Fidelity Html Statements: Gone?

[sengsational]

For many years, I've had a process where I'd save the html version of the Fidelity monthly statement and a process I defined would put all of the transactions into my own book keeping system. One may wonder why I didn't use the CSV option, well, it's because that only contains a subset of what's on the actual statement (just positions, not transactions).

But there seems to have been a change, at least for me....this month, when I go to the statements page, I only have the option for PDF. The HTML option seems to have disappeared. They didn't delete the text reference to the html version in the notes below the table, though.

Does anyone else see the HTML option? Pretty bold of Fidelity to just delete it and let the few customers that depend on it twist in the wind.

 

[LarryMelman]

What does the HTML statement give you that the PDF does not?

 

[prudent_one]

I never looked at that part of the website before but my account looks like your screenshot - no HTML option for statements.

 

[robls]

From this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fidelity/comments/q2nls6/fidelity_remove_html_statements/
Fidelity seems to be removing the html option. I no longer am able to see the html option either. Only pdf and csv.

 

[ERD50]

From this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fidelity/comments/q2nls6/fidelity_remove_html_statements/
Fidelity seems to be removing the html option. I no longer am able to see the html option either. Only pdf and csv.

And this one,

https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityin...m6e7/bring_back_account_statement_csv_please/

with replies from Fidelity.

FidelityKersi
·
1m
· edited 27d
Helpful
Community Care Representative

Thanks for reaching out u/SpykeOne!

Fidelity has begun removing the HTML and CSV links from the statements page due to data behind these links that will be decommissioning soon. For clients whose HTML and CSV download options have already been removed, you will have the ability to download statements as PDF files. I will forward your post to our development teams as they are gathering feedback regarding the file download options we offer.

At least they didn't say "In order to serve you better...."

-ERD50

 

[braumeister]

I always download the PDF of my statement. It never occurred to me to use the HTML, but I can certainly see how it would be useful if you want to reformat things. Have fun with your new coding efforts!

 

[robls]

If you know Python, you could parse out that data from the pdf.
I'm just learning Python myself. But, I know it can be done from watch You Tube videos.

 

[finnski1]

For many years, I've had a process where I'd save the html version of the Fidelity monthly statement and a process I defined would put all of the transactions into my own book keeping system. One may wonder why I didn't use the CSV option, well, it's because that only contains a subset of what's on the actual statement (just positions, not transactions).

But there seems to have been a change, at least for me....this month, when I go to the statements page, I only have the option for PDF. The HTML option seems to have disappeared. They didn't delete the text reference to the html version in the notes below the table, though.

Does anyone else see the HTML option? Pretty bold of Fidelity to just delete it and let the few customers that depend on it twist in the wind.

Mine looks identical to yours as well. I didn't use the HTML version so no loss for me

 

[sengsational]

What does the HTML statement give you that the PDF does not?

The html is easier to parse because the content is inside a data structure that has names telling the programmer what's in each place.


There should be a law where these outfits must offer a machine readable statement. I'm going to turn on paper statements again.

 

[sengsational]

I always download the PDF of my statement. It never occurred to me to use the HTML, but I can certainly see how it would be useful if you want to reformat things. Have fun with your new coding efforts!

I looked at it. It would be a nightmare. The html was bad enough. I might not live long enough to make it worth coding.

 

[sengsational]

At least they didn't say "In order to serve you better...."

They're turning off what they have before they give out the new download

 

[ERD50]

The html is easier to parse because the content is inside a data structure that has names telling the programmer what's in each place.


There should be a law where these outfits must offer a machine readable statement. I'm going to turn on paper statements again.

edit - I see they say they are phasing out CSV as well. nevermind


[-]CSV is machine readable, no? I see you said it doesn't contain all the transaction info. Maybe better to hit up Fidelity with that comment, that the CSV needs to be complete. That's probably more likely than them reversing their decision to drop html.

They probably saw far fewer html clicks than CSV clicks. So focus on CSV.

Maybe even talk this up on the larger social media sites, you might get some traction.[/-]

-ERD50

 

[braumeister]

At least they still give you a CSV option. Schwab gives you only a PDF download.

 

[ERD50]

At least they still give you a CSV option. Schwab gives you only a PDF download.

That's what I thought as they still show CSV, but I should have read my own post #5!

FidelityKersi
·
1m
· edited 27d
Helpful
Community Care Representative

Thanks for reaching out u/SpykeOne!

Fidelity has begun removing the HTML and CSV links from the statements page due to data behind these links that will be decommissioning soon. For clients whose HTML and CSV download options have already been removed, you will have the ability to download statements as PDF files. I will forward your post to our development teams as they are gathering feedback regarding the file download options we offer.

-ERD50

 

[sengsational]

Besides, the CSV only has the holdings, not the transactions. At least that's what it comes up with when I try it now, and I presume that's why I didn't use it years ago when I set-up the html parser.

 

[target2019]

Besides, the CSV only has the holdings, not the transactions. At least that's what it comes up with when I try it now, and I presume that's why I didn't use it years ago when I set-up the html parser.

In Schwab each account has transaction history. From there you can export Excel CSV. I think you may find something similar at Fidelity.

Another possibility is to look at Print function.

Another observation is that Acrobat has a copy table feature.

If HTML is gone, you just move forward and craft another solution.

 

[HarveyS]

At least they didn't say "In order to serve you better...."

-ERD50

or "because of Covid....."

 

[sengsational]

If HTML is gone, you just move forward and craft another solution.

Not impossible, but I could probably manually type it for two years before I'd break-even coding a PDF scraper. And then it would probably break every time I had a transaction type the scraper hasn't "seen before". Like I said, there aughtta be a law where they're required to supply a machine readable, full-detail, statement. There IS a law where they're required to supply a paper statement with certain specifications...that law needs to be expanded to force them into putting that same thing into a machine readable file. I voted with my mouse: https://digital.fidelity.com/ftgw/digital/edelivery/ clicking "US Mail" on everything. If I'm going to have to type it in, I'm certainly not going to print it myself.

BTW, I got the same boilerplate response "Fidelity has begun removing the HTML and CSV links from the statements page..." when I complained in the FaceBook group.

 

[jazz4cash]

I’m surprised this has no impact on any of the account consolidation tools (personal Capital, etc) and all the others that offer to update accounts from all over in a single place. I have about 6 accounts on Fido’s GPS but I update manually each quarter.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

I’m surprised this has no impact on any of the account consolidation tools (personal Capital, etc) and all the others that offer to update accounts from all over in a single place. I have about 6 accounts on Fido’s GPS but I update manually each quarter.

I was on a project where we integrated with one of the major aggregator vendors, so we could provide a "consolidated view" of a client's assets held at other financial institutions. The aggregators essentially "capture" account data in one of 2 ways - (a) by working with a financial organization using some custom interface (similar to the tax forms import in Turbo Tax) so that they can periodically capture each client's data that's signed up for the service using scheduled jobs, or (b) programatically logging into each of the client's financial websites and "scraping" the data from key website pages by parsing through the html.

Obviously, method (b) is much more error prone and frequently breaks whenever website pages are redesigned. It's also more taxing on the websites as it can occur at any time of the day and increases their website traffic.

But, method (a) requires a custom project and ongoing relationship with each financial organization that wants to facilitate the aggregator efficiently getting the account data.

From what I've seen, the data being captured is typically current data (shares, prices, etc.). They might go after transaction history data, but I don't believe they stored any statement data. I say this based on what data the aggregator provided in their various api's.

 

[mrfeh]

I was on a project where we integrated with one of the major aggregator vendors, so we could provide a "consolidated view" of a client's assets held at other financial institutions. The aggregators essentially "capture" account data in one of 2 ways - (a) by working with a financial organization using some custom interface (similar to the tax forms import in Turbo Tax) so that they can periodically capture each client's data that's signed up for the service using scheduled jobs, or (b) programatically logging into each of the client's financial websites and "scraping" the data from key website pages by parsing through the html.

Obviously, method (b) is much more error prone and frequently breaks whenever website pages are redesigned. It's also more taxing on the websites as it can occur at any time of the day and increases their website traffic.

But, method (a) requires a custom project and ongoing relationship with each financial organization that wants to facilitate the aggregator efficiently getting the account data.

From what I've seen, the data being captured is typically current data (shares, prices, etc.). They might go after transaction history data, but I don't believe they stored any statement data. I say this based on what data the aggregator provided in their various api's.

I'd be shocked if the larger outfits didn't have APIs intended for machine to machine retrieval of data (ie. REST). The data is probably provided as JSON (or if old school, CSV or XML).

I'm also quite sure these interfaces are not published or made available to the public.

 

[sengsational]

I've signed up to be a developer on quite a few sites in the past. It varies as to how public they were about their developer program and how selective they were at allowing entry.

The "b" (web scraper) doesn't really hit the mark unless it's run after close of business on the last day of the period, and before first day of the next period. The tie to the balance claim for the end of the period is what periodic statements are for.

One of the Reddit posts ponders if Fidelity somehow doesn't want customers to have the ability to add-up every transaction for themselves. I've never been a fan of their statement. With Roth's, rollovers, HSA's, 529's, after tax and cash, I have a lot of accounts, and the statement is a damn book. After parsing the html, I had beginning balance, every transaction, and ending balance, all accounts, on one page. One page. I don't need or want any of their fluff. Just the facts.

 

[sengsational]

BTW, One thing I noticed when pulling in the html statement was that the statement didn't add-up to the penny. It had to do with pricing of certain ETF's. I think I concluded that it wasn't just price rounding..
something more than that, but not at all significant, so that did not bother me. I wonder if it bothered them or some customers. So rather then fix it, they obscure it?

 

[target2019]

Not impossible, but I could probably manually type it for two years before I'd break-even coding a PDF scraper. And then it would probably break every time I had a transaction type the scraper hasn't "seen before". Like I said, there aughtta be a law where they're required to supply a machine readable, full-detail, statement. There IS a law where they're required to supply a paper statement with certain specifications...that law needs to be expanded to force them into putting that same thing into a machine readable file. I voted with my mouse: https://digital.fidelity.com/ftgw/digital/edelivery/ clicking "US Mail" on everything. If I'm going to have to type it in, I'm certainly not going to print it myself.

BTW, I got the same boilerplate response "Fidelity has begun removing the HTML and CSV links from the statements page..." when I complained in the FaceBook group.

I downloaded an account PDF from Schwab. I opened it with my ancient copy of Acrobat 9. Exported HTML, and it has the information in HTML tables.

I think you can craft a solution in any OS using this insight and some extra tools.

 

[tulak]

I download transactions using Moneydance, which uses OFX.

I wonder if you could use that for transaction downloads in a custom app?