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Important Bank of America clarification

dz709

Quicken sent around an email today announcing that Bank of America was going to discontinue its direct connect functionality in quicken. I just spoke to a BofA rep who said that existing Bank of America Quicken users would not be affected - they will be grandfathered in. The Cut off will only apply to New users.

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MariFen

I understand about having to go to BoA website to enter payment requests. I cannot confirm however that I will still be able to download cleared transactions using the "update" button within Quicken. I called BoA today and asked. The first person had not heard about the change, and connected me with a supervisor. Supervisor said she "thought" that I would NOT be able to download/sync in the future either. I asked if she would connect me with someone who "knew," rather than "thought," and she said, "No." She said I would know after the transition when I tried. Hmm.. Does anyone KNOW if the downloading and syncing will still be available following the switch? Thanks.

Gopher651

My preliminary experience is also painless. I had gotten the notice prior and skipped the first time. The notice didn't return immediately, it took a couple days. Before converting I made a backup everyday after an quick update so I would at least have a backup at the time of conversion. Thankfully I didn't need it. I had already set up billpay alerts at BOA so bills due show up at BOA since that's where they get paid now. I also get emails for those bills since all my bills are paperless. I also suggest review the link to carefully.

Gopher651

MariFen, At the time I switched I didn't have too many pending transactions. I had a pending payment to a utility that was made on the BOA website before the switch. When I updated quicken, the payment was entered uncleared. I renamed and created a rule. After switching, the transaction cleared fine. I also had a payment to American Express made at BOA before the switch. Again renaming rule and used a transfer category to add to my AX account in Quicken. After switch, update cleared in both the BOA and AX accounts. In AX account Quicken a download was matched to a manual entry. So far so good for me. Fingers crossed.

Jon

MariFen said:

Does anyone KNOW if the downloading and syncing will still be available following the switch? Thanks.

Of course you'll still be able to download transactions after they've cleared. That's how all my accounts have been working for the last 2 decades, both Direct Connect & Quicken Connect. Without that, there'd be no point to having an online connection at all.

mgrilz

> @dz709 said:
> Quicken sent around an email today announcing that Bank of America was going to discontinue its direct connect functionality in quicken. I just spoke to a BofA rep who said that existing Bank of America Quicken users would not be affected - they will be grandfathered in. The Cut off will only apply to New users.

I also contacted BOA Quicken SUpport and was told that existing customers would be grandfathered and still able to use Direct Connect. I also reviewed the BOA Quicken Support website and in that article the language used to describe the changes to Direct Connect was that "new users would not be able to use Direct Connect" so their message was consistent.
I found all of this after I was midway into a change of banks and found that after many conversations and finally being able to make the connection via Direct Connect, even then it was not functioning correctly. According to the new bank they had another vendor in the mix for their connection protocols and that they would have to speak with them. t was at this point, I know should have done this first, I read the BOA website info and then spoke to a rep. I burned nearly a week trying to switch banks only to find I accomplished zip. Also, Chase is making the same change that BOA is. Not sure how they handle existing customers.

hurwi

Quicken should stop showing the pop up asking people to change their BofA account to if current users are grandfather In.

Jon

BoA cutoff Direct Connect access for new users years ago, that's old info. I don't think there's any grandfathering in this time.

Chris_QPW

Jon said:

BoA cutoff Direct Connect access for new users years ago, that's old info. I don't think there's any grandfathering in this time.

I saw a post by a Bank of America customer that asked that very question and the answer was no, they aren't going grandfather Direct Connect users in, Direct Connect is going away.

mcm746

I got an email from Quickbooks about the new webconnect that was supposed to be "better". However, I won't be able to pay bills in QB. Now I will have to go to another provider, Mellio, which will charge $1.50 for every bill that has to ne mailed (vs electronic). When I called Bank of America they had nop clue that this was happening. I'm so disgusted with the whole thing. Quickbooks has drastically increase the cost of its product and now it's not even useful. There HAS to be a better set of products.

Jon

@mcm746 This is the forum for Quicken, not Quickbooks; they're not even owned by the same company anymore.

bwentzel13

Last week I changed my BofA checking account to use Quicken Bill Manager as instructed and my understanding is from this point forward whenever I create "check" payments on my BofA account in Quicken that the instructions will be sent to a third party and they will either transfer the funds to the payee electronically or send them a check.

Prior to this morning I've only downloaded transactions from our BofA account and this morning was the first opportunity I had to create a payment. After reconciling one of our credit card accounts I was presented with the dialog in the photo. Since I want to use the Quicken Bill Manager function of sending the payment instruction to the third party, I assume the option I want to use is QuickPay or CheckPay. However, there is nothing in the dropdown list. What step(s) have I missed and/or what do I do now?

Make Credit Card Payment Dialog.jpg

UKR

bwentzel13 said:

Last week I changed my BofA checking account to use Quicken Bill Manager as instructed and my understanding is from this point forward whenever I create "check" payments on my BofA account in Quicken that the instructions will be sent to a third party and they will either transfer the funds to the payee electronically or send them a check.

Prior to this morning I've only downloaded transactions from our BofA account and this morning was the first opportunity I had to create a payment. After reconciling one of our credit card accounts I was presented with the dialog in the photo. Since I want to use the Quicken Bill Manager function of sending the payment instruction to the third party, I assume the option I want to use is QuickPay or CheckPay. However, there is nothing in the dropdown list. What step(s) have I missed and/or what do I do now?

Have you enabled your BofA Checking account for Online Bill Pay? That needs to be done before you can use either Quick Pay or Check Pay.

In the Bills, Income & Transfers view click the gear icon and select "Payment Accounts", enable the account and fill out the "Edit Payment Account" dialog for use with Check Pay.

To make credit card payments reliably and on time every time I recommend you use the credit card's website to set up Autopay (or Direct Debit, APS, or similar named automatic process) for this and all future months' payments. The credit card company will do all the work for you and debit your checking account on due date.

bwentzel13

> @UKR said:
> Have you enabled your BofA Checking account for Online Bill Pay? That needs to be done before you can use either Quick Pay or Check Pay.In the Bills, Income & Transfers view click the gear icon and select "Payment Accounts", enable the account and fill out the "Edit Payment Account" dialog for use with Check Pay.To make credit card payments reliably and on time every time I recommend you use the credit card's website to set up Autopay (or Direct Debit, APS, or similar named automatic process) for this and all future months' payments. The credit card company will do all the work for you and debit your checking account on due date.

Thanks for asking and trying to help. Yes, BofA is set up for Quicken Bill Manager. Do I need to recreate the Online Payees like Capital One (the card I reconciled this morning)?

I'd rather not setup the credit card accounts for automatic payment like you're suggesting simply because I like to have the knowledge and control I gain from reconciliation before making the payments. However, if I can't find a better solution I may do as I did this morning and that is going to the credit card site and initiating the online payment from there. It's a few more steps and not as efficient of my time as the Bill Payment method with Direct Connect but in the scheme of things it's a minor inconvenience.

Payment Accounts for Quicken Bill Manager.jpg

DowntownHoward

Quicken's Bill Payment Manager is a poor substitute for the Bank of America Bill pay.

DowntownHoward

> @Eli Sherer said:
> I have a bit of news that may help those concerned about having to do double entries to track future payments!
>
> I like many of you make multiple payments from my BofA account each month. Entering them for future dates in Quicken and having Bank Bill Pay is the way I have done things for years (decades actually). So when Quicken could not really answer my questions about how I should continue, (except to say that I should pay more for the privilege of having them make the payments for me), I called BofA and spoke first to someone in the "Payment Center" area, then to someone else in Online Support. I learned a bit from both, and hopefully, this will stay true as we close in on October 10th.
>
> 1. If you schedule a payment in Bank Of America Bill Pay (on their website or in the app, the next time you synchronize your account in Quicken the SCHEDULED payments SHOULD appear and download into Quicken! I proved this by scheduling a payment two weeks out and then sync'd my account in Quicken. When the download was complete, the scheduled payment showed up in the register set for that future date! I deleted the payment online (BankOfA site), and the scheduled payment updated in Quicken as **Void**!
>
> 2. Of course this does not solve having to go to the BandkOfA site to set up your payments... but if you haven't been to their Bill Pay tab online in a while, you will notice when you get there that ALL of the payees you have set up in Quicken are already there. In fact, when I tried to delete one of the older ones (a vendor I have not used in 5-7 years), I was not able to do it because it was "managed by a 3rd party" (meaning Quicken). So for this... there is a question of whether all these payees will still be there after October 10th, and how we will be able to manage them. But we can burn that bridge when we get to it.
>
> 3. As to the rumor that current Bank Bill Pay users will be grandfathered in (allowed to continue making payments through Quicken directly), the answer is unclear. The Online Services rep searched his notices and could not find anything to confirm or deny that we may be grandfathered in (nor could he speak to how this might happen, since the Handshake required for Direct Connect is the method by which the payment information is transferred).
>
> Meanwhile, the Bank Of America website says:
> " Please note: Quicken DirectConnect is no longer supported for new users. You can easily download information from Online Banking to Quicken using Web Connect."
>
> The site then goes on with instructions on how to DOWNLOAD a file and then import it into Quicken...
>
> But farther down the same page, there is this note:
> "Web Connect allows you to automatically download your transactions from Online Banking, launch your Quicken software, and reconcile your transactions all in one easy step. With Web Connect, there is no more searching for downloads and importing Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) files, and no more duplicate transactions due to multiple QIF downloads." So it's not really clear.

Thanks, but when I switched the connection method, my bill payments stopped downloading, and it is no longer possible to see future dated bill payments in Quicken's registers. The only workaround at this time is to go back 20 years and do double entries, first through the Bank website and then in the Quicken register. Quicken's Bill Pay is a joke, so far none of the bills I've set up will let me enter future dated bill payments. And many bill payers available through my bank are not available in Quicken.

If Quicken does not at least come up with a solution to enable the download of pending bill payments, this blunder is going to be a death sentence for this product.

Chris_QPW

DowntownHoward said:

If Quicken does not at least come up with a solution to enable the download of pending bill payments, this blunder is going to be a death sentence for this product.

Quicken Inc can't come up with any kind of solution unless the financial institutions choose to allow it, and I think by their actions they have pretty much spelled out what they are willing to support.

As for this situation killing of Quicken, maybe, but I seriously doubt it, at least not on its own.

The fact is that the financial institutions that provide bill pay through Direct Connect is very small. What you consider a death blow to Quicken most users been doing all along in on form or another.

Gopher651

Couldn't one set up a memorized payee and enter a transaction for the future payment after making the payment at BoA? You previously entered a payment, this time a transaction. One extra step paying at the bank. I would think Quicken would match the transaction. When I used Quicken for bank bill pay to pay a credit card payment (also in Quicken), I used the transfer category to copy it in the credit card register. Never had a problem clearing the "manual" credit card entry.

Chris_QPW

Gopher651 said:

Couldn't one set up a memorized payee and enter a transaction for the future payment after making the payment at BoA? You previously entered a payment, this time a transaction. One extra step paying at the bank. I would think Quicken would match the transaction. When I used Quicken for bank bill pay to pay a credit card payment (also in Quicken), I used the transfer category to copy it in the credit card register. Never had a problem clearing the "manual" credit card entry.

This process is exactly what people are talking about for "double entry", and complaining about it.

One can use reminders for transactions that repeat, and manual entry/memorized payees for ones that aren't on a schedule, and yes Quicken will match them to the downloaded transaction provided the amounts are exactly the same.

People that have had bill pay through Direct Connect/their financial institution could schedule payments straight from Quicken as a transaction, and Quicken would sync that will the financial institution's bill payment system.

Like I said, the majority of Quicken user have already been doing this "double entry" all along.

Gopher651

I'm old. I misunderstood "double entry". I've used direct connect bill pay for years. I assumed there were 2 entries in the register. They mean entering a transaction twice? Using transfer I never had 2 entries. For me, while not quite as easy, not a show stopper. I get the results I want.

Chris_QPW

Gopher651 said:

I'm old. I misunderstood "double entry". I've used direct connect bill pay for years. I assumed there were 2 entries in the register. They mean entering a transaction twice? Using transfer I never had 2 entries. For me, while not quite as easy, not a show stopper. I get the results I want.

The "double entry" isn't in Quicken, it is one entry on the financial institution's website to schedule the payment, and another entry in Quicken to enter that payment in Quicken.

When Bank Bill Pay through Direct Connect is used you can enter a transaction in Quicken setting the "check number" to "online payment" and it will sync that payment with the financial institution's bill pay system. One entry in Quicken without having to go to the financial institution's website.

EDIT:

And I should mention it works in reverse too.
If you have Bank Bill Pay through Direct Connect and schedule a payment by going to the financial institution's website and and entering it into their bill payment system, that payment transaction will be synced back to Quicken (creating a new transaction) when you do a One Step Update.

mgrilz

> @bwentzel13 said:
> @chrisfra2009, you and I are in the exact same position with exactly the same frustration. The only this I might question is whether Quicken is abandoning Direct Connect or if the financial institution (e.g., BofA) are moving away from it. It sounds to me to be the later.
>
> Since I am not aware that I have ever used Quicken Bill Manager (QBM) I'm going to explain how I interact with BofA through Quicken and I hope others familiar with QBM can explain how I will need to change my processes:
>
> - I have created Online Payees for everyone I pay. This includes credit card companies, auto finance companies, lawn care company, etc. and like @chrisfra2009 I don't know, and frankly not sure I care, what form the payment takes.
> - The first thing I do when starting a Quicken session is do a One Step Update which downloads all the latest transactions into my various accounts including BofA.
> - Whenever I need to send a one-off payment (e.g., lawn service) I use Quicken's Write Checks function. I realize some of these result in sending a check, but some may also be fulfilled electronically. Again, I'm not sure I care.
> - Every month I reconcile my credit card accounts and when I finish the reconciliation, I'm presented with a dialog box that gives me an opportunity to choose how to pay. I believe the selection is Online which takes me to the Write Checks function.
> - With loans, like a car loan, I create the loan in Quicken, establish the automatic payments, and then Quicken and/or BofA take it from there. Every month the payments are made, and I generally don't get involved again until the loan is paid.
>
> BofA's use of DC is about to end and while I may not like it, I need to move on. I can do so by moving to another bank like CapitalOne but others have cautioned that their use of DC may also be coming to an end sometime soon. Or I can try to use QBM with BofA and my question to this group is how will my processes and experience change?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.

wpbpatfl

I made the change and my Quicken account is all messed up. I've got duplicate transactions that came in, and it is still happening. I don't know how to fix it.

willybear

I've been using Quicken since Quicken for DOS, and BoA online banking since 2004. The bill pay thing is kind of a big deal to me because, a) I pay almost all of my bills using BoA bill pay, b) I'm not going to pay for the privilege of having Quicken write a check for me, and I have steadfastly avoided giving anyone but my wife permission to draw on my bank accounts. I bit and switched, and the first thing I saw was that a scheduled recurring payment did not download. I switched back, and will continue with DC until it's really turned off. BoA website still says "discontinued for new users". As of 10/03 DC still works here. Per Quicken it was to be discontinued on 08/10. My personal opinion is that Quicken has been disingenuous about what's really happened. Now if I could just get rid of the nag every time I do my updates.

Rocket J Squirrel

@willybear The date I heard was 10/10.

Tim12

The widespread confusion on this forum confirms my impression that Quicken has done a terrible job of getting its customers through this change. It seems that the transition was used as an opportunity to sell product, rather than help long-time Quicken users to continue doing business with their banks.

The generic emails I got in August and September from Quicken warning of the change neglected to tell me that I already have Quicken Bill Manager as part of my Quicken Deluxe subscription. Only the phone support person pointed it out to me. It was only by having him guiding me through the steps to deactivate Bill Pay and activate Quicken Bill Manager that I was able to (tentatively) keep using Quicken for online bill paying. We'll see once I get through the microdeposit verification process in the next couple of days.

My advice for folks still in the dark is to call Quicken Support at (650) 250-1900. I had to look around for this number, too. Wait time on Tuesday afternoon was about a half hour. The support guy said they're getting a lot of calls about this. Ya think? Good luck to you all.

MaryEason

Good to know... I converted today, all 8 of my BofA accounts, but before doing so I set up one year's worth of payments for those that I know will continue. Then I went to BofA's Bill Pay and made sure they all showed up there, and they did. I am still a bit baffled by the Quicken Bill Pay/Bill Manager conundrum so I assumed by September of 2023 either Quicken will have become enlightened and introduced a way to pay bills from within the software, or I will have figured it out myself, or I will have found a new software to use. I guess I should call Quicken Support as you did and try to get a better explanation of the Bill Manager. I consider myself a fairly astute Quicken user (over 20 years) and not an idiot in most cases, but this conversion transition was not clearly explained at all, causing more questions than answers (and internal angst, at least for me). Thanks for the encouraging explanation and the support phone number. I'm on it tomorrow!

denmarfl

I called Quicken Support just now. My Question was, has BofA turned off DirectConnect as of 10/10/22. The phone agent said yes. I informed him I had just used Q and connected my BofA accts...that I have Not ReAuthorized to EWC+....and connected to BofA using my BofA accts still showing DirectConnect..and got COMPLETED. So I asked, did BofA Turn Off DirectConnect? The answer I got, you need to call BofA...here it goes...again. Too large companies pointing the figer at each oter...because a call BofA was, you'll need to call Quicken. So communications at Q and BofA to agents who answer calls about this chnage as usual have been...terrible. No one at the levels I spoke with had the Answer. It is so simple...did BofA Turn off DirectConnect or NOT?

Jon

If it's still working for you then obviously they haven't turned it off yet. Why waste everyone's time asking a question you already know the answer to?

Neither Quicken nor BoA has said anything to indicate there's been a change of plans, so you can expect DC to stop working at some point. If the suspense is bothering you that much just switch over now & be done with it.

denmarfl

I was merely attempting thru this Community to find out if anyone had better information than I had. I do thank you for your time in entering a response, and had no intentions of wasting anyone's time....

Richard Oedel

As of 10/11/22 my direct connect is broken. Whether officially or not really doesnt matter. Looking for another software product other than Q.