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Fidelity NetBenefits - doesn't separate my spouses account on downloads

nhttip

Our plan was just migrated from Alight to NetBenefits. Fortunately we had a Fidelity account active as I see there are problems with people trying to setup transaction download with just a NetBenefits account.

My issue is this. My wife & I both have NetBenefits accounts (403b & 401a) that were created. I successfully setup the initial transaction download in Quicken, but when I went to do it a second time for the most recent payroll contribution, it put all transactions in my wife's account. I noticed in the Quicken account setup (and also verified with NetBenefits customer service) that the "account" number is the same for everyone in the plan. The group plans have separate account numbers, but individuals don't. For example Toyota Corp's 403B acct# xyz123, 401a acct# abc789. Everyone at Toyota would have the same account number. Individuals are identified by SSN.

I tried searching the forums and didn't notice if this has been discussed previously. I see there are many issues with NetBenefits, but not this one from what I can see. Is there any type of workaround for this? I assume that the non-unique account numbers might be the issue?

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Quicken Laura

Hi @nhttip,

Thank you for providing all of those details. The shared account number information is helpful, and I’d like to better understand how Fidelity identifies the two accounts on their end compared to how Quicken receives and assigns the downloaded data.

A few questions that may help narrow down the cause:

Do you and your wife have separate Fidelity NetBenefits logins, or are both accounts accessed through the same Fidelity login?
Are both NetBenefits accounts set up in the same Quicken file?
When you log in directly to the Fidelity NetBenefits website, are the transactions separated correctly between your account and your wife’s account?
When viewing the account details in Quicken, do the two accounts show any different identifiers besides the shared plan/account number (for example, different names, participant IDs, or other identifying information)?

To check the account details in Quicken:

Open the account.
Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner.
Select Edit account details under General.

Review the Account number, Routing number, and Customer ID fields.

I look forward to your response.

NotACPA

@nhttip Also, do you and your wife have the the same employer?

There's a quirk in how Fidelity handles that situation because, legally, your employer owns the account(s) "for your benefit". So Fidelity has a tough time in figuring out that they should be 2 separate accounts.

There were discussions a few years back about this situation, but I don't remember if there was a solution, or what it might have been.

nhttip

to answer your questions….

separate NetBenefits logins, however our existing Fidelity Brokerage account is JTWROS so it shows up on each of our NetBenefits logins (Note, my wife never had a separate Fidelity account since there was no need as it is a joint account)
Yes, I only have one quicken file for all of our account, individual & joint.
All transactions appear correctly in the Fidelity NetBenefits website as we each have unique logins.
No difference in account details, although for Account Number, both mine and my wife's are prefixed with "xxx" which I assume means hidden. So they both display as XXX9190H. But I don't think the XXX means anything as Fidelity NetBenefits customer service told me that the account number is the same for everyone in the 403B and it is 9190H. Customer ID is blank. There is no routing number as this is a 401k account type.

Forgot to mention that my wife and I have the same employer, that is why the account number is the same.

nhttip

Also, do you and your wife have the the same employer? Yes, we have the same employer, so I assume that is why the account numbers are the same as NetBenefits mentioned when I called that everyone under the plan has the same account number.

Interesting this is a known issue. Curious if a workaround was ever developed?

NotACPA

Try using the forum's search box. I don't remember if a workaround was ever conceived.

That "everyone under the plan has the same account number", only references YOUR comany's plan. Different companies, different account numbers.

BUT, what the workaround might have been (vague memory kicking in) is to set up both accounts in Q, but only enable one for download. Download into it, then deactivate it and activate the other and download … cycling back and forth as needed.

Take a backup before you first try that … just in case.

nhttip

sorry for the confusion, that's what I meant. Each company has a unique ID, but everyone within the company shares that ID.

I was thinking something similar to what you said….toggle back and forth. A real pain in the….

Fortunately my wife's is a legacy plan and mine is active. So she won't get that many transactions so I might just disable hers.

nhttip

@NotACPA yep, this looks like an oldie but goodie that has been around a very long time for NetBenefits. This thread talks about a workaround that I'll probably try:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7883203/fidelity-netbenefits-cant-add-accounts-for-both-me-and-my-spouse

nhttip

I just tried and it doesn't let you edit the account ID as the workaround suggested😕. Maybe Quicken locked the account ID down from editing since the workaround was originally posted. @tkiyak I assume you would have to do a deactivate/reactivate downloads to do the update instead.

NotACPA

Are you trying to edit the account ID in a single, combined (you and spouse) account?

OR, do you have separate accounts in Q, for which I don't quite understand why you'd need to change the ID.

Was the account deactivated from download when you tried to change the ID? Q never allows that change for an activated account of any type.

nhttip

ok thanks, not sure why that was stated as an option in the original workaround I found