Missing Transactions

This discussion was created from comments split from: Missing Transactions Until Reconcile.

Comments

  • R Hoeffner
    R Hoeffner Member
    I, too, have this exact same problem. I don't know if they will show up on reconcile, because I don't bother with reconcile. I just know my balance is off, and I'm missing 2 or 3 transactions from multiple accounts. Some are connected by Web Connect and some are Direct Connect. It's driving me crazy and I really want it fixed for the amount of time I've spent looking for missed transactions. I called one of the banks and they worked with me for over an hour only to learn by looking at their logs, that the transactions ARE being sent. After that point, they have no control. It's definitely in Quicken and I suspect now, It's a bug!
  • Quicken_Tyka
    Quicken_Tyka Alumni ✭✭✭✭
    Hello @R Hoeffner

    Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to report this issue, although I apologize that you have not received a response.

    If you have not done so already, I would take a moment to review the steps and information available here. If the issue isn't resolved and this is not a one-time event, please Contact Quicken Support.

    Quicken Care can review the logs and determine if this may be escalated for resolution.

    Thank you,
    -Quicken Tyka
    ~~~***~~~
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    I, too, have this exact same problem. I don't know if they will show up on reconcile, because I don't bother with reconcile. I just know my balance is off, and I'm missing 2 or 3 transactions from multiple accounts. Some are connected by Web Connect and some are Direct Connect. It's driving me crazy and I really want it fixed for the amount of time I've spent looking for missed transactions. I called one of the banks and they worked with me for over an hour only to learn by looking at their logs, that the transactions ARE being sent. After that point, they have no control. It's definitely in Quicken and I suspect now, It's a bug!

    If you really want to get to the bottom of this problem, I'm afraid you will have to go over your account register(s) and, with a fine tooth comb, compare the register to your bank statements, to locate the missing, duplicate or otherwise incorrect transactions.
    It's quite possible that the problem is/was caused by Quicken mis-matching downloaded transactions to already existing register transactions from prior months when, in fact, a new register transaction should have been created instead.

    Transaction download problems with matching and adding new transactions correctly

    First please ensure that all optional settings in Quicken pertaining to recall, memorization, automatic categorization and renaming of payee names are enabled. You find those settings in Edit / Preferences / Data Entry & Quickfill and Downloaded Transactions. Additional settings can be found for the detection and processing of transfer transactions in Edit / Preferences / Transfer detection.

    Are you automatically accepting downloaded transactions into your registers?

    If you are relying on Quicken to "automagically" fill your account registers from downloaded transactions, you may run into problems. Despite all efforts by the Quicken programmers, the "Autopilot" (that's my name for the part of the Quicken program which processes downloaded transactions and converts them into new register transactions) is not infallible. For that process to work 100% of the time one would need a crystal ball because the information downloaded from the banks often is just too terse and cryptic.

    You should, at least for a while, turn off the "automatically accept downloaded transactions into registers" setting to gain better control over what is downloaded and what to do with it. Review each downloaded transaction, make changes if necessary (e.g., to get a payee name = "Starbucks" instead of "POS TRANS 070119 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070219 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070319 STARBU" or to assign a category) before you click to accept each transaction.

    Any changes you make to downloaded Payee Names are remembered in Renaming Rules.

    Any other changes you make (add/change Category or Memo text) are remembered in the Memorized Payee List.

    Next time the same transaction for this Payee comes along, Quicken should remember and give you a better new register transaction.

     

    In case you have issues with transfer transactions not being generated correctly:

    For best results manually enter transfer transactions into your register BEFORE you download transactions from the bank which contain the transfer confirmations. For recurring transfers use scheduled reminders and enter them a day or two before the due date. Be sure to use distinct Payee Names for each transfer / credit card payment to avoid confusing Quicken - memorized payee entries.
    That takes the guesswork out of the Autopilot's process. Because a correctly entered transfer transaction already exists in your account registers, the Autopilot should just match the downloaded transfer transaction to the existing one in both accounts.

     

    Where are the "Auto-accept downloaded transaction" settings?

    There are two places where this is controlled in Quicken for Windows:
     - Globally, for all accounts, in Edit / Preferences / Downloaded Transactions
     - For each account individually, the global setting can be overridden from the Edit Account Details screen, Online Services Tab. Look for blue text "Automatic Entry is: ON / OFF". Click the text to change the setting.


  • Geobrick
    Geobrick Member ✭✭✭
    I've been having this problem for several months (maybe a year) in one specific brokerage account. The balance is always off because there are transactions missing when compared to online activity or statements. It's always all the transactions on a some random days each month.

    I use one step update about twice a week and after a month or two, when I compare my balance, it's always off. After identifying the missing transactions, I can manually download the specific day from the brokerage website and the missing transactions get downloaded and are ready to be accepted into the registry. It's almost like quicken is skipping over downloaded transactions. There's no consistency to what gets skipped. It could be a div, stock buy or sale, fee, withdrawal or deposit. The time spent every few months trying to track down and capture the missing transactions, is time consuming and not something I should have to do so often.

    Is there a log file for recent one step updates that I can inspect for the missing transactions?
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Geobrick said:
    ...
    Is there a log file for recent one step updates that I can inspect for the missing transactions?
    In Quicken for Windows go to Help / Log Files.
    Select the OFX log file.
    Scroll all the way to the bottom and search backwards until you find the transactions you're looking for.
    You can also save the log file to an external .TXT file and do your searching with Notepad or your favorite text editor.
    If you always use the same process, One Step Update, to download transactions from your brokerage, there should be no missing or duplicate transactions.
    After downloading, do you manually review and accept downloaded transactions or do you auto-accept them into the register?
    In the latter case, a transaction can go AWOL because it gets mis-matched to a prior transaction of the same or similar type and amount. Switch to manually reviewing and accepting all transactions for this account.

  • Geobrick
    Geobrick Member ✭✭✭
    UKR, Does the log file only contain data from the most recent OSU? If so, I;ll need to look for the missing transactions right after I do an update. I usually don't notice the missing transactions until I'm attempting to reconcile the account a few months later.

    amitylyn, I think your issue it different because your transactions successfully downloaded and then disappeared. In my case, the transactions never downloaded.
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Geobrick said:
    UKR, Does the log file only contain data from the most recent OSU? If so, I;ll need to look for the missing transactions right after I do an update. I usually don't notice the missing transactions until I'm attempting to reconcile the account a few months later.
    The OFXlog file contains data for several OSUs.  When the file exceeds a certain (undocumented) size, oldest data gets removed.
    It would be best if you kept a regular eye on things, to avoid nasty surprises months later. At least make sure the Online Balance matches your register balance every time you run OSU. A monthly Reconcile with the bank statement is, IMHO, best practice.