CitiBank Shell Mastercard : Quicken (2009 Deluxe)

"Q_Lover" wrote in news:ZRrzl.13147$hc1.10373 @flpi150.ffdc.sbc.com:

I have lost my Direct Connect to/from Chase. I don't have the correct highfaluting type account.

Yes. It works great.

In Quickden there is a way to update credit cards and bank accounts (say once a week) that are not supported by Quicken web connect or direct connect (QFX) as long as QIF downloads are still available from the financial institution. It is a little cumbersome, but it works with Citi Shell cards for example.

Step 1. Create a new account in Quicken in a non-banking category such as "Investment" or "Asset" for which QIF imports are allowed. (Click on file>import to see if QIF is an option. Name this account "landing strip" or "temporary" or anything to suggest it is a "holding spot" for imports. The reason for creating a new account is that Quicken no longer allows importing QIF files into banking accounts, but does allow it into non-banking accounts. Of course you could keep the account in question as a not-banking account but that messes up the proper categories of your assets as seen in Quicken.

Step 2. Go to the web site of the credit card or bank and download the transactions as a QIF file. For help on this step, see "import data into Quicken" in Quicken Help.

Step 3. Import the QIF transactions into the new holding spot. Then select the transactions you wish to save and move them into the correct account with edit>transaction>move transaction(s).

Step 4. Delete any duplicate transactions from the holding spot in order maintain the correct total for your net worth.

While I have use this method to download Citi Shell data after direct connect stopped working, I will soon replace my Citi Shell card with a Bank of America Business Visa card that gives 5% discount on gas purchases. The downside is that you have to accumulate about 5000 or

I'll look at that. Thank you.

In the meantime, I am using my Shell card ONLY for gasoline at Shell stations (for my car) and am making the entries manually. If I filled my car several times a day/week such as a limo or taxi driver must, this would be a cumbersome option. I really only fill my car once a week at the most... my significant other is disabled and we use her van most of the time. Guess my laziness is hanging out!

Thanks much for the info.

PeterH

Here's a tweak to your process. As has been published here before, although Quicken doesn't allow imports into a bank account, it does allow import into "All accounts", with that in mind, I replace the first line in each QIF file with:

!Account NAccountName TBank ^ !Type:Bank

where AccountName is the name of the destination Quicken account. I then use File|Import|QIF Files and choose "All Accounts" from the import into pop-up in the QIF Import dialog.

Quicken then allows you to match the downloaded transactions against the ones already in the account.

The one problem I have with this process is that the check numbers offered by Quicken often are "TXFR". If quickfill hasn't chosen the right category, Quicken will only let you change the category to a transfer until you remove the TXFR.

Of course, you can also build your own QIF file by copying and pasting the table from the bank's web site.

Hope this helps

Mike

This is great! I can live with this.

The discover card: 5% up to $100/month translates to $5/month. I am ranging from $40 to $140 a month REBATE on my shell MC so Discover would be a loss to me of about $90/month. Even going to down to 3% with Amex is more or less a reduction in my after tax income of $40 or so.

I have also noticed you don't see them offering new Shell MC by citi anywhere. We have been grandfathered in to a great deal as a gas card. And it would appear it is up to us to be clever to make this as convenient as possible for ourselves.

Thanks for cluing me in big time!

Mike