Elan Financial Services - CC-502 (QWin) [Edited]

Yes, every data file from QWin 2014 to present has a Cloud Account regardless of subscription status and whether or not one uses Quicken Mobile or Quicken on the Web. When using Quicken Mobile or Quicken on the Web this Cloud Account includes a lot of the financial data of the accounts that are set up in Quicken. Mobile Sync is what enables Quicken to be able to use Mobile/Web. But when Sync is turned off the Cloud Account is still used and needed by Quicken to confirm the status of the subscription, the edition and version of Quicken that we using and other rather benign non-transactions related data. Ever wonder how Quicken can know to message you regarding an issue or change regarding one of your FIs before you even run OSU? Thank the Cloud Account. Also, the Cloud Account is where our EWC logins information is saved because Intuit needs them in order to download data from the financial institutions at night when most of us are asleep.

In general, Sync should be turned off unless one uses Mobile and/or Web. If Sync is turned on when Mobile/Web are not set up and being used, then a lot of your financial data will be uploaded to the Cloud Account when it does not need to be. And it introduces just one more set of variables that can sometimes cause issues in Quicken.

Getting back to the signing in as a different user: Edit > Preferences > Quicken ID & Cloud Accounts > Sign in as a different user > Yes > Sign Out. When prompted, sign in, again, using your current Quicken ID and PW. Assuming the connection issue is intermittent or just a fluke, the connection will get reestablished. But if it is an intermittent problem it might take a few attempts to sign back in.

There 2 other ways to fix Cloud Account and connection issues that I know of but I do not use them very often because they are more "disruptive" than Sign in as a different user. In both processes Sync first needs to be turned on temporarily but can be turned back off once the process is completed.

The first method is to Reset your cloud data which will refresh the data in your Cloud Account and can reset the connection..

The second method is to Delete the Cloud Account which will delete the Cloud Account entirely and Quicken will then recreate it from scratch. Typically, all EWC and EWC+ account connections will need to be set up again after completing this process.

Deactivating/reactivating the Elan connection yesterday did not resolve the dropped cents in the Online Balance during OSU this morning.

But I found a solution that resolved the issue for me: In a test file I had previously set up this Fidelity Rewards CC with the new EWC+ connection method a couple of months ago. It has been working very well during OSU with reliable connections and accurate downloads….and the Online Balance includes the cents. So, in my main data file I changed my connection from EWC with Elan to EWC+ with Fidelity. The Online Balance is now correct and I was able to Reconcile to the Online Balance without issue.

Some comments/suggestions for those who wish to do the same:

1. Enter the Opening Balance transaction dollar amount into the Memo field of that transaction. (This is just a proactive step that can be helpful if/when setting up of the new connection changes the Opening Balance transaction dollar amount.)
2. Backup the data file.
3. Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Edit Account Details > Online Services tab > Deactivate > General tab > delete all Financial Institution Information (everything above the Contact Name field) > OK.
4. Add Account > type in and select Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts > Next. The EWC+ authorization process will start…follow the prompts.
   
5. After logging into your online Fidelity.com account during this EWC+ Authorization process you should be presented with a list of all accounts that you can set up with this EWC+ connection. Select all of the accounts that you want to be connected via EWC+. DO NOT select any accounts you want to retain with the DC connection method (i.e., any investment accounts that you already have set up with DC). In my case, I selected only the Fidelity Rewards CC account because I have all my investment accounts already set up with DC and want to make sure they stay with DC.
6. Agree to the terms and conditions and you should be logged out of Fidelity and returned to Quicken. (If you are not automatically returned to Quicken, you can manually switch back to Quicken.)
7. Quicken will prompt you what to do with the downloaded data. Make sure you Link it to the account you already have set up in Quicken.

In my case, the Online Balance was not changed, there were no duplicate transactions downloaded, there were no missing transactions and the account register balance was correct. I was then able to Reconcile to the Online Balance without any issue.

If anyone else tries doing this, please post your results here so others might know.

Thanks for posting this. You can see your Fidelity Rewards Visa account in your online Fidelity.com account so you can always compare what is shown there to what is shown in your online Elan account. As you mentioned, Fidelity pulls the data directly from Elan. I have been running both the Fidelity EWC+ and Elan EWC connection setups in parallel on a daily basis in a test file for the last 2 months or so and they are usually in sync with each other and when they are not it is the Elan connection, not the Fidelity connection, which has been the problem.

I had resisted making this connection change from Elan to Fidelity earlier because Elan had a long history of reliability and accuracy. But starting in Sep the Elan connection reliability decreased with several instances of connection issues since then. The last 5 months have been particularly discouraging so after 2 months of successful testing I decided it was time to make this change now. Keeping my fingers crossed that I made the right decision and that this new Fidelity EWC+ connection will not go down the same ugly connection reliability path as the now defunct EWC connection of the Fidelity Rewards Credit Card financial institution.

Fidelity Investments is the historical and traditional connection method which supports Direct Connect for investment accounts only. DC is the fastest and most reliable of the connection methods. Also, your financial and login data is saved only on your computer, not on the Quicken/Intuit servers.

Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts is a new connection method as of Dec 2023. It supports Express Web Connect+ only for both investment accounts and the credit card. EWC+ is much slower than DC and is perhaps a little less reliable. Also, your financial data is saved on both your computer and on the Quicken/Intuit servers and your login info is saved only on the Quicken/Intuit servers.

It is a personal choice as to whether or not to download everything via Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts or to continue downloading investments from Fidelity Investments and to start downloading only the credit card from Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts.

But my recommendation is to continue using Fidelity Investments for investment accounts for as long as this connection remains available (I had heard it is no longer available for QMac) and only use Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts for the credit card. My rationale is twofold: One is that the DC connection is far superior to EWC+ and, two, when I tried setting up my investment accounts with Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts in a test file the downloaded transactions were so jumble that I had a very difficult time making head-or-tails of them and ultimately gave up trying to reconcile the accounts. That was 2 months ago so maybe the situation has improved but at that time it appeared to me that Fidelity - Investments & Retirement Accounts is perhaps best suited for Simple Investing and not so much for Complete Investing.

Yes, the Elan Financial EWC connection still returns an Online Balance that does not include the cents.

Did you try deactivating your Elan EWC connection and then setting up a new EWC+ connection via Fidelity - Investments & Retirement? (See my step-by-step post above dated 3/22 for how to do this.) So far, everyone who has made this change has said that the dropped cents issue is resolved.

I am beginning to think that maybe the missing transactions from Fidelity this morning might not be a Fidelity download issue but rather an EWC+ download issue. After earlier posting that Fidelity did not download 2 newly posted transactions this morning (posted transactions that were visible in my online Fidelity and Elan accounts), I ran OSU in another file and 3 other EWC+ accounts from 3 other FIs also did not download new transactions.

It reminded me of a similar issue in Feb with EWC+ transactions from several different accounts/FIs not downloading at various times during the month. I ended up manually entering those missing transactions. Over the last 2 weeks those transactions that did not download in Feb have finally begun to download (not all at once, just 1-2 at a time) and automatically matched up with the manually entered transactions I entered last month. Now why would posted transactions be first downloading about 1 month after when they posted online?