Not able to connect to Vanguard on any of my accounts. I see a pinned post referomg to Quicken for Mac, but this seems to be occuring on PC as well. On latest version of Quicken (R61.20). Issue started today (2/20/25).
Hello All,
This is now considered a known issue, though we do not have an ETA on resolution at this time. While the investigation remains ongoing, please refer to this Community Alert for any and all available updates and information.
We apologize for any inconvenience in the meantime! Thank you.
Vanguard has blocked all direct connect connections while they fix an issue with it. This affects all financial softwares that use Direct Connect to download transactions. See this Alert: UPDATE 2/25/25 Vanguard OL-295-A and Error 16503.
In addition, you might want to read through and bookmark this discussion thread on regarding this issue: Re: Quicken Classic for Win - OL-295-A Errors at Vanguard.
There is a way you can download transactions: Use the Web Connect method. WC is where you log into your online account and then manually download and import your transactions from there. There are a few posts in that thread confirming that this works and some of them provide some tips on how to successfully use WC with Vanguard.
Does this answer your question?
I think others have said you need deactivate your Vanguard account(s) and then do Add Account selecting direct connect as the connection option. To do this, type in Vanguard in Add Account. Then click on Advanced Options…NOT on Next.
Then click on Direct Connect and then on Next. Follow the prompts to complete the setup of DC, making sure to Link the downloaded data to the correct Vanguard account(s) already in Quicken.
[revised 3/27]
Here is a summary of the steps needed to reconnect your Vanguard accounts.. Some of these steps may not be necessary in every case, but I want to cover as many bases as possible.
If you have attempted to update while the accounts were in Simple mode, you may see Added or Removed transactions during that time. You will need to delete these. If there are problems, restore the backup file you saved and you will be back to where you started.
Please let us know if this works for you.
@brockmari Did you open a backup from before the outage and go to the Account Details to see what account number your problem account was using? If you have been downloading via Web Connect (QFX), the number you have been using may not be the same as the number you need to use to relink via Direct Connect. Older accounts that were set up for downloading while Vanguard was on the Pershing brokerage platform still require the old Pershing account numbers that begin with 2 digits and a V. Please see the updated detailed instructions posted on Page 1 of this discussion, 4th post under Best Answers.
Please let us know if this fixes your problem.
Thanks
@Jim_Harman Yes, I opened my backup from before the outage (and have continued to use as my primary file all through the outage). In account details, the account number of the problem account matches my account on Vanguard, on my statements, and is the same account number that hasn't changed for 15+ years. This account number has worked with Direct Connect for 15 years prior to the outage but does not appear in the list of available accounts to link to upon entering my Vanguard sign on information. The available account list does include a mystery account number of the format ALVxxxxxx. I checked the Account details of all of my old hidden Vanguard accounts, and none of those shows an account number with the format ALVxxxxxx. None of those old accounts has any letters. Also when I transitioned those old accounts, I actually created new accounts in Quicken, entered transactions to move the investments to the new account, and deactivated Direct Connect in the old account. That was again 15 years ago and the new accounts had no problems with Direct connect since then. It's possible that this mystery account was created when I did a partial 401K rollover late last year. I think Vanguard was in transition to a new system and had to first create an "old style" mutual fund account which I immediately converted to a brokerage account. However that was a new and separate account from the long standing account that is now not letting me re-link after disconnecting. BTW I do have other Vanguard accounts that have been using Direct Connect for multiple years and do not have this problem.
Ok, it is up to you whether you want to follow my recommendations or not. It worked for me when I had the problem you describe.
It's not that I don't want to follow your recommendations. It's that I cannot. Here is my blockage:
The account number that shows up in Quicken under Account Details is the same 8 digit account number that has been active at Vanguard and working for both Direct Connect and QFX download for 15 years. These are not new account numbers recently assigned.
When attempting to re-link after disconnecting the first problem account (I have 2 problem accounts), some of the action boxes are tied to Vanguard accounts with account numbers that I don't recognize. I guess some or all of those might be the old xxV numbers you are referring to. But the numbers are not displayed with xxV format nor have I ever had any accounts with that format even when I still had the old mutual fund accounts.
Unknown accounts found (example): IRA XX1234, IRA XX2345, IRA XX3456. The corresponding nicknames in Quicken are: IRA XX1234, IRA XX2345, IRA XX3456. They are all Type: Brokerage. I suspect that 2 of the 3 are accounts that I want to re-link to, but there is no way to validate which one is which since I have never used these Nicknames in Quicken nor have any old statements that show account numbers ending in the listed 4 digits or anything on my online Vanguard account that refers to the old numbers. So I guess the only way to figure it out would be to experiment by taking a guess with multiple copies of my Quicken file and then see what gets downloaded where. (While your recommendation is do not guess if you're not sure.) It will probably be easier to verify at the end of the month since that is the next time I will have any new transactions to experiment with. Or maybe easier to just keep using QFX download.
What you describe is exactly why @Bob_L and I said to open a backup from before the outage. It must be a file that you did not use later for QFX downloads.
You will only be using this to see what account numbers Quicken was using for Direct Connect for the problem accounts before the outage. Those are the ones you want to link to. Hopefully they will match accounts that are being offered.
Sorry, but I don't know how to make this clearer. Why not try it?
Aha! You did just make it clearer and broke through my thick head. I opened a backup from Jan 1 and I now see the old account numbers. And they match the ones that are being offered. Thanks for not giving up on me!
An idea to see what Q thinks your account details are is to create a new Quicken file and just connect to Vanguard to create accounts for your Vanguard ID and see what gets populated in your ACCOUNTS view. The full account numbers are shown in that view. Be sure to click on the Full investment radio button so you can also view the recent downloaded transactions.
@AndrewQ Yep, that would probably have worked as well. So it turned out that the methods recommended by @Jim_Harman and @Bob_L did work for me. When they said to open a backup from before the problem began, I had a mental block and was thinking of the problem where I had missing transactions and not the problem of the original outage, and missed the point that once I ran a QFX download that the old account numbers would be wiped from Quicken. Also that the only reason for opening the backup file was to see what the old numbers were. It is clear now and once getting past my mental block it was pretty easy to fix the 3 accounts that had the problem. Just waiting for some new transactions to post for the final verification.
Jim:
I followed all the instructions, except I can't find the old Pershing account number. What to do?
Thanks,
Art
Never mind. Quicken or Vanguard changed the account numbers on two of my accounts. Now everything is fixed and working.
I did perform the manual download of the Vanguard qfx file. That worked.
I am closing this discussion because it is getting flooded with posts about the newer OL-301 error. If you are encountering the OL-301 error, please post to the discussion on that error:
If you are encountering a different issue with Vanguard, please search for an existing discussion or start a new discussion, as appropriate.
Thank you!
