Vanguard Error Code: 16503 (QMac)
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It's now February 24, 2025 and for me at least, nothing is downloading from Vanguard.
Is this still being worked on?
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hi @Quicken Jasmine, i'm not OP but i am puzzled by your request for clarification. it seems like Quicken has explained that Vanguard has ended Direct Connect support as of several days ago (first post linked below by @Quicken Janean), which is why many people have been experiencing errors with Direct Connect (second post linked below). commenters in the second post who have made the switch to Quicken Connect for their Vanguard accounts have noted that Vanguard doesn't support transaction downloads via Quicken Connect, and worse, that all their downloaded transactions were even deleted when they switched their connection type. this seems like a pretty bad experience as well as a feature regression.
i know that Quicken Connect connections can support transactions (i have investment accounts with Schwab using Quicken Connect which download transactions without issue), but Vanguard doesn't seem to, which is what the OP seems to be referring to. i am in agreement—without transaction history, the Vanguard connection is pretty useless to me, and it would be really helpful to restore that functionality.
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Thanks for sharing this information. I have asked the user for clarification as the information provided does not give me enough to be able to determine if the OP's issue is related to the trending Vanguard issues.
Thanks!
-Quicken Jasmine
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I am having the same issue as well.
Error 16503 when trying to update Vanguard. Can log on to Vanguard directly. Logs and sanitized data file sent to Quicken with problem report.
It's likely that our best chances at getting this fixed are to loudly complain to Vanguard.
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Quicken knows about this problem, and I'm sure they're doing what they can to resolve it. But, we also need to pressure Vanguard to work with Quicken to fix this.
Here are Vanguard's public channels to encourage them to help fix this. If all of us post about this issue there, it will apply some pressure:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/vanguard
https://facebook.com/Vanguard
https://twitter.com/Vanguard_Group
https://www.instagram.com/vanguardgroup/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Vanguard
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The problem with downloading transactions started sometime in the week of February 17th. You must use Direct Connect and you must not select Vanguard-Personal Investors as the financial institution. I called Vanguard Digital Banking Department as suggested about. Vanguard can't do anything about this problem. They told me Quicken is working on it but it hasn't been resolved. I mistakenly tried disconnecting and reconnecting to Vanguard-Personal Investors. I connected but lost all transaction history. I restarted Quicken from a backup copy and had to reconnect all my accounts. I am disappointed that Quicken won't own this problem. I downloaded recent transactions from the Vanguard website and imported them into Quicken. This works but isn't really a solution.
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I am disappointed that Quicken won't own this problem.
@mvitulli Probably because they can only resolve it with work by Vanguard! It is Vanguard which decided to switch to a newer authentication method, and they did so on the date they designated — even though Quicken had informed them it wasn't working correctly. Vanguard could have delayed the switch; they chose not to. I believe the Vanguard representative you spoke with was misinformed or intentionally deflecting blame in the wrong direction. Another Quicken user reported in a different Vanguard thread here that this is what they were told by Vanguard: "Quicken as a service was shut-off on 02/20/2025 until further notice to conduct maintenance concerning issues with connections to 3rd party sites. The system status will be updated in real-time as the situation develops." So that's a clear acknowledgement that it's a Vanguard issue.
I connected but lost all transaction history.
If you disconnect your Vanguard account(s) from downloading, you can switch back to Detail investment tracking, and you'l see all your previous transaction history is still there. You may need to delete any Remove Shares or Add Shares transactions Quicken added when you tried to reconnect to the flawed Vanguard connection. I'd suggest disconnecting and waiting a bit to see when this gets resolved. If you need to update your Vanguard data, you can enter transactions manually temporarily, or download from Vanguard and then import into Quicken (just be alert for any duplicate transactions created due to this switch in connection method).
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
I know we are used to having things fixed immediately, but I won't panic yet. It was just a weekend, today is Monday, I'd take a deep breath and prepare to wait a few days (or weeks). I had a previous problem with one particular Vanguard account not syncing properly, and Quicken/Vanguard eventually fixed some issue on their end that resolved the issue. I have faith that they'll fix this issue, too. In the meantime, I'll blame Elon Musk… (jk!)
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I spoke with a senior rep at Vanguard today and was told they are using a third party software company to resolve the problem. They are committed to fixing it but they don't know how long it will take. Meanwhile we just wait or do manual updates if necessary.
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Same issue for last 4 days since Vanguard changed their system
Quicken Mac user since 1993
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Thanks jacobs. I hope that Quicken and Vanguard work together to solve this problem. I did download my Vanguard data as a qfx file and then imported into Quicken. I've been using Quicken for a very long time and usually can find work arounds.
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I received this message from my Vanguard representative today:
I wanted to follow up on your Quicken inquiry. Vanguard has temporarily blocked access for third parties to aggregate information. Clients can however use our web connect to aggregate their accounts into Quicken. Please attempt to download your accounts using our web connect feature. To download accounts using web connect, please:
- Navigate to your Balances page.
- Select, “Download” located in the upper right-hand corner
- Select, “Quicken, all funds to a single account (recommended)”
- Select a time frame (only pulls over up to 18 month’s worth of information)
- Select the accounts the client would like to import and click Download
Please let me know if this overcomes your roadblock or if you have further questions.
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I also have this problem…I've asked my Vanguard rep to update me on the status of getting this repaired and also told him that I use and count on this support of Quicken.
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Hello All,
The latest update we have received is that Vanguard is currently blocking traffic due to an ongoing Direct Connect issue. They are aware of the problem and are actively working on a resolution.
We appreciate your continued patience!
Quicken Kristina
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So if I switch the connection type from Direct Connect to Quicken Connect is the problem resolved? I read a post-over the weekend that this was only a Direct Connect issue but I am reluctant to switch from Direct Connect to Quicken Connect if this isn't going to resolve the issue. Using Mac version.
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Hello @GIWalt,
To answer your question, if you switch to Quicken Connect, it will allow Simple tracking only. In other words, you would not see any transactions (that tab will be greyed out), but you'll be able to see information on the Dashboard and Portfolio tabs.
I hope this helps!
Quicken Kristina
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Thank you for the clarification. I will wait for the fix and leave as Direct Connect.
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If Quicken isn't playing with Vanguard anymore I'll be looking for a new home accounting package. I don't have the time or patience to be downloading things by myself. That's why I have used Quicken for the past 15 years. Anyone have a recommendation for a working accounting package?
Thanks
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@PeteL Since this issue just arose last week due to a change made by Vanguard, my suggestion is that you give it a little time (weeks, not months or years 😉) to see if Vanguard get this cleared up and allows Quicken to connect again. It seems unlikely to me that there won't be a resolution because so many Quicken customers use Vanguard and vice versa.
As for alternatives to Quicken, since this discussion site is run by Quicken, the house rules don't allow discussions of competing products. (Many people find that there is not another product which has the breadth of features Quicken does, but since we all use Quicken differently, there may be something out there which you'd find meets your needs — but you'll need to look elsewhere on the Internet to explore that path.)
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931 -
I still have the problem. Had it since 2/20. A known problem with Vanguard.
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Same issue for me. Last week Quicken stopped being able to establish a direct connection to Vanguard, reporting error code 16503. I've reported it to Quickens support. As Vanguard only has bad phone support, there's not much I can do there.
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I'm getting the same issue. I also contacted Vanguard and the rep had no clue what I was talking about. She said she would open a tech support ticket. I need to follow up with them because I have not heard anything back.
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Same issue. Contacted Vanguard and they place issue with Quicken. This is second Institution that no longer works with Quicken. Agree with earlier comments. Think its time to move on from Quicken. Other aggregators do not have these issues.
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Same problem here - can no longer use Direct Connect in either Vanguard institution choices. All history lost when using Quicken Connect. If this gets fixed, I hope someone will make a post on how to get this functionality back.
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@barryi Your transaction history is hidden but not lost. If you disconnect the account from downloading, you can switch it back to Detail Tracking, and all your transactions will be there. You’ll likely need to delete a few Remove Shares and Add Shares transactions Quicken added when you switched to Quicken Connect. Until there’s a solution from Vanguard, you can enter transactions manually or download them from Vanguard and import into Quicken.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
What I did was create a second temporary Vanguard Account (different name) and update with Quicken Connect. The original Vanguard Direct Connect account I set to hidden as not to add to the total. When this gets fixed I'll unhide the original and delete the temporary one.
I still get the error every time I update, so I chose to turn off the Connection Status popup for now.
… Jeff
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I see some people on here discussing ditching Quicken due to this problem. Given that Quicken works with all my other accounts, that is not a realistic option. What is an option is ditching Vanguard and using Schwab or Fidelity instead. I have accounts with both of them and neither are glitching in connecting to Quicken. Given that, if this problem doesn't get fixed, I will transfer out of Vanguard for either of those two companies.
I called Vanguard for an update on my tech support ticket (opened 2/21). I was told it has been assigned to a person and that from this point it should be 2-3 days for action.
I also made the error of trying a different connection method and watched my transactions disappear. I promptly reinstalled from a backup copy and was back where I started.
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@JTS What I'm saying is that you don't need the temporary Vanguard account. You can just disconnect your original account from downloading, and all your transaction history will be there once you switch it to Detail tracking. While you wait for Vanguard to resolve this issue, you can (a) leave the account alone, (b) enter transactions manually (which isn't as bad as it may seem, unless you have hundreds and hundreds of transactions every month), or (c) download a QFX file from Vanguard to your Mac, and then upload that into Quicken (there will likely be some duplicate transactions the first time you do this, but no thereafter).
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931 -
What is an option is ditching Vanguard and using Schwab or Fidelity instead.
The reality is that technology upgrade happen all the time, and with electronic banking, upgrades often break connectivity — for Quicken and often for other software which uses different aggregator companies than Quicken's partner, Intuit. It's annoying, but just a fact of life with a banking industry that hasn't fully standardized to make things "just work" all the time.
It's likely, although not guaranteed, that Vanguard will be back working at some point. We have no idea if this is a few more days or a few weeks. But I certainly wouldn't go to the trouble of moving all my investment holdings from Vanguard to a different company over a short-term disruption like this; I'd only consider that if Vanguard ends up saying it will no longer permit the download of transactions to third party software.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
Also having this problem. Quicken Classic Mac
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