Handling Schwab's Purchase of TD Ameritrade in Quicken

gfvalvo
gfvalvo Member ✭✭
Curious how people are going to handle the upcoming purchase of TD Ameritrade by Schwab in Quicken.

Will I be able to simply change the name and login credentials of my existing Quicken TD account over to Schwab and move on?

Or must I create a new Schwab account in Quicken, transfer all securities to it from the Quicken TD account? Then enable downloads on the Schwab account and disable them on the TD account?

Or some other method all together?

Answers

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    There is a FAQ for moving from one brokerage to another, but in the case of Ameritrade to Schwab a may be a bit more complicated as the download transaction method is different for Ameritrade than what Schwab is now using.

    Here is the FAQ:

    And here is a link to a prior discussion on the changeover:

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • gfvalvo
    gfvalvo Member ✭✭
    Thanks but .... the answer seems to be the same every time I ask this kind of question .... "IT DEPENDS". What a PITA!!! Wish there would be one, simple, step-by-step set of instructions to do it right. Not a bunch of different options.
  • gfvalvo
    gfvalvo Member ✭✭
    So is there any news on this? What are the step-by-step instructions for handling the transfer from TD Ameritrade to Schwab?
  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    According to Schwab the next movement of accounts from TDAmeritrade to Schwab will no occur until September, so we have some time yet. Perhaps Quicken will get their act together in the meantime and develop the step by step process. The change from Direct Connect to EWC+ will, I'm sure, present some surprises.

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2023

    @Tom Young my Ameritrade accounts are scheduled to move to Schwab over Memorial Day weekend.

    For the various folks wondering how to make the changeover, I would fools the reference FAQ.


    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • BillyDick
    BillyDick Member ✭✭
    > @mshiggins said:
    > @Tom Young my Ameritrade accounts are scheduled to move to Schwab over Memorial Day weekend.
    >
    >
    > For the various folks wondering how to make the changeover, I would fools the reference FAQ.

    @mshiggin: My accounts are currently in transition (May 26 @8:30 PM), and won't be available at Schwab until 5:00 AM Tuesday, the 30th.
    These are the instructions from a previous post:
    1. Using that SAME TD account in Quicken, change the name of the account AND the download credentials to Schwab.
    2. Download your Schwab transactions into the SAME Quicken account. ...
    3. Manually delete ALL the 'Add" and "Remove" accounts.

    What I don't understand, is after I change the name and go to the Online tab, what do I change there??
    There's a Deactivate button and Reset Account??
    A detailed instruction list from Quicken would be appreciated!
  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2023

    The Help file explains these buttons and their use:

    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
    • To deactivate an account for online services

    Click the Deactivate button to disconnect your account from online services. You can then make changes to Account Details such as the routing number or the Customer ID

    • To reset or repair the connectivity of an online account

    Click the Reset Account button. Quicken will automatically deactivate and reactivate the account to fix any errors. Your data remains intact and you can access the account at any time.

    What is the difference between deactivating an account and resetting an account?

    Deactivate fully disables your connection with the financial institution, stopping all deactivated accounts from communicating with your financial institution or downloading transactions. You should avoid doing this unless it is recommended as part of error-specific troubleshooting.

    Reset is like a “soft deactivate”. It resets the connection without making you re-enter your login credentials or go through Deactivate/Reactivate. You will still need to enter your password to reset your account if it is a Direct Connect account and the password is not stored in the vault. You should usually try this before using Deactivate.

    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-In the context of this discussion you will need to DEACTIVATE the Account in order to change the financial institution information from TD Amearitrade to Schwab.

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @mshiggins

    "my Ameritrade accounts are scheduled to move to Schwab over Memorial Day weekend. "

    I guess I misunderstood the Schwab rep I spoke to about this. I came away with the impression that the first "test" transition event had already happened in May with the main transitions scheduled for September, but it looks like I was wrong about that and that you've been selected as one of the early Pioneers.

    You can always tell who the pioneers are because they have arrows in their back and are lying face down in the dirt.”

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    My Ameritrade account is transferring this weekend as well. But since I’m using QW2017 which no longer has transaction downloading, I don’t have to do any updates to the online services. I’ll check the holdings on the Schwab site once the transfer is complete and if all looks well, just enter a reminder transaction denoting the change of brokerage.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • GermanBlueRam
    GermanBlueRam Member ✭✭✭✭

    I have a TD Ameritrade account moving this weekend, too. I have existing Schwab accounts and one thing that I wanted to mention for any new Schwab users - it will be necessary to authorize data access when setting up/reactivating an account in Quicken. I changed my existing setting so that Schwab will "automatically link new Schwab accounts in future," and so hopefully this won't be one more issue for me to deal with next week.

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @GermanBlueRam thanks for the tip. Even though I no longer download transactions to Quicken, I do have an aggregation site I use with my financial planner. So I will have to update my Schwab settings to allow that connection.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • GermanBlueRam
    GermanBlueRam Member ✭✭✭✭

    So on Monday morning, May 30, I tried the "keeping the same account" approach per the FAQ. It didn't work quite as I had hoped, but I'm up and running again. I had already deactivated the TD Ameritrade account over the weekend of the transition. On Monday morning, I tried to reactivate the account with Schwab and was directed first to schwab.com to allow access Quicken. After that, Quicken asked me whether I wanted to add a new account, or link it to a an existing one. Unfortunately none of the "existing ones" was the TD Ameritrade Quicken account. So I added a new account in Quicken.

    In the new Quicken account, I deleted everything that had downloaded on Monday, along with placeholder transactions created during the setup process. I then went to the "Enter Transaction" dialog in Quicken and transferred the cash balance and "all securities" to the new Quicken account.

    Everything reconciles to the online balances now, but it took a little more effort than I had expected. I noted this afterwards from the FAQ and I wonder if I should have somehow "changed the financial institution information" first instead of merely deactivating the TD Ameritrade account:

    • Keeping the same account.

    This basic approach becomes deactivating the online service for the existing account, changing the financial institution information, and the activating the account for the new financial institution (FI). 

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @GermanBlueRam

    "I wonder if I should have somehow "changed the financial institution information" first instead of merely deactivating the TD Ameritrade
    account"

    YES. It's only after deactivating an Account from downloading that the Financial Institution and Account Number fields open up for you to change them.

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @GermanBlueRam I am not finding where that 3rd party access page is when I log into my Schwab account. Can you point me to its location?

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2023

    @mshiggins

    On the Schwab site Profile > Security Settings > scroll down to "Third-Party Access to Account Information" to see what's enabled:

    But i don't think the actual "authorization" page itself is necessarily available to you by simply logging into Schwab's site, that page comes up as part of the process of linking a third party into Schwab.

    ADDED: It turns out that I was wrong. Do Profile > Account Access > Give Account Access to start the process, apparently.

  • gfvalvo
    gfvalvo Member ✭✭
    edited May 2023
    > @Snowman said:
    > @gfvalvo I just did this this morning. These steps assume that you have already opened an account with Schwab.
    > .
    > .
    >Hope this helps.
    Thanks @Snowman. I'll work on it tonight. Although, I'm still mulling over the idea of making a new Quicken account for Schwab, setting it up for Schwab downloads, and then deleting all the newly downloaded transactions. Then ... simply transfer everything from TD Quicken account to Schwab Quicken account.

    I really don't see any downside to doing it this way.
  • BillyDick
    BillyDick Member ✭✭
    Quite by chance, I discovered that Schwab had completed the transition for my 2 accounts, at about 8:30 PM yesterday evening (5/29/2023).
    After a lengthy charade of attempting to discover why the Nickname of one of the accounts was showing up as another non-Schwab account, after the One Step Update, I deleted all of the redundant Blue Dot transactions until the Quicken and the Online Schwab balances agreed!
    The charade was caused by an invalid character in my Account Name: Charles Schwab Designated Bene Indiv-POD.
    Once I removed the Dash in -POD, everything worked!
    Other than that, the transition was flawless.
  • GermanBlueRam
    GermanBlueRam Member ✭✭✭✭

    I think that not deleting the account number in step 4 likely caused step 8 to not work the way that I wanted (Quicken did not offer to link to the existing account, only to Coinbase and some other accounts that have never been electronically enabled). Glad I'm done, nonetheless. Transferring the shares and cash to the new account was easy, and the cost bases moved over fine. 👍️

  • nathan.hunstad
    nathan.hunstad Member ✭✭
    I'm also having a problem with linking to the existing account for one of my 3 TD/Schwab accounts. The other 2 I was able to link to the existing accounts in Quicken just fine, but my Roth IRA won't work: the list of accounts when I try to link includes just about every other 401k/IRA account I have in Quicken EXCEPT for my Roth IRA. Curious.
  • TomInAiken
    TomInAiken Member

    I followed @Snowman's steps and converted over my two TDA accounts without any major issues. I did have several Schwab transactions that were shown as "Match", which I simply accepted. Others were "New" and for those I manually scanned the account register and found existing TDA matches for every one of them. So, I just deleted those duplicate Schwab transactions. Thank you, Snowman, for the excellent help.

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