How can I connect my existing line of credit account (type: credit card) to my bank?

DaveLab

I've had the account in Quicken for years. Have never been able to figure out how to get it connected to my bank. It will appear in the list of available accounts after the electronic handshake with my bank (during setup), but I'm supposed to pick checking or savings account type, and it's neither. And if I try to "link to existing account" the drop-down doesn't show it as available from my Quicken data file because, I assume, it's not a checking or savings account.

I'd add it as a new account, but then I have years of transfers to other accounts that I'd have to manually edit for each such transaction.

Ideas?

NotACPA

What's the name, as known in Q, of your bank? Not all bank's allow all types of connections.

SO, with the bank name, we can look-up what they allow.

Boatnmaniac

Please be sure to list the exact and complete name of the bank.

DaveLab

Thanks. It's Greylock Federal Credit Union.

Quicken comes up with two hits. Which appear to have different functionalities; I tried both.

One is something like Greylock FCU Pittsfield, and the other is just Greylock FCU. If I remember correctly. There's a third hit, but I don't believe it's the same organization.

NotACPA

Here's the entry in FIDIR.TXT (that records all of the connections into Q) for Greylock.

Greylock FCU https://www.greylock.org/ 413-236-4000 https://olb.greylock.org/auth/SignIn?wa=wsignin1.0&wtrealm=https%3A%2F%2Folb.greylock.org%2Fbanking%2F&wctx=rm%3D0%26id%3Dpassive%26ru%3D%252fbanking%252fstart%252f&wct=2016-12-28T18%3A05%3A48Z ACTIVE BANKING&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT

Only the Express Web Connect method (and not Web Connect, where you initiate the download directly at the website) would seem to support "credit" (i.e., card) accounts.

SO, when you do TOOLS, Account List … what's shown in the "Transaction Download" column across from your Greylock account(s)?

DaveLab

There's currently only a checking account and a savings account set up for online bank access in my Quicken. They both list "Express Web Connect" in the Transaction Download column.

Interestingly, the other accounts I have set up for online access either have the same "Express Web Connect" listed (two store-specific credit cards) or "Express Web Connect+" (same but with the added plus sign) listed (two are savings accounts; three are general credit cards). I wonder what that means.

Sorry if I'm repeating myself, here: When I try to set up the bank connection for my overdraft-protection LOC, Quicken does find my accounts at Greylock, but the LOC account it finds has only Savings and Checking types available in the drop-down list. (As I think I mentioned, I have it set up in Quicken as credit card account.) In the Action column, if I try to select Link To Existing Account, the only available accounts are the checking and savings accounts I have in Quicken; I can't select the LOC account.

Maybe Greylock codes it as a deposit account? Could that be the issue?

I looked at changing the account type to Savings in Quicken, but it appears to not be doable.

CaliQkn

@DaveLab - You are correct that "Account Type" is not changeable. What you can do is create a manual checking account for the LOC and then move all the transactions from your current LOC account on Quicken to the new LOC you created. After this is done, you can then connect the new LOC (Acct Type = Checking) to your FCU.

1. Make a backup of your Quicken Data File.
2. Create a report of all transactions in the current LOC account. Save it to Excel (if available). Otherwise, a hard copy or PDF, or text file will work. You are just using the report for verification and troubleshooting, if necessary.
3. Rename the current LOC account to something that will distinguish it from the new one you will create.
4. Create a new manual LOC account with account type = Checking.
5. In the "old" LOC account, highlight all transactions and then right click. Use the "Reconcile Status" command to change all transaction to "Not Reconciled".
6. Use the MOVE command to move all transactions from the old LOC to the new one. If you encounter any messages, it is safest to answer "Yes" or "Ok".
7. Verify that all transactions have moved to the "new" LOC account and that the "old" LOC account has no transactions.
8. If necessary, use the report (spreadsheet) you created to verify and reconcile transactions in the "new" LOC.
9. When the new LOC account has been verified and reconciled, delete the empty "old" LOC account. If you have any information in Account Details, be sure to copy it over to the new LOC.
10. Connect to your FCU by linking to the new LOC account. Since the new LOC has been created with Account Type = Checking, it should be on the list to link to.

DaveLab

Nice. I'm guessing this is the way I'll need to approach this. But at least I'll end up with essentially what I was hoping for.

Great idea. Thanks!