Changing the currency code for a foreign currency

bsoudan
bsoudan Quicken Windows Subscription Member
in Errors and Troubleshooting (Windows)

I am using Quicken Subscription for Windows, and I am updated to the latest version (today).

A while back (a few years, actually), I added a couple of accounts in a foreign currency (UAE Dirhams) to my file. It seems that by mistake, while adding the new currency, the "Currency Code" was somehow assigned as USD.

Now this currency is completely wrong - it is not truly UAE dirhams nor is it truly US dollars.

Quicken won't allow me to delete this currency because it is being used in multiple accounts (and they contain hundreds of transactions, literally).

I thought about creating new accounts with the correct currency and manually moving the transactions. But that will be impossibly hard to complete because they contain transfers to different currencies at different points in time with different exchange rates.

The peculiar thing is that now every time I want to create a USD-based account with online access (or enable online updates for a USD-based account), Quicken automatically changes the account's currency to this foreign currency. And, of course, Quicken does not allow manually changing the currency of these accounts to fix this back.

Is there any way I can fix this?

The ultimate and most straightforward fix is to be able to change the currency code for this currency.

Another fix would be to be able to change an account's currency.

Has anybody faced a similar problem?

Thank you

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Answers

  • crwalejr
    crwalejr Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭

    Quicken Classic supports multiple currencies, and you can freely create new accounts in any supported currency. Your home currency stays USD unless you explicitly change it (which affects the entire file and is rarely appropriate). You cannot convert an existing account from USD to another currency. There is no setting inside the account to switch it. If you need an account to continue in a different currency, the cleanest method is:

    1. Create a new account in the desired currency. Set its opening balance to 0.

    2. Choose a cutoff date. Most people pick the end of a month or year.

    3. Transfer the balance. Enter a single transfer transaction from the old account to the new one.
    When prompted for an exchange rate, enter the appropriate rate (often 1.00 if you’re not revaluing).

    4. Move any uncleared transactions. Checks not yet cashed, pending charges, etc., can be manually re‑entered in the new account.

    5. Update scheduled reminders. Point them to the new account.

    6. Optionally close or rename the old account. Many users rename it “Old XYZ” and mark it hidden. This avoids corrupting reconciliations and preserves historical accuracy.

  • bsoudan
    bsoudan Quicken Windows Subscription Member

    Thank you for this wonderful suggestion. I have been using this workaround for a while now to manage things.

    However, this doesn't solve my main problem:

    "Every time I enable the online connection for a USD-based account, Quicken automatically changes the account's currency to this foreign currency."

    Because the file contains 2 different currencies with the currency code "USD", it seems that something gets confused during setting up the online updates mechanism, and it automatically switches existing accounts that were originally created with the correct US Dollar currency to the foreign currency that was corrupted with the incorrect code.

    I need to somehow change the code for this corrupt currency to remove this confusion.

    Deleting the corrupt currency won't work because there are now multiple accounts associated with it. Two days ago, I was restoring the online connection for my Bank of America account in response to the latest S/W update. When the process was done, the account's currency was automatically switched to the corrupt currency. I cannot simply delete the account and recreate it; it contains transactions from more than 10 years. Also, if I recreate the account (with the correct US Dollar currency) its currency will get switched automatically if I try to enable its online connection.

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