Still getting Venmo 2FA requests for one account but not for a separate Venmo account

Brian Biggs · January 5

I'm resurrecting an old topic because after over a year, I'm still having issues with downloading from Venmo, but only for one account. Below are links to a couple of previous discussions on the topic.

For review, I have two Venmo accounts in Quicken. One account, which I've had setup for years, updates with no problems. The other one, which I setup maybe a couple of years ago, prompts me EVERY TIME for a 2FA code that gets sent to the phone. I can't get around this. Both are set up for Express Web Connect. I would really like someone technical at either Quicken or Venmo to tell me why this is happening, and it would be even better if there was a fix or workaround that didn't involve me having to get the 2FA code every time. If it can ignore 2FA for one account, I would think it should be able to do it for the other one.

Venmo support says it's Quicken's problem and to contact them. Comments in this forum (particularly in the second discussion thread below) indicate it's Venmo's problem and to contact them. Can't win.

I have logged out of my Quicken account and back in and the problem is still there. I have used Quicken with this same data file on multiple computers and have the same problem.

I also did the Report a problem in Quicken itself, but I have my doubts about how useful that is. And I will get no feedback on the issue either.

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Venmo account requires that I enter a security code every time I connect

This is my original post from June 2023. I never replied (😕sorry) before the discussion was closed, but I did log out and back in as my Quicken account and the problem was not resolved.

Venmo Suddenly Requires 2FA Every Time

Quicken Kristina · January 5

Hello @Brian Biggs,

I'm sorry to hear you're still encountering this issue. To clarify, are you able to download into Quicken, but have to complete the multi-factor authentication every time? Are you getting any errors or having issues with nothing downloading?

I look forward to your reply!

Brian Biggs · January 5

No errors, no issues downloading transactions. For one account I have to complete the MFA every time. For the other account, I never get prompted for MFA. Transactions for both accounts always download without issue.

Quicken Kristina · January 6

Thank you for your reply,

The requirement for multi-factor authentication comes from the financial institution side. It is strange that Venmo would require it for one but not the other account. Do the accounts each have their own separate login credentials, or do they share the same credentials? If they're separate, then have you checked the security settings on the financial institution's website for the problem account? Is there any sort of "remember me" option in the account security settings, and if there is, do you have that setting active for both accounts? Do you log into both accounts using the same browser, or do you use a different browser for each account?

Thank you!

Brian Biggs · January 6

@Quicken Kristina,

Answers to your questions:

Separate login credentials for each account.
The "remember me" functionality works at the browser level.
I can log into both accounts from the same browser or different browsers. I am able to remember the account and avoid the MFA prompt for subsequent logins for BOTH accounts.

The issue is that Quicken doesn't have a way to "remember" the login. So I get prompted each time for that second account. I NEVER get prompted for the first account, and I don't know why.

Will any of the Quicken log files shed any light on the situation?

Thanks,
Brian

Quicken Kristina · January 7

Thank you for your reply,

While it is possible to see the multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompts in some of the Quicken log files, it doesn't show what triggered them, just that they happened. It is ultimately the financial institution that determines when/if MFA is required.

If you haven't already done so, please backup your Quicken file, deactivate the problem account, then go to Tools>Add Account, follow the prompts, and carefully re-link the account to the existing nickname in Quicken.

Once the account is re-linked, test to see if the issue persists.

Please let me know how it goes!

Brian Biggs · January 9

Yes, this has been done multiple times. I did it again last night and tonight. Same result. Still getting prompted for the MFA code.

Quicken Kristina · January 10

Thank you for your reply,

To check for a file-specific issue, please backup your Quicken file, deactivate the problem account, go to Tools>Add Account, follow the prompts, and add the account as a new account instead of linking to the existing account.

Once you've added the account as a new account, test to see if you're still receiving MFA prompts every time you update the account.

I hope this helps!

Brian Biggs · January 11

@Quicken Kristina,

I deactivated the Venmo account that was always prompting for MFA. I added a new account with the Venmo bank using that account's credentials. I was prompted for MFA once, and then immediately Quicken prompted me for MFA a second time, before the account creation in Quicken was complete.

Transactions were downloaded as expected. I performed an update immediately afterwards and was NOT prompted for MFA. However, this morning, I tried to update the account and was again prompted for MFA. So the problem is still occurring.

Next steps?

Thanks,
Brian

Quicken Kristina · January 11

Thank you for your reply,

Since the issue is persisting, even when added as a new account, this is unlikely to be a file-specific issue. Ultimately, it is the financial institution that decides what security is required and when.

Your initial post implies that you've already spoken with Venmo's support about this. Do you recall when you spoke with them and what happened on the call? Did they have you do any troubleshooting?

Thank you!

Brian Biggs · January 11

Venmo was not helpful. My only contact with them was via email. Their reply to my initial inquiry was as follows:

I'm afraid Venmo does not have any partnership with a third party accounting platform. We can't troubleshoot any issues you're having with your Quicken. You will need to reach out to Quicken directly.

As I continue to go back and forth with both Quicken and Venmo on this, I will need additional information to take back to Venmo.

Is there information I can take from any Quicken logs to show the information that is being received from Venmo? I asked this before, but you didn't provide information about which log would contain the information. Which log has that info, and what am I looking for?

Does Quicken have any "partnership" with Venmo regarding transaction downloading? Venmo appears in the list of financial institutions when you create a new account in Quicken or setup Online Banking. Is Quicken just adding Venmo to that list, or is there some "support agreement" that is in place with Venmo? I find it hard to believe that Venmo can say they just can't do any troubleshooting.

Thanks,
Brian

Quicken Kristina · January 12

Thank you for your reply,

To answer your question about whether or not Quicken partners with Venmo, Quicken partners with many financial institutions, including Venmo, to be able to connect and download transaction information. That said, most front line financial institution customer service/tech support are not knowledgable about 3rd party integration. Typically, you'd need to speak to a supervisor or higher level of tech support to reach someone knowledgable.

I think it would be better to avoid ping ponging between Venmo and Quicken if possible. I forwarded this issue to the proper channels for further investigation and resolution. The problem report you sent on 5 Jan 2025 included only a screenshot; we will need the log files also. For us to further investigate this issue, please go to Help>Report a Problem and send a problem report with the log files attached.

While you will not receive a response through this submission, these reports will help our teams in further investigating the issue.

If the issue can't be resolved on our end, then our teams should at least be able to provide the information you'll need to give Venmo for a resolution on their end.

We apologize for any inconvenience!

Thank you.

(CTP-12003)

Brian Biggs · January 12

I submitted a new report with relevant log files attached. Will you update this discussion when you hear back from the internal Quicken team?

Quicken Kristina · January 13

Thank you for your reply,

When I hear back from the team, I'll either post to this thread or send a DM.

Thank you!

Austin@ · January 13

@Quicken Kristina I am having the same issue as @Brian Biggs (I have to go through Venmo MFA verification every single time I update my accounts). Would it be helpful if I submitted log files as well?

Quicken Kristina · January 14

Hello @Austin@,

Thank you for letting me know you're encountering this also! Yes, if you're experiencing the same issue, please send logs so I can add you to the ticket.

Thank you!

Brian Biggs · January 20

Any update on this issue, @Quicken Kristina? Any estimate on when there might be an update? Will this discussion be auto-closed after a certain number of days, whether there is feedback received or not?

Austin@ · January 20

@Quicken Kristina Sorry for the delay in getting my log files sent over. I just submitted them this morning. Thanks!

Quicken Kristina · January 21

Thank you for your replies,

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20472321#Comment_20472321

Unfortunately, our teams do not provide us with an ETA. This discussion will be closed after approximately 30 days of inactivity. It is possible to prevent the thread from closing by keeping it active (by posting at least once before enough time has passed for it to be closed). If the discussion is closed, I'll still be able to reach out to you via DM if the team working on the issue needs more information or believes the issue has been resolved. You would also be able to create a new discussion if you had additional questions or needed to check on the status of the issue.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20472322#Comment_20472322

Thank you for sending logs! I attached them to the ticket to assist with investigating the issue.

Thank you!

(CTP-12003)

Scott Alcaide · January 29

This worked for me: Login to Venmo on the Web Browser. Profile, Settings, Security. Remove the entry for Intuit.
I had to go through the 2FA one more time in Quicken, but the next download didn't require 2FA.

JKLines70 · January 30

I've been having ongoing dialog with Venmo team on this very issue and they seem to want to ignore the whole issue. I would guess Quicken has development guides for financial institutions that lists alternative methods of providing interface as well as benefits/tradeoffs of each. If not, they should and it could explain the reluctance to work with Quicken. The fact the issue always seems to be stuck in requiring 2FA authentication is because the two companies are not working together. It definitely isn't clear where the root problem is.

With that said, I did look at solution Scott Alcaide recommended. When I logged into Venmo account, I did not see an entry for Intuit to delete … but I did see two Mac devices where I only log into Venmo with one … so deleted the older of the two. I then initiated a Quicken Sync where I did not tell it to skip the 2FA and provided the security code texted to me on my iPhone. I waited a couple hours and tried again and all accounts synced without the 2FA prompt.

In addition, I then went back to my browser and logged into Venmo there. Previously, I had been getting the 2FA prompt every time, but it didn't happen. When I logged back into Venmo and went to Settings→Security I was expecting I would see Quicken or Intuit as a device since that is what Scott had … but it appears there may have been a change where it is identifying the hardware devices only … not application. So it would appear the solution is to log into Venmo with a web browser, go to Settings→Security and then clicking on Forget for any older devices shown as well as Intuit if it appears.

Quicken Kristina · January 31

Thank you for joining the discussion @Scott Alcaide & @JKLines70,

Thank you for sharing the solutions you found! Hopefully this will help others encountering the same issue!

Thank you!

Scott Alcaide · January 31

Sadly, after waiting a day, 2FA is back on Quicken for Venmo downloads. I also noticed that the Intuit entry did not reappear in the list of devices. 😕

Quicken Kristina · January 31

Thank you for the follow-up @Scott Alcaide,

Thank you for letting us know the steps you described above only temporarily resolved the issue.

To help contribute to the investigation, in your Quicken program, please go to Help>Report a Problem and send a problem report with log files attached.

Thank you!

(CTP-12003)

JKLines70 · February 1

Ok, same here … after a day or so, issue was back … but I believe I know the cause. What typically always accompanies the 2FA prompt is an email from Venmo saying login attempt with new device. My issue I believe has to do with Apple wanting to mask or rotate the MAC address. In my case, I have specified Fixed on the wireless; however, when my laptop is docked there is also an ethernet connection which has a different MAC address. During a web login, I'm not sure which MAC address Apple will use to identify the device. What I am going to try doing is disconnect ethernet connection and again respond to 2FA prompt to allow connection to Venmo by Quicken. Then I will try again later … but either way, this issue has to do with Venmo thinking you are trying to log in with a different device. Now what I find frustrating is that Quicken has methods that apparently avoids this issue because this is the only account I have an issue with. It would be nice if the folks at Quicken would approach the Venmo team with the complaint it is receiving and make them aware of a solution that will meet the security needs of Venmo. But it seems the companies simply want to point the finger back and forth. If Quicken were to do that and Venmo refused to cooperate, at least they would be able to respond with "We are aware of the issue. Venmo uses a method of authentication that requires 2FA whenever it thinks a new device is logging in to their service. We understand the security need and have offered to work with them on a secure method." And then provide a factual status of that interaction. If Venmo refuses, at least we can go to them with what specifically needs to be done. I do not believe this is a Quicken technical issue. I have had the same issue with my FING device as well regarding the rotating MAC address. To make it worse, it seems like whenever there is a major Apple OS upgrade, I have to go in and again tell it to use fixed address. I understand the reason for rotating the MAC address for the connection for security … but perhaps they needed to change the standard as well so that it supports a MAC address for the connection that can rotate and one for the device itself that does not.

JKLines70 · February 1

Additional puzzle … I have gone back to look at devices on Venmo after again going through the authentication and it is still only showing one iPhone and one Mac. At first when I looked at devices on Venmo there were two Mac's and I deleted the older one. I was expecting Venmo to add an additional Mac device … but it didn't. So Venmo is using more than the MAC Address. It could be they are also using the model number and if new device authenticates they simply update the MAC address for the device. So possibly the way to approach Venmo is to test with web browser and if logging in day or so later results in new device email, that is the problem. I'm going to go back to Venmo with that since I got the new device email.

Austin@ · February 1

@JKLines70 Venmo uses Express Web Connect as the connection method for Quicken, which from what I understand means that (from Venmo's perspective) the authentication attempts look like they are coming from Quicken's aggregation servers rather than your personal devices, so it won't "remember" your devices except when you are signing directly into the Venmo app or website, not connecting or updating accounts in Quicken. Unfortunately, Venmo doesn't "remember" the server Quicken is connecting from and treats it like a new device after about an hour from the previous update. You can read more about Express Web Connect (or Quicken Connect on Mac) here:

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank/

I really wish Venmo would transition to using the newer Express Web Connect+ method like its parent company PayPal, which would eliminate this problem since you would authenticate with Venmo directly rather than Quicken's aggregation servers doing it on your behalf. Hopefully Quicken and Venmo can figure out a way to not have Venmo treat Quicken's aggregation servers like a new device every time Quicken tries to authenticate.

Brian Biggs · February 1

@Austin@ and @JKLines70, thanks for your input, but I'm not sure that either of your descriptions explains why one of my Venmo accounts NEVER prompts me for 2FA (via Quicken) while another one ALWAYS prompts me for 2FA 😕. I think there's still something else going on with this.

JKLines70 · February 4

I finally came to the conclusion the issue was with Venmo's refusal to provide a Quicken interface so I put my focus there with daily exchanges with the support team. On the good side, they would always respond. On the bad side, pretty much every response seemed to be a sidestep from my previous restatement of the issue being specifically about Quicken and the last two even emphasized there was no issue with PayPal once I learned of the connection between the two.

Well today I finally got a more definitive response, "We do not provide direct integration with Quicken, unlike PayPal and other financial institutions." It then went on to manually export CSV or QIF file. So I believe it is on us to put pressure on Venmo to make the changes required on their end. It just doesn't seem like it should be that hard for them to do.

@Brian Biggs, I would say the one account that is working the way you want I would totally leave it alone and count it as an exception; however, my experience with financial institutions and Quicken is when I set up a financial institution it wants to update all accounts at one time as long as the login criteria is the same for each. I'm assuming with your description the each account has separate ID/password criteria.

Brian Biggs · February 4

@JKLines70, yes, separate logins for each account. One ALWAYS prompts for 2FA, one NEVER prompts for 2FA.

I'm in the IT industry, and know a little about how these things work. Like you, I think it doesn't seem like it should be this hard. Especially since I have two examples of one working and one not. I would think that either Quicken or Venmo would be able to use those two examples, collect some data, and figure out the problem. It just feels like they don't want to.

I also don't understand Venmo's statement to you of "We do not provide direct integration with Quicken" because they clearly do. It can be set up in Quicken and has been by many people. And it works for both accounts that I have, but it's just the 2FA issue that is the problem. So that feels like a BS cop-out excuse to me.

I'm happy to reach back out to Venmo to put additional pressure on them to resolve the issue. But if they are now saying that they don't officially support Quicken, then that changes things from a bug fix to a feature request. And that sounds like it will be more difficult to convince them to implement.

JKLines70 · February 4

@Brian Biggs I'm retired from IT industry myself having worked with electronics and computer systems for almost 50 years. I'm intrigued that Venmo keeps responding so I keep refining complaint based on response and where I feel they are missing the point. What I found interesting in that last one is that they seem to recognize they don't support an interface to Quicken like PayPal does. As a matter of fact, at the current time they aren't doing anything special … they simply respond to Quicken's engine the same as if you were to manually log in via a browser. So that makes me wonder, do you have separate login IDs/password for each Venmo account? If so, is there one that comes up with 2FA with the browser and one that doesn't?

In any case, the last response restated the manual solution was too time consuming and that the interface like PayPal is what I'm looking for. I also stated the type of response I'm looking for is a Venmo acknowledgment they understand the issue and are either planning to support in the future, awaiting more customer requests for feature, and simply decided not going to create any "special" interface to any external vendor. I also mentioned we are discussing on this forum and that I'm updating thread with their responses. Looking forward to seeing if they respond tomorrow.

Still getting Venmo 2FA requests for one account but not for a separate Venmo account

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