Quicken / Fidelity Potential Workaround? (Without Using EWC)

QDirty

Like many others, I received so many errors when forced to change over to the "new" Fidelity integration connection method that I decide to roll-back and give up entirely. I have a fairly simple situation with just two accounts: A single I-401(K) plan (with almost 20 years of transactions) and a single Fidelity CMA account (created this year, 2025, with all balances in SPAXX).

A few days ago, I changed my Fidelity account password (on their web site Security section) as I noticed a few screen-scraping connections were present (but unused for several years). Apparently, the only way to "disable" these logins (one from Intuit, another from Yodlee) is to change the password. For me this appears at the following link (space added to allow the link here):

http s://digital.fidelity.com/ftgw/digital/dae/fidelityAccess

Today, I did a One-Step Update with Fidelity, but rather than the standard nag screen for re-authorizing, I was asked if I changed the password. Feeling bold, I chose to put in the new password, and it worked! I don't undertand how and why… Unless it's using screen scraping (my account should Intuit last used that method over two years ago). I think got the option to use the new connection method and, as usual, declined by closing the dialog. In Fidelity's security, it looks like it's using "Fidelity Access" now (based on a date/time stamp). The old "Intuit" method still hasn't updated; it still shows it was last accessed just over two years ago.

It downloaded the last couple months of transactions based on spot-checking. It certainly wasn't perfect: I had to edit a couple of positions, manually match a few, and modify a couple of placeholders that were doubled some position amounts. That only took a few minutes, and at least the balances seem to match almost perfectly. On the above dialog, if I choose not to update, I get an OL-332-A error (which I think is different from the older OL-301, which I need to re-test again).

While attempting One-Step Updates, I'm still getting Reauthorize options (which I haven't yet re-attempted) and the "Remind Me Next Time" option and I always just close that window to prevent major data corruption. Or, if I re-launch Quicken, I again see the "Have you changed your password?" option. At the very least, I have my most recent, important transactions, though I still need to verify it all. Currently, both of my transaction registers for my 401K/CMA show "Direct Connect", even though they have transactions as recent as earlier this week.

I have little trust in Quicken and it's PE-based controllers fixing these issues anytime soon, but this might actually meet my short-term requirements (having accurate transactions and balances, even if it takes minor manual work). It is a strange hack, but it worked FAR better than the official method. I hesitated to post this, as it seems like Quicken and/or Fidelity might choose to break this (purposely or based on "quality improvements") going forward (after all, it seems to be working well, and that seems opposed to their strategy).

I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this, and whether it has worked. My next potential step would be to retry the potentially awful process of trying to use the new connection method. I wanted to post this quickly for now, incase it can help others that are having similar issues.

I can research further and post an update here if anyone is interested, but I'm holding off due to my frustration with Quicken, its lack of detailed acknowledgement and prognosis (I've read all related threads), and fear of complete data file corruption (yes, I have MANY backups).

Note: Many thanks to all of the users who have been posting about these issues! I really appreciate your details and efforts to hold Quicken responsible.