Quicken and bank downloads

Bernie Cosell wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@library.airnews.net:

There are multiple questions here, so bear with me, and see below in line.

There is direct connect and there is web connect. As I understand it, with Q2008 the difference is minimal, and One Step Update (OSU) does both. But then, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

That seems right, but some of the wait steps will often be there also if you do OSU. Keep in mind that the servers that Quicken uses at your FI are most likely different then he server tat serves up your account data via the web. In my experience, the Quicken servers are often behind by

Correction, it is the QDF file that is the main file in te file set. Making shortcuts in your desktop or quicklaunch folder to these various QDF files and double clicking them would launch Quicken with the respective fileset. No double checking necessary (not that doublechecking is bad ). You can change the icons to make it clearer which shortcut is which.

You could set your browser to log on to a bunch of your banking sites simultaneously. Most browsers now have that ability either in separate tabs, or separate windows.

My preference would be banks that support what I really want to do. It may be that you get a discount of sorts if you bring all your accounts to a new bank (or threaten the old bank that you will take all your business elsewhere if they don't acomodate you). They can always tell you to go and ... .

That sequence will get you what you want, but some of it isn't necessary, and in some cases, there will be extra steps.

You don't have to "filre up browser"; if you tell Quicken to "update" a Web Connect account, Quicken will fire up its internal browser and present you with the sign-in page for your fi.

You will have to sign-in then navigate to the page for downloading and initiate the download. (*)

You do not have to "save" the download in a file; during the download you can be asked whether to "save" the download (to a disk file) or to "open" the download: opening the download will put the downloaded transactions into the Quicken "Accept transactions into register" window - no "import" step is necessary in this case.

(*) For some financial institutions, you will have to repeat

Starting with Q2008, Quicken offers what it calls "Express Web Connect": it's intended to allow you to download from Web Connect accounts using One Step Update. It expects to "screen scrape" your data; that is, it attempts to do steps 2-6 for you, and when it works, it definitely improves the downloading experience over plain Web Connect.

But Express Web Connect does not always work; I believe the primary culprit is something called Multi-Factor Authentication, whose effect you may be familiar with, even if not the name.

Over the past couple of years, your financial institutions have likely modified their login procedure to require more than just a password (sometimes much more*) and begun using different (separate) web pages to collect the info. I think that the screen scraping software is having problems dealing with some of the implementations of MFA (each fi can choose from several different approaches to MFA).

I can't tell you what problems you may face with your new fi, but if you post their name, perhaps others here can tell you whether they have been able to use Express Web Connect with that fi. [The fi must agree to allow Express Web Connect, so you could ask your fi if they permit it. But even if they permit EWC, it may not work ... see above.]

} Bernie Cosell wrote in } news: snipped-for-privacy@library.airnews.net:

} } > I'm thinking of opening an account with a new bank, and they tell me } > that they don't support "direct connect" -- I gather that's the magic } > that allows Quicken to pick up transactions from the bank by itself } > with "one step update". } } There is direct connect and there is web connect. As I understand it, } with Q2008 the difference is minimal, and One Step Update (OSU) does } both. But then, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Ah, I'm still at Q2006 but this might be a reason to upgrade!

} > Repeat 3-7 for each such bank. } } That seems right, but some of the wait steps will often be there also if } you do OSU.

Yes, but with OSU *I'M* not sitting there. I click OSU, minimize Quicken and either do something else or go away for a while.

} > Anyhow, is that about close? Is there no way to automate it? It } > seems truly awful [especially so because I'm on a SLOW internet } > connection [in some ways it sucks to live in the middle of nowhere]] } } You could set your browser to log on to a bunch of your banking sites } simultaneously. Most browsers now have that ability either in separate } tabs, or separate windows.

Hmm. Mine doesn't. I can set it to *open* a bunch of sites all at the same time, but it won't fill in passwords, navigate through various pages, etc. I'll go check! Thanks!

/Bernie\

} Bernie Cosell wrote: } > I'm thinking of opening an account with a new bank, and they } > tell me } > that they don't support "direct connect" -- I gather that's } > the magic } > that allows Quicken to pick up transactions from the bank by } > itself } > with "one step update".

} You don't have to "filre up browser"; if you tell Quicken to } "update" a Web Connect account, Quicken will fire up its } internal browser and present you with the sign-in page for your } fi. } } You will have to sign-in then navigate to the page for } downloading and initiate the download. (*)

Cleaner than having to switch back and forth from quicken to the browser, but still a bit of a pain [since I'm tied to sitting there and clicking and typing while all this slow-crap is going on].

} > Anyhow, is that about close? Is there no way to automate it? } } Starting with Q2008, Quicken offers what it calls "Express Web } Connect": it's intended to allow you to download from Web } Connect accounts using One Step Update. It expects to "screen } scrape" your data; that is, it attempts to do steps 2-6 for you, } and when it works, it definitely improves the downloading } experience over plain Web Connect.

Hmm.. Interesting: sounds like enough banks don't support direct-connect and enough customers griped or something like that, that intuit put in some machinery to try to help.

} Over the past couple of years, your financial institutions have } likely modified their login procedure to require more than just } a password (sometimes much more*) and begun using different } (separate) web pages to collect the info.

Interesting. I haven't actually investigated in detail what *this* bank's webpage set up is, so I"m not sure how it'll work out.

} .. I can't tell you what problems you may face with your new fi, } but if you post their name, perhaps others here can tell you } whether they have been able to use Express Web Connect with that } fi. [The fi must agree to allow Express Web Connect, so you } could ask your fi if they permit it. But even if they permit } EWC, it may not work ... see above.]

Cool. The bank I'm *considering* is StellarOne. But it sounds iffy enough [and I don't have q2008 yet!] so I'm probably just going to go with a not quite so convenient bank that *does* allow direct connect [wachovia].

Thanks! /Bernie\

Bernie Cosell wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@library.airnews.net:

I believe that Firefox can do that, but I bought a portable version of Roboform so I can load everything on a stick and take it with me

I used "One Step Update" (Q2007) with Bank of America for over

But, the day to day updating seems dead and I do not have the patience or time to waste to try again. It took hours to recover from the errors. Taught me to create a backup any time I want Quicken anywhere near the net!

jg