings are in their respective Statement Name Contains section. I have also tried just Spectrum Mora and Spectrum Morc. Neither options set the payee name correctly.

What am I doing wrong? I can't use "If Quicken Name is" like I do with other transactions because with the changing #'s on the end, it will never match.

Using Quicken Mac 7.9.1

RickO

I don't think you'll be able to differentiate between Morc and Mora because there's no delimiter (i.e., space) between those and the numbers that follow. I'm afraid you're probably out of luck with this. Unless you can get Spectrum or the bank to change what's being transmitted. Which, I know, is about as likely as winning the megabucks lottery.

A really long shot would be to try toggling the checkbox "Automatically improve the quality…" in Quicken > Settings > Connected Services in the hopes that changes Quicken's suggested name in a beneficial way.

Rick2022

Sadly that checkbox was already checked. So there isn't a wildcard that I could add? It could be fixed using the amount if that was an option but it isn't.

RickO

You could try unchecking the box in case that might change things (although I doubt it will).

Wildcard characters aren't available AFAIK. I don't use renaming rules a lot so I'm out of ideas. Maybe someone else will chime in.

UKR

Have you tried recording a pair of register transactions for Spectrum Phone and Spectrum Internet BEFORE the downloaded transactions arrive? Or use scheduled reminder transactions for both?

If Quicken doesn't automatically match the downloads to the correct already existing register transactions, you can always manually match by dragging and dropping the downloaded data over the register transaction. With a little luck, this might create workable Renaming Rules for future transactions.

Rick2022

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20452267#Comment_20452267

A scheduled reminder transaction would increase the account balance owed once it automatically populated a week or so in advance. Not helpful.

Right now it's just easier to change the payee name after the download which has the category connected with it. I'd rather not do that which is why I was looking for how to fix the rule. I still don't understand why "Contains" can't search in the name for specific text as it implies. And the rule options don't have "Start With" or "Ends With" like back in Quicken 2007. With "Starts With" I could look for Spectrum 123-456-7890 Mora or Spectrum 123-456-7890 Morc which would do what I need.

RickO

Here's a product idea post you may want to vote for:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7946891/imported-transactions-real-rules-not-renaming-rules-or-quickfill-rules-q-mac

Rick2022

Vote added. Thanks

What does @Quicken Jasmine mean by: "The idea that was mentioned is still currently under consideration via CTP-7540. " What is CTP-7540

RickO

What is CTP-7540

I have no idea.

If you create a couple of scheduled transactions, you could set the amount to zero and date of when you expect the Spectrum transaction/s to come in. Then when the Spectrum transaction comes in, you drag the downloaded translation on top of the scheduled one, then click OK (or hit Enter). It will use the Payee Name from the scheduled transaction and the amount from the downloaded transaction. Still a manual step to perform, but perhaps a tad bit easier than manually renaming the Payee.

But…. are the amounts always the same? If so, then I'd use the correct amount in the scheduled transactions. You don't have to have them dated a week or so in advance. Date them on the actual expected transaction date, and they won't affect the balance at the wrong time. When the downloaded transaction comes in, it will auto match because the amount is the same and the date is close enough. And the payee name from the scheduled transaction will be retained.

Rick2022

I created a scheduled transaction for Spectrum Phone with a value of 116.00 with the start date of 10/9/24. Since all of my accounts are set to Show Projected Balance in the sidebar, this transaction shows up but grayed with the clock icon beside it and the 116.00 shows in the sidebar balance. I'm going to try your suggestion of making the charge 0 and work with that for a while.

Maybe there will be a change to the renaming rules down the road and I can make it work as it should.

RickO

One thing I'm not understanding: If you have the $116 scheduled transaction set for the actual expected date of the Spectrum charge, why would you not want it to be included in the projected balance? If the problem is that you want to glance at the sidebar and see what the current balance is, then you can always set the sidebar to display today's balance (or online balance).

Rick2022

Well, I'd rather my CC accounts have the same balance as what is online and actually owed today. My sidebar is set to projected balance so that any checks written (or to be auto withdrawn) within the next couple of weeks show in the amount I actually have in those accounts because monies will be withdrawn. Current & projected balances affect all accounts.

But, I have found a resolution I think. In the top right of the CC transaction window there is a dropdown for "Show Reminders For". One of the options there is Don't Show Reminders. Choosing that I can have the correct values in the scheduled transactions and they will not display grayed out nor affect the projected balance.

Thanks for hanging in there.

RickO

Interesting. I've never tested that hidden scheduled transactions don't affect the projected balance displayed in the sidebar (because I use Today's Balance there). But it makes sense.

Glad you found a solution. Let us know how it works out after your next posting of the Spectrum transaction(s).