OFX - Online Banking & Bill Paying

Well... I braved through without guidance. Nothing blew up... yet. Still don't know what Quicken was talking about when it descried "categories"; I say none on what was downloaded.

My download brought me two types of transactions under "Status"; "Match" and "New". Dates were off for those marked "Match" but I would expect that. "Payee" was identified only as "Check". I'm unsure about my next step. Just delete these downloads since I already have them in my register?

"John Gregory" wrote

I saw no reason for your original concern. Categories in memorized transactions take precedence over other possible means of categorization. Downloaded transactions for which there is no memorized transaction *may* be automatically categorized by Quicken if you have selected the Auto Categorize preference. And downloaded credit card transactions may get categorized by using a merchant code that can be supplied by the credit card company.

No, don't delete them; Accept them. (Assuming they are matched to the correct transaction - select the downloaded transaction and note which existing register transaction gets highlighted. If they are incorrectly matched, do a "Manual Match" ... you may have to "Unmatch" them first.).

Downloaded transactions carry a "Downloaded" flag and a "Posting date" which will update your existing register transactions when you Accept a "Match" (the same two pieces of data are present for all downloaded transactions; New and Match).

Are you saying that all the downloaded transactions were already entered manually in Quicken before you downloaded?

If you have transactions marked as "New" when they should be marked "Match", you should make them "Manual Match" the existing register transactions (click the "Edit" button on the downloaded transaction).

I appreciate your taking time to comment, John, because I seen to be getting more confused. My original intent was to have my bank cut and mail checks. I thought I was to do that from Quicken but I haven't gotten that far yet so that will be another unchartered expedition. But first things first.

I'm focused at this point on simply getting my Quicken record in sync with that of my bank... on line. Your question suggests that I may have a major misunderstanding of how this is to work:

"John Gregory" wrote

It is more or less as I suggested.

If you download a transaction that you have already entered in your Quicken register, then the downloaded transaction *should* "Match" the transaction already in your Quicken register. While I find this to be true 99% of the time for me, some people have a lower degree of success with the Match logic.

What is important is that you need to know whether the downloaded transaction represents a transaction you already have in your Quicken register ... or not. Then you treat the downloaded transaction accordingly. If the downloaded transaction should be New but is not; you make it New. If the downloaded transaction should be a Match, but is not; you make it Match. If the downloaded transaction Status is correct, you just Accept it as is.

downloaded transaction represents a transaction you already have in your Quicken register ... or not.>far yet so that will be another unchartered expedition. But first things

Your last sentence is the way it works so you will be OK.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry.

John & Jerry... Help please!

I think I'm getting the hang of this but I've got a dilemma. But first, let me make a statement then you guys comment if you will. "What I'm doing here with this on-line banking "Download Transactions" (DT's) section is merely reconciling my bank balance on-line." Right? Nothing is changing when I "Accept" these entries, though the dates often don't match. I'm not uploading anything to the bank after this download has been made and I don't think I remain connected to them while I running through that acceptance procedure. Right?

Now my problem. A check showed up as "New" to a payee in a much smaller amount than that appearing in my Quicken register. (Wouldn't you know it. I picked the worst time to begin this online stuff.) What actually happened - so I discovered earlier this week - was that I apparently entered the amount of the bill correctly but I manually wrote the check for a different sum (confused it with another bill setting next to it).

To correct my error when I discovered it this week, I simply made a memo adjusting entry with reference to that check number to bring my balance in line, then wrote another check for the difference.

Now comes the "Downloaded Transactions" list. The check for the lesser amount appears (as "New") along with the one I just wrote for the balance (also "New") but no adjusting entry (I understand why. These came from the bank, not my register.)

Since everything I've done with these DT's so far has merely involved changing "New" to "Match" where necessary, I've had no cause to see - nor did I see - any numbers change... even dates. All that's changes is the addition of "c" to the Clr column. However... I'm now facing a situation were the amount of a check does NOT match my register. The question is, will the program change the amount in the register to match the transaction I tell it to accept? Or with I get a screen putting the brakes on the whole thing drawing attention to the discrepancy? If it accepts the transaction but doesn't change the amount, my register will still be in balance because of that memo adjustment I made. But then... that makes this entire "reconciliation" routine rather meaningless if it doesn't catch this ... doesn't it?

I'm still trying to get a handle on just what to expect in all cases from this "DT" process. Everything - at least for me - is unidirectional; everything but an entry for interest originates with me and appears on my register before I connect to my bank. They're telling me what checks they've received and what interest they've added and I'm merely verifying that against my register. But since I haven't gone through a complete cycle of verifying all these DT's (waiting for guidance from you on the questions above), I've put the file on a "Finish Later" status. I don't what to expect when I get through the list.

"John Gregory" wrote

I wouldn't choose to describe it that way, but I'm not sure you and I think the same or treat the process the same.

*If* you only accept transactions that "Match" existing transactions, then the only data that you see on the screen that will change is the "Clr" field value (assuming it was blank when you did the download): it should be changed to "c" because the transaction has "cleared" the fi.

Behind the scenes - what you don't see - is the the existing transaction is marked as "Downloaded" and its Date Posted is changed from blank to the Date Posted per the fi. And an OFX transaction id is associated with the transaction.

As far as I know, the connection to each fi is closed when the transactions for that fi have been downloaded.

If you are not using your fi's "billpay" (or have no billpay transactions to send when you start the download), and you do not setup any online transfers in Quicken; then you don't send anything to the fi when you download.

I must not be understanding something. If the first check was written for a different amount than the amount you entered in Quicken, then just change the amount of check 1 in Quicken to be the actual amount of the check. Then, either manually enter check 2 in Quicken, or just let the download add it to Quicken as a new transaction. And delete the memo adjustment.

John, You are simply overthinking. I know, I too suffer from the urge to have everything match on the computer record AND on my check register, which I also used to enter IN INK.

Relax.

The download process is a matching process to synch your bank records with your register in Quicken. Anything you do during while accepting transactions will NOT AFFECT your bank account in any way. Time was, long ago, when download was not a current option, folks would enter their checks/withdrawals/deposits into the Quicken file, and then 'match' them to the bank statements once a month when they reconciled. You can STILL do this. But, download is much easier (especially if you ever forget to enter a check or an ATM transaction).

What is happening in the background is this. Your bank sends Quicken information on the latest transactions. Somehow, the bank and Quicken keep track of what information has been sent, so that ideally you get information for a specific transaction only once.

Now, once the information is in the Quicken file, the connection to the bank is terminated. Quicken uses its program logic to match up transactions to ones already in your register. It is decidedly not perfect. Your job, is to look at the information that has been downloaded, and determine if Quicken figured everything out correctly. Occasionally there will be a check that does not match when it should. Perhaps the bank teller transposed digits while encoding, and 173.52 became 173.25. Or, perhaps you yourself entered the wrong amount. How you handle the situation is up to you. You might just change the amount in your Quicken register to match the amount your bank withdrew/deposited. OR, you may add an adjustment entry for the wrong amount. You could edit the splits in the transaction, and place the difference in a category you created for this purpose.

'Accepting' downloaded transactions marks them as 'cleared' in your register. When you reconcile, those transactions are already marked for you and included in your reconcile view. Most folks who download transactions tend to reconcile to their online balance. Again, it is up to you. If you prefer to reconcile to your monthly bank statement, you can. do so. Simply click on Reconcile, change the option from online bank balance to monthly statement, and enter the appropriate information from your bank. When the reconcile window opens, select the option to unmark all cleared transactions, and clear them, one at a time, matching them to your statement.

One note of caution: Be really careful about accepting Quicken matched transactions, ESPECIALLY if you have recurring transactions of the same amount (a weekly ATM withdrawal of cash, for example). On more than one occasion, my new version of Quicken 2006 has matched a downloaded transaction to one with the same name and amount that was PREVIOUSLY RECONCILED. This created a situation where the new transaction was not matched and marked cleared, and the reconcile to the online balance was off by the amount of the withdrawal.

Good overview, L. Just what I needed. And I am overthinking this whole process. But I'm getting braver. I've talked to the bank about what to expect in my Quicken register and found that they know about as much as me at this point since it's relatively new to them as well. Anyway, I'll be setting up the payees this evening and I'll reread you email. You mentioned a few things I want to mull over and I may have some more questions.

Thanks for you help. I appreciate it.

I got engrossed in the billing paying process and tweaking a few things so I haven't digested the account reconciliation process yet. Do you ... or can you... do both; online and from the statement the old fashioned way?

"John Gregory" wrote in news:4VXig.42940$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:

Most of my transactions recur from time to time. For those that are truly regular, I make Quicken enter them auto,atically, 31 or more days ahead of time. When I get billing statements from utilities, credit cards, etc, I adjust the amounts to make them accurate (to some degree). When I download transactions, they become cleared and get a "c". When the bank or credit card statement comes in I "hand" reconcile them. This is usually a very easy process, since most everything has already been entered. At the end of the reconcile step, reconciled transactions get an "R", and become grayed (new for 2006 I believe). Until you are sure you are doing things really right, I'd suggest to save reconciliation reports, but I generally don't.

Hope this helps ...

This is the part I need to clarify >>.If you prefer to reconcile to your monthly bank statement, you can. do so. Simply click on Reconcile, change the option from online bank balance to monthly statement, and enter the appropriate information from your bank. "John Gregory" wrote in

While "An "R" is an "R" is an "R".", a Paper Statement Ending Balance is not an Online Balance. The difference being the Paper Statement Ending Balance reflects a cutoff date in the Balance as of (or however your FI worded this) line, and the statement does not show any transactions after that date. While an Online Balance is always shows the current state of the account, the balance and transactions as of that download. Thus it is possible to reconcile via an Online Balance and mark items reconciled that are not shown on the Paper Statement.

HTH.

The problem I see with trying to do a paper reconcile with transaction downloads is that checks whose date is before the cutoff, but which cleared after the cutoff, will be marked as cleared in the register. I believe that this will mess up the reconcile, since those checks are NOT cleared as of the paper statement.

After worrying for a while, I convinced my self the automatic continuous reconcile to online balance will catch all the errors that the old paper reconcile did. The key is to make sure every downloaded transactions matches something in the register, or otherwise verify that it is correct.

"Marc Auslander" wrote

It's not a problem Quicken uses the "Posting Date" for reconciles to paper statements, not the transaction date.

Is there any way to display the "posted date" of a transaction in the register?