Quicken 2007 and internet banking - Help!

>The Quicken manual states that I can connect electronically to my
>bank (WAMU) account but the instructions do not match the results

I also use Wamu and Quicken 2007, but I don't try to connect
directly. Instead, I download my statement from the Web site then
open that file in Quicken.

Jeff

On Jun 17, 2008, at 3:32 PM, Thomas N. Casselman wrote:

> So here is my question - has anyone using Q7 been able to reconcile
> their Q7 register electronically by connecting to their bank
> statement?

Intuit has discontinued online services for Quicken 2005 and all prior
versions.

https://quicken.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/quicken.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3874

You need to upgrade to at least Quicken 2006, though Intuit will
probably sunset that version as well next year, if you want the
ability to download your transactions.

I'm still using Quicken 2006.

I, too, am having a problem connecting to Wells Fargo Bank. So I've
been downloading the account activity and importing it into Quicken
instead. I can probably solve the problem by calling the bank but
since it's not a critical issue, I keep putting it off.

On the other hand, I have no problem connecting to American Express.

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____________________
Ryoichi Morita

I find electronic reconciliation to be one of the best features of Quicken (I'm using 2007). Once you get your accounts set up and get used to using it regularly, you will be lost without it. There are at least 3 levels of online transaction support in Quicken.

1. Direct connection for transactions (for reconciliation): When you set up the online account in Quicken, you are asked to choose the financial institution, and then Quicken requires you to enter the account number and your user name (at the financial institution site). When you download transactions, you will be prompted for your password, which you can choose to save in the Quicken vault. Discover and Fidelity are example of this kind of connection.

2. OFX download: Some banks (like Wells Fargo, US Bank) support transaction download via OFX files from their web site. Details for each site vary, but there is usually a link to a download page where you select the account and perhaps a version of Mac or Windows, and perhaps whether you want QIF (older files not useful for reconciliation purposes to my knowledge). If you try to download from within Quicken, your default browser opens to the financial institution's web site (one tab for each account with that institution).

3: Full Online banking: This is one I haven't tried yet, but I know is available at Wells Fargo. If you pay extra, you can link Quicken directly into Wells Fargo and enter bill payments into Quicken that then get sent through the bank. Downloading the OFX transaction file is only slightly more difficult that downloading directly, so I don't see a lot of value here. I'm not even sure how to set this up in Quicken, but I'm sure if you pay the money, your financial institution will help you.

For transactions like you would get on a monthly statement, methods 1 and 2 are perfectly fine, and that's what Quickens steers you to when you set up online access. I can imagine if I paid a lot of bills, option 3 might be desirable, but so far I'm happy with what I have.

If you are trying to use the "Direct Connect" feature, it is not supported at WaMu. You can see that in this table:

<http://web.intuit.com/personal/quicken/results.cfm?type=basic&search=-w&qwid=qw1700&qmid=qm1600&qbid=qb1800&qbmid=qbm1700>

That is where statement data is directly imported into Quicken without you logging into the WaMu website.

However, WaMu does export a Quicken file that can be imported and reconciled in Q2007 just fine. I do that all the time. You can either log into WaMu and download your transactions, then open the file to import them. Or click the "Download" button in the Q2007 menu bar which will take you to the WaMu website to start the process.

So, download, import, and reconcile or auto-reconcile all work fine with Q2007 and WaMu, but not Direct Connect. If you need more explanation, just post back.

Spencer