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.
Glad to hear it worked for you. Based upon posts here the last couple of days It sure seems that going the Add Account (or the "+") route has a high success rate and not so much with another connection set up path.
FWIW, it is not uncommon when a financial institution (FI) totally breaks the download connection method for it to take time to get everything working correctly, again. Some problems with the fix get identified and the setup process gets tweaked some to make it work better even though it might not totally fix everything. There have been several improvement "tweaks" that Vanguard has been making to the account connection setup process over the last few days. I'm pretty sure that when everything is done, all of the download connection setup options will be fully functional once, again. It's just a matter of how long will it take. (FYI: When Citi totally broke their EWC+ connections last Sep, it took them 2 wks to get it partially restored and another 4 wks before everything was working correctly, again. So, yes, it can take time.)
Repeating the detailed instructions from earlier today near the top of this page to make them easier to find…
Some of these steps may not be necessary in every case, but I want to cover as many bases as possible. Please follow these steps exactly, do not take any alternate paths or shortcuts.
If there are problems, restore the backup file you saved and you will be back to where you started.
@Quicken Kristina, unfortunately, I am still having problems.
Update:
I decided to connect the 3 accounts that I assumed were 0-balance accounts. 2 of them were 0-balance accounts. The 3rd one was my "missing" / "problem" account that I discussed below, but it is showing up with a different account number. The strange thing is that when I login to Vanguard, the new account number does not appear anywhere. It only shows up as having changed in Quicken.
Yikes! Any suggestions?
Marc
Original post:
Background:
The problem:
Additional information:
How do I get the "problem" account to show up again so I can link it?
Thank you for your help,
March 11 10am CDST Vanguard not updating again? Quicken Classic for Windows.
It did work yesterday and the day before but the error message came up again today for OSU.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Thank you.
I had no issues with OSU. and Vanguard accounts this morning, transactions downloaded with no issues.
Vanguard downloads worked for me just now, 11:07 EDT.
@conway yc What error message if any did you get when it did not work?
@marcaronson408 Can you tell us a little about the account that did not connect?
Is it a regular brokerage account or some other type, a 401(k) or a legacy mutual fund only account for example?
When did you first connect this account for downloading? Was it many years ago, when Vanguard was using the Pershing brokerage platform? If so, you may need to use the old Pershing number to connect. One of my accounts still requires the old number and uses an account number starting with 44V. You may still see the old account number in the Account Details. If so, look for that number in the accounts that Vanguard offers for connection. Be sure to back up first.
[Adding] If it is an old/new account number problem, you should be able to rename and then open a backup from before the outage and go to the Account Details for the problem account to see the account number to use. Be sure not to let Quicken over-write your current data file.
@Jim_Harman, thank you for the quick reply.
To answer your questions: I've been a vanguard customer for several decades. I was using quicken from the late 1990s until late 2019 when I suspended use because of all the problems I was having. I then restarted w/ Quicken Classic in mid 2024. The Vanguard account is a brokerage account.
I was able to solve the problem, and it is a variation on what you described.
I decided to connect the 3 accounts that I assumed were 0-balance accounts. 2 of them were 0-balance accounts. The 3rd one was my "missing" / "problem" account, but it is showing up with a different account number that has the format you described as an "old Pershing number".
When I login to Vanguard, that account number with the "V" does not appear anywhere. It only shows up as having changed in Quicken
To recap:
Everything is connected and working well. No idea why the account number has changed on the quicken side.
Thank you again for responding.
Thank you, this worked. Clicking on the advanced option under the Vanguard logo, which allows us to select Direct Connect is the key for sure. Hopefully, if Vanguard completely abandons Direct Connect, Quicken and Vanguard work out a way for Web Express to support complex tracking (register view).
@Jim_Harman Thank you for responding to my note this morning at 10am. I was away from my desk and just got back. Tried OSU just now and although I had no new transactions, Quicken reported Vanguard updated and I had no error messages. I didn't save the error code from this morning.
Thank you for putting in so much time on this - much appreciated!
have done everything and it (quicken) keeps saying I need to get a Vanguard password and ID when it tries to connect during the add account step.. Tells me to sign up and all it does is take me to the Vanguard sign on page. I already have iD and password???. tried the Vanguard site to do direct connect and it sends me back to quicken, I've used quicken since it was on a floppy disk. This is ridiculous.
Why doesn't set up now work? You mean a new customer can't connect to Vanguard.
Help us understand what "done everything means". Did you deactivate all of your Vanguard accounts and then attempt to reconnect them via the + sign at the top of the account bar? Have you verified that your preference for investments does NOT defaut to Simple tracking?
Here is my understanding of what has occurred over the last couple of weeks with Vanguard:
On or around 2/20 Vanguard disabled Direct Connect, which had been working well for a very long time.
Some users decided to leave their quicken connection method intact, and wait it out to see if things resolve.
Other users decided to disconnect quicken from Vanguard, download transactions via a qfx file directly from the Vanguard website, and then import those transactions into Quicken.
A couple of weeks later Vanguard rolled out the Express Web Connect (EWC) Interface, which appears to be their new preferred interface (likely cheaper for Vanguard).
Some users who had disconnected from Vanguard, tried to reconnect quicken to Vanguard. When they did so, they were connected using the new EWC interface. At that point their Vanguard account tracking method was changed to "simple", which suppresses the transaction register view, which many users find inadequate. Quicken Vanguard accounts, in simple tracking, only displays summary account balances. The option to change back to "complete" tracking was grayed out while being connected to Vanguard using EWC. The only way to get back to complete tracking was to disconnect from EWC, which ungrayed the tracking method selection (allowed selecting complete tracking).
Jim Harmon (above) has pointed out that if users disconnect from EWC or from the qfx download interface, and reconnect from scratch, being careful to click on the advanced option below the Vanguard Investment logo, before proceeding to input credentials, users will once again have the option to select the direct connect vanguard to quicken interface. If a user rushes through the reconnection process, without taking advantage of the advanced "button", the connection will default to EWC, which is currently an inferior interface.
Thanks to Jim Harmon, I have managed to reconnect to Vanguard with Direct Connect and all is working. My hope is that Vanguard will continue to offer a Direct Connect interface. If not, then I hope they keep it until the EWC interface works properly. In any case, I hope that Vanguard coordinates with Quicken before making any further changes. I sympathize with Quicken, as they have to interface with a huge number of banks and investment companies. When these institutions make changes without proper coordination or software expertise, things break. I wish there had been better communication from all involved to minimize user grief.
I was a user that decided to wait it out…and just experience the 295-A error when doing a OSU…and lacking daily updates to my Vanguard accts during the time DC was down… Once restored all was normal. Where Vanguard failed us….other Financial institutions that dropped DC to switch to EWC+….they notified Quicken users well before the change took place. These other Institutions also must have done testing with Quicken to assure a smooth transition…Vanguard did not feel we were important enough to notify us of the chnage, we all found out when we experienced the 295-A Error…for weeks. Even to this day, Vanguard has never felt it important to send out a Notification explaining what they did… But it seems the power of Voices…made Vanguard realize they needed to back track and restore the DC Connection. Our Voices were Powerful..and heard. I am very disappointed in Vanguard a company I have been loyal to since 1975…50yrs. This experience has given me reason to Pause and re-think my loyality…as Vanguard did not feel I was important enough to Notify me they were turning off DC….they just…did it. Thanks to all that contacted Vanguard…had we all not done that very likely we would still today be facing that 295-A Error…..
I absolutely agree. Vanguard let us down. For the last two years they no longer allow a customer to speak to technical support. They have outsourced their IT, which, in my experience, is completely unresponsive. Even during this issue, all one could do is call, complain, and get things elevated to "Voice of the customer". As far as any insight into what was going on, all of my information came via the quicken community.
We are happy to hear that the issue is resolved for you. Thank you for continuing to share updates, workarounds, and any other information that you find useful.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any further questions or concerns!
It seems that if I update transactions for a single Vanguard account now, it completes. If I run OSU, I see that Vanguard is checked and in progress, it says completed. However, OSU Summary doesn't show anything for any Vanguard accounts.
Many thanks to Jim Harman for his very concise steps to follow. I too was no longer able to see complete transactions and downloads on my two Vanguard accounts, despite trying all permutations. Then I realized that Vanguard still wanted me to use the OLD account numbers, which show up in Quicken. I thought that was the problem and changed them to the NEW account numbers. Of course, that didn't work. After reading Jim's post, I realized that Vanguard still has the OLD numbers in their system, and still wants to use them.
Now, it seems to work, HOWEVER, when I did an update this AM, several transactions did not have correct identifications for the product (i.e. a CD, a T-Bill, stock, etc.). The transactions did go to the correct account and had the correct $ amounts. I'll do a OSU later, and see what happens. I think Vanguard is still some time away from getting it all correct, which wastes a lot of our time.
Yes, my accounts are back after using the Add Account method provided by Jim_Harman. I performed a 'one step update' after adding Vanguard Accounts back via 'update setting'. No errors reported. Thank you Jim.
I really did not want to restore from a 3-week backup and then hope all my other (non-vanguard) accounts would sync up.
As of March 13, 2025 still unable to download transactions from Quicken. Not showing any error message, but no transactions - when I know there are some
@davidldahlin and @LexLuther
What have you done so far to reconnect your accounts to Vanguard? Have you followed the 13 step process in my post near the top of Page 1 of this discussion?
Just did OSU for my 2 Vanguard accounts, with Vanguard using Direct Connect. There was one new transaction, which downloaded correctly with all historical details showing. Hope this lasts. In future, when I find a glitch, I will come to the Community first, before wasting time trying to figure out if it's my system or Quicken or the financial institution.
Does anyone know know why Vanguard continues to use the old legacy account numbers, and is there a way to get Vanguard to update them? Except for their still showing in my Quicken Account List, I had a heck of a time even finding them. Fortunately, I had a couple documents from back in 2009 that had the old account numbers.
posted 3/13/25 10:49 AM
posted 3/13/25 11:40 PM
I noticed there was ADD transactions, rather than Buy. Not sure as to why. I spent several hours on 7 accounts cleaning up entries to the same type that was used prior to this 2/20/25 fiasco. Their all reconciled manually to the penny. BTW, my accounts are all brokerage type of accounts and have a mix of mutual funds and stocks. I am concerned that this may not be totally fixed.
I'll repost if the one-step update does not perform as it did before 2/20/25.
I was waiting until I knew there were transactions to download before determining that the OSU was working. OSU completed without errors, but no Vanguard transactions were downloaded. The Download Center in Vanguard produced a qfx file containing transactions. My Vanguard accounts in Quicken show Direct Connect activated for all. I went through Jim Harman's steps (Thanks, Jim) and was fine until I got to Step 11 of linking accounts. I recognized account numbers marked Don't Add to Quicken, but I was offered account numbers I didn't recognize to link. The total number of accounts was correct, but not the account numbers offered for linking. I canceled out at that point. I have tried this process several times. I also tried a Reset on one of the accounts that was missing from the link list. Again, I was offered account numbers that didn’t match. I’m stuck.
Still not correct.
You may be seeing the last 4 of old account numbers starting with V40, etc. Restore an old backup to a copy and review the account numbers listed in account details to see if that is the problem and then link appropriately.
Log into your Vanguard account and look up your correct account numbers from your latest Vanguard statement and match up what comes into the Direct Connect linking menu to the corresponding Quicken account.
@Pinot83 When restoring the old backup from before the outage as @Bob_L recommends to get the old account numbers, be sure it has a different name than your active data file so that it will not over-write your current file. You will just be looking at the backup and not using it going forward.
The account numbers in Quicken are the same before/after the outage and agree with the account numbers on the Vanguard site. I took a chance and linked to the unfamiliar account numbers based on account type. That caused the recent, missing transactions to be downloaded into the proper account but left me in the Simple tracking method for all accounts with no option to change. The Simple box is unchecked under Preferences/Investments. I tried a Reset on one of the affected accounts but still Simple. Appreciate all these efforts to assist.
I would recommned deactivating all of your vanguard accounts. Then add them all back via the + link at the top of the account bar on your home page. Look for the option to use advanced setup for Vanguard and be sure it shows direct connect. Before doing this make sure your preference setting for Investments is NOT checked to use Simple Method for new accounts.
