Downloaded transaction not matching (Q Mac)

I've had this problem in the past and it looks like it is back. I use Bank of America for my primary checking and download using Direct Connection. When I use BoA bill pay I schedule my payments in advance. On the next download, I "see" the scheduled payment recorded in Quicken at the scheduled date. I love this, because I can get a real sense of my cash flow and know if I will be overdrawn - and avoid that by scheduling a transfer or adjusting future payments.

The trouble is with a new version of Q4M just downloaded (Version 6.8.3 Build 608.44884.100 and macOS v12.5), when the payment is processed, it doesn't match up with the scheduled check - I can see the check number assigned at the time of scheduling). See screen grab. It's throwing off my reconciled balance. How can I combine them or fix this?

Answers

  • Quicken Anja
    Quicken Anja Moderator mod
    Hello @4pickering,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about your issue, though I apologize that you are experiencing this.

    Please take a moment to review this support article regarding matching transactions in Quicken for Mac.

    As stated in the article, if the transactions are not automatically being matched, then you can drag and drop downloaded transactions to the matching manual entry transaction to match them. Doing so also "teaches" the program to remember the match for future downloads.

    I hope this helps!

    -Quicken Anja
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  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    Hi Anja, I knew that was a method I should try and I did, I just forgot to post that. When I tried the drag and drop, nothing happened. It was as if it wasn't even a feature! If you refer to the image I posted, I tried dragging the 7656 check onto the paid transaction and vice versa. Nothing happens. Thoughts?
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Please turn on the CLR, Status (black dot) and Match Status columns (menu View > Columns) in the register and make another screenshot and post. Please include the column headers in the screenshot.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    RickO, Please see attached image here. I think one concern I have is the term "matched". Not to overanalyze it, but it can be confusing - does it refer to a transaction in the current account that has matched one downloaded, or does it refer to the corresponding transaction in the transfer account? I come from using Quicken for Windows for over 25 years. I'm no accountant - that's what I figured out to make all the accounts match up on that platform. Am I doing something wrong?
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Your new screenshot tells me a lot. First, this has nothing to do with any transfer that might be included in the transaction. Transaction matching is related only to the one account you are viewing at a time.

    The first line in your screenshot says "Matched (auto)". This means that a downloaded transaction was automatically matched to a manual (possibly scheduled) transaction that was already in your register. Nothing happens when you drag and drop this onto the 2nd line because it's already been matched.

    The 2nd line is blank in the Match Status column. This means that it was neither downloaded or matched to another transaction. 

    The bottom line is that somehow, prior to downloading, you had two duplicate manual transactions in the register. When you downloaded, one of them was auto matched. You will need to figure out how this happened.

    One possibility is that you created the scheduled transaction in the checking account and also created a transfer transaction separately in the Visa account (which would add a 2nd manual transaction showing in the checking account).

    It might help to un-match the transaction in the checking account so you can see all three transactions' details to help figure out what's going on. To un-match, right click on the matched transaction and select "Reject Automatic Transaction Match". 
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    In addition to all the good information @RickO has already provided, I'd be curious why both transactions are reconciled (marked with a green check mark in the CLR column). If one of them is a duplicate, it shouldn't have been marked as cleared (blue checkmark) in the Reconcile window, and/or you shouldn't have completed the reconciliation (which turns blue checkmarks green) because your transactions didn't, in fact, reconcile to the real-world account.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    "The bottom line is that somehow, prior to downloading, you had two duplicate manual transactions in the register." - That's false. I do not enter anything manually - specifically, I enter my bill payment at BoA online through their web interface, then run a Quicken update. Quicken then inserts the payment as a future-dated transaction - in this case, Check #7656. I really like this because it allows me to schedule my bills and track my future account balance to prevent ever being overdrawn. The other payment above it shows up when the check clears - it's added during the update.

    I've been using Quicken for 25 years, 23 on the Windows platform. I would say that I've adapted my behavior to what I've observed is the proper way to do things based on how Quicken handled transactions. This only started happening a few months after switching to Q4Mac. The behavior seems tied to how I download from BoA - I have been using Direct Connect since I started over 10 years ago with BoA. When I first migrated to Q4Mac, it seemed like I was better off connecting via Quicken Connect - but that didn't list any of the online scheduled payments. Not that I routinely overdrafted my account, I just preferred seeing into the future if you will.
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    RickO - I appreciate your help, please don't misunderstand my reply. I'm not sure how this forum works - are you a user like me or a Quicken Support person? I'm assuming the latter, so I'd say contrast how DC works in Windows because that is what this feels like. I am plagued by inconsistencies in how Mac vs Windows behaves. Just this AM, another weird thing happened (I admit that I may be handling these things rather clunkily) - My mortgage is with my Credit Union. Payment is deducted from my CU savings account. I routinely transfer funds from BoA where my primary checking is handled by via bill pay to effect the transfer. The fund transfer is handled without issue - but since I track the CU mortgage, I see the payment from savings under the mortgage account, however, the reconciliation shows an error. It's because the taxes and insurance plus interest add up to the difference. I know this is me probably not setting up the account correctly. To me, setting up a mortgage should have all these details baked into the account setup. I'm sorry if this is a rant, I don't mean it to be. It's just frustrating.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I'm just a fellow user like yourself. Some of us (like jacobs and myself) got "superuser" designation because we spend a lot of time trying to help out fellow users. It can be difficult sometimes because we have to rely on textual descriptions and screenshots. Quicken Support can screen share with you so they can see via live interaction what's going on.

    But let's continue with the duplicate transaction issue. I would ask that you right click on the transaction that says "Matched (auto)" and choose Reject Automatic Transaction Match. You should then see three of these transactions. Next, in the search box, top right, type "Chase Credit Cards". Then change the All Dates popup filter to "This Quarter". Having done all that, post a screenshot of the entire register.

    Next go over to the Marriott Visa register and filter by This Quarter and "Chase Credit Cards" in the search box and post that screenshot.

    Hopefully these screenshots will inform what's happening.

    Let's save the mortgage issue for later. I don't have a mortgage account in Quicken, so not sure if I'll be much help with that.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    I'll certainly do what you ask, but first I wanted to capture another example of this problem. So, someone wondered why everything was marked cleared - that's me just being OCD, I like everything reconciled and balanced.

    In the screen grab attached I have just performed a sync. Since we are near the beginning of the month, there are numerous bills due that were scheduled to be paid weeks ago (when I get a bill, in the mail or paperless, I schedule the payment through BoA's online bill pay.). This usually results in me seeing the scheduled payment, near the top of the register and assigned a pseudo check number ( that is, not in sequence with my checkbook - any check numbered in the 7000's is generated as part of that process, I assume that is what the envelope icon represents aka online bill scheduled).

    As you can see Auto-Reconcile shows a discrepancy ($0.58 difference - When I checked on the orange error that appeared, it showed me the difference but it removed that banner, so that's now missing in the screen grab). You'll notice the type of transaction error twice - once with Citi Cards check #7655 dated 8/5/22, and again with Barclaycard check #7657. Those transactions were downloaded and not manually entered when I scheduled them. However, both have a new transaction appearing today - Matched (auto), with the CLR flag set. For reference, look above the green line - all those 7600 series check records are a result of my scheduling through BoA.

    I suppose when I sync and this happens, I could always delete the numbered check transaction as a way to clean up the register, but then I'd lose the reference to the check number which is sometimes handy when I need to look up on the BoA site. I have not reconciled today's sync under the assumption I was masking an issue in doing so. If you want to proceed from here just let me know which way to go
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    Just to keep us moving, I decided to do what you suggested but using the BarclayCard transaction just posted. I rejected the match ( that is screen grab #1). I searched, and filtered on Barclaycard (screen grab 2). Finally, screen grab 3 is from the Barclaycard account, filtered as requested
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    The question @jacobs asked about reconcile/cleared wasn't about why you reconcile. We get that. It was that you had two identical transactions for $1812.36 both marked as cleared and reconciled. If that reconciled with the bank's balance, that indicates that in your real world account, that amount was paid out of the account TWICE. So, was $1812.36 in fact debited from your BofA account twice? And did Marriott Visa receive double payments? 

    The $.58 reconcile discrepancy is probably the result of some error unrelated to this issue and is a red herring. I'm not going to get into that right now.

    You say that you go to the BofA website to schedule payments. But is there any chance you are putting a transaction in the register with "send" in the check number field? (This is how you send a Bank Bill Pay transaction using Direct Connect Bill Pay from within Quicken.)

    Here are the meanings of the different colors of envelop icons, orange, white and blue:



    The white envelop on the 2nd Citi Cards transaction (white) indicates that it was sent from Quicken using Direct Connect (Bank) Bill Pay. The first Citi Cards transaction (blue) indicates that it was processed and matched to a downloaded transaction.

    Let's concentrate on these Citi Cards transactions. Here's what I'd like you to do:

    1. Click the magnifying glass icon and choose Payee and enter Citi Cards in the search box so we can concentrate on just that Payee
    2. Click the All Dates filter and change it to This Month
    3. Right click on the blue Citi Cards transaction and select Reject Automatic Transaction Match
    4. You should now see three Citi Cards transactions. Post a screenshot of that full register.
    One more thing... Do you use Quicken Mobile or Web? There's a chance that it is causing transactions to be backfilled into your register. I'd like you to go to Preferences > Mobile, Web and Alerts. Is the Sync switch turned on? If so, turn it off. Then go to Connected Services and click the Reset button in the Cloud Account section. This will force Quicken to override what's in the cloud with what's in your desktop file.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    While I was typing, it looks like you did what I asked for Barclay Card instead of Citi Cards. That's fine. Let me look at those screenshots.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I am seeing two $28 transactions in the Barclaycard account, one of which appears to have been manually created. Both are transfer transactions between the two accounts. Are you creating a manual transaction in the Barclaycard account to reflect the payment being made?
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    I enter no manual transactions per se. When I schedule a payment online at BoA, the transaction appears in the Quicken register on the next sync. It usually shows up with a category of Uncategorized. At that time I change it to a transfer, in this case, transfer to the Barclays account. Look at screen grab 2 - at the top and you'll see the current payment I just set up for Barclays - only I held off changing the transfer so you could see it clearly. This is what I used to do in the Windows version. When the payment would be applied, Quicken would match it.

    I don't do any paying of bills through the Quicken app. I go directly to BoA's web page, log in to my accounts, and access the Bill Pay feature. My bills are set up to appear there, so when I see their red flag, I know a new bill came in and I immediately schedule payment. I liked this because when Quicken would sync, I could see a "future cast" of my register balance. Hope that clarifies it.
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    Forgot to add, that I am 100% I am not double paying. What I find confusing is the "online account balance" matches what BoA reports. It's the balance shown in the register that's way off (like it appears to have been double debited)
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I think you are going to need to contact Quicken Support and have them screen share with you while you do a download. There's not enough info here for me to be of any help.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • ksl
    ksl Member ✭✭
    I'm using the same Quicken version with BofA and the same practice of using the BofA bill pay and then synching with Quicken to see my future cashflow. Also seeing that the downloaded transaction is not matching the scheduled transaction and therefore creates a duplicate. Will continue to investigate . . .
  • 4pickering
    4pickering Member ✭✭
    edited October 2022
    @ksl Things just appear to have gotten worse for me. Again, I haven't changed any of my settings. I just logged in after having synced and now my account balance looks like I'm "$-69,000". I'm sorry everyone, I find this so frustrating. I've been doing the same thing with windows for decades, [Removed - Violation of Community Guidelines]. I never would have migrated to the Mac version had it not been for my buying a new Mac and didn't want to jump through hoops to use the windows version on an M1 chip-based Mac. I will be contacting Quicken Support this week to try and resolve this. I will post here when I have new info. Thanks all for the help. I deeply appreciate everyone's comments and expertise.
  • ksl
    ksl Member ✭✭
    So there are two problems here. First is that some BofA transactions that were previously downloaded get downloaded again - it's pretty apparent when you look at your register you can see the new batch next to ones that were previously downloaded - and in my case I can scan down the register and find them with the Blue dot icon and delete them manually. Not pretty but ultimately not hard. The second and larger issue is that the new integration/download process no longer will download the future "Bill Pay" transactions. This is a killer for me relative to the value I get from Quicken. Quicken seems to point to the "Aggregater" and BofA points to Quicken. Nobody will take responsibility.