"Walt Bilofsky" wrote
I asked whether there was a trend that cards were removing direct download (as my credit union did), or some motivation for them to do so.
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There is anecdotal evidence that some financial institutions are dropping Direct Connect downloads.
And some may be dropping downloads altogether.
But I don't have any idea to what extent it is affecting only credit card institutions. So far, my few credit card financial institutions are still downloading using Direct Connect.
The reason for the defections from Direct Connect (and downloading altogether): I believe, is cost. [A problem likely exacerbated by the recent consumer "assistance" legislation from Washington putting a ceiling on debit card fees. The current economic malaise can't be helping either.]
Intuit is trying to compensate (IMO) by offering Express Web Connect for more financial institutions, now including even those institutions that don't offer any downloads. An unreliable, costly, process.
[I think the total number of financial institutions technically available for downloading may actually be somewhat higher than ever now ... but many are currently listed as only offering Express Web Connect.]