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False 'red flag' transaction indicator?

Don Awalt

Recently, and not every time, my American Express card will show the little red flag indicating transaction(s) downloaded after a OSU. But when I click on the card, there are no transactions! Is there some other reason the red flag shows up, anything I should check, or is this a bug of some sort? Any advice how to correct this? My other credit cards have been fine.

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Sceptic

@Don Awalt If two accounts with the same FI show up on two different lines in the OSU summary, it's usually because Quicken is treating the accounts as separate online connection profiles, even though they're with the same financial institution. This can happen if the accounts use different connection methods, different credentials, or were activated/re-authorized at different times. Check Account Details → Online Services for each card and compare the Financial Institution and Connection Method settings. If downloads are working normally, it's often just a cosmetic difference in the OSU Summary.

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Tommy

More recently this has also occasionally occurred on my credit cards accounts (not Amex but Visa and Mastercard) accounts. I originally assumed that it was an indication of a glitch in the "Pending Transactions" logic, so I disabled this option. However, this same anomaly continues to occasionally occur.

I have had this occur in my banking (savings) accounts as well.

Due to the seemingly random nature, as of yet I have not been able to find a cause or solution.

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Don Awalt & @Tommy,

Thank you for letting us know you're encountering this issue! To start troubleshooting this issue, next time it happens, please try following these steps from our article on when Quicken says there are transactions to accept, but you don't see any:

Before you begin

Ensure the Search bar above the register is cleared. Text in the Search bar will adjust the register to only show transactions that match that text.

First, turn automatic entry off (or on if it's already off)

1. Press Ctrl+A on the keyboard to bring up the Account List, then click the Edit button next to the affected account in the list.

2. In the Account Details window, click on the Online Services tab then click Automatic entry is.

3. Select No on the next dialog box and click OK. Automatic entry should show as "Off" now. (If it's already off, select Yes and click OK to turn it on)

4. Click OK to close the Account Details window, then click Done on the Account List.

5. Close Quicken, wait a few seconds, then re-open it. The transactions should appear upon re-opening Quicken.

Note: If you have multiple accounts affected by this issue, you can make the change outlined above to all the accounts at once by going to Edit > Preferences, then going to Downloaded transactions and unchecking the box next to Automatically add to banking registers.

Then, check the account register and Online Center

Quicken will show you downloaded transactions in multiple locations. The following information shows you how to check for downloaded transactions in the account register and Online Center.

Open the account register and select Downloaded Transactions at the bottom of the register.
- If there are transactions listed, accept them to the register.
- If there are not any transactions listed, proceed with the next step.
Choose the Tools menu > Online Center.
Select the appropriate financial institution and account.

4. Select Transactions.

If transactions are listed, click Compare to Register and accept the transactions. Note: Compare to Register will display online payments on the initial screen. After accepting your online payments, click Continue, Next or Done to see the rest of your downloaded transactions.

If no transactions are listed or Compare to Register does not allow you to accept the transactions, proceed to the next section.

Lastly, correct data issues

If the Quicken data file is damaged, you might receive prompts about downloaded transactions when you don't have any downloaded transactions.

If you know when this issue began, the best solution is to restore a backup created before this issue began.

If you do not have a backup to restore, Quicken has a built-in utility, Validate, that will correct many data issues. Please note this does not correct all issues and these steps should be taken if the other steps outlined did not resolve the problem.

Choose the File menu > Copy or Backup File.
Select Create a copy or template, then click Next.
Accept all defaults and click Save Copy.
Open the New Copy when prompted.
Choose File > Validate and Repair File.
Select the new copy created in step 3 and click OK.

Note: Depending on the size of your data file, you may need to wait a while for the validation process to finish. Do not use the Task Manager to close Quicken. Quicken displays an error message if it cannot validate the file. If Quicken is able to validate the file and any errors are found, Quicken displays a message, "Data losses were found in your file." You can view the log file for more information.

When the validation process is complete, you will need to Reactivate your accounts for transaction download in the new file copy.

Go to Tools > Add Account.
Select the bank for the deactivated account(s). If prompted, select the connection method.
Enter your credentials and click Connect.
When the list of located accounts appears, choose LINK next to each account you want to reactivate.
Click Next then Done on the last prompt.
After all of your accounts have been Reactivated, complete the Check the account register... section steps above again.

Please let me know how it goes!

Don Awalt

It just happened, I did all this. I also did a Super Validate of the file. No error at all in that test. Automatic entry was off. Account register and Online Center showed no transactions. I ran OSU again, got the same red flag.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

To clarify, did the issue persist even when you created a copy of your file and tested in that copy?

Thank you!

Don Awalt

Hi @Quicken Kristina I did not, that seemed to me to be a last resort. Today I did try some other things, and it's fixed now!

First, I created a new file, added both of my Amex cards (one worked, one had the red flag problem in my main file), and there was no flag no matter how many times I ran OSU.

So then I went through deactivating the suspect Amex card, re-adding it - I did this several times, and then one time the red flag stopped! Interestingly, it stopped when instead of seeing one American Express line in the progress pane and when the check boxes are up to pick which accounts to update, I now see two American Express lines - one for each card! Why would it split them? When I reauthorized I always picked both cards on the Amex site.

Anyway it's working now - tried it numerous times. Can you answer why it's two lines now, I am intrigued?

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for the follow-up,

I'm glad to hear that it's working now!

It is interesting that it now shows two lines. Is this a shared account? If so, the two lines may be the primary cardholder's card and the authorized user's card.

Thank you!

Don Awalt

no it’s not shared @Quicken Kristina , they are both my cards.

Sceptic

Don Awalt

thanks for the explanation!