Fidelity Html Statements: Gone?

[sengsational]

Statement Maker Discovery: Pending Activity

This is tangentially related, and not new thread worthy, but I thought it was interesting.

I never noticed this before, because I rarely trade. I'm not sure how many times (probably a few) I have traded where, when the clock strikes midnight before the first of the month, I have trades that are executed, but not settled.

The end of November I did my rebalancing, and because Fidelity took away the parsable statement, I made a "statement maker", that took an early morning positions download from November 1st and from December 1st, along with a transactions download to make a statement.

When the PDF statements were published, I was expecting totals to match, but they were quite a ways off. It became obvious right-off that they had me owning the shares I sold, and did not include the pending cash.

I kind of get it. Until it's settled, I don't really own it. But for reporting, in what case would you really want to report a total that really wasn't yours, when you eventually will be rid of it?

In my case, I got rid of it, and the price dropped in the mean time, so my statement maker result, it shows I'm rid of it, and I added-in the pending cash. That seems more accurate. But I guess the "official" way is to report that you still own these shares that have the completed trade, but not settled. That's just weird to me, but I suppose it's always been that way.

My goal is to match the statement, so I'm going to add a flag to my application so that unsettled trades and pending cash don't get counted this month. I got the statement maker up and running in record time, but this might be tedious to get right. I don't even know if the transaction download identifies things as settled or not. Sigh.

 

[sengsational]

My goal is to match the statement, so I'm going to add a flag to my application so that unsettled trades and pending cash don't get counted this month. I got the statement maker up and running in record time, but this might be tedious to get right. I don't even know if the transaction download identifies things as settled or not. Sigh.

Not that anyone will be on the edge of their seat to learn about this, but I'll keep going anyway

I looked back in history, found trades in one month that settled in the next. Sure enough, the unsettled trades and pending cash make zero impact to the statement...everything is on the next statement.

So I altered the statement maker, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. The downloaded transactions list has a "run date" (trade date), and a separate settlement date, so it's easy to identify the possible trades that straddle the month. After managing that, I thought I was done (way too easy!) It turns out that the within the positions snapshot (taken after markets close on the last of the month) those balances ARE altered by the unsettled transactions. So while processing transactions, I had to save the straddling trades, then run through the closing positions, adjusting the share quantity up or down for the buys and sells.

The good news is that my statement maker matched the PDF within a few cents. The bad news is that for it to match, I need to do the grab not just after the markets close on the last of the month, and before they open the next day, but also after the interest is posted on the cash accounts (my first attempt was off by the interest credits, and I realized pulling at 9PM on the last of the month was too soon...I have to wait for the morning of the first). What a PITA! If Fidelity had a reasonably sized paper statement, I wouldn't bother, but between Roths(2), HSA(2), After Tax(2), Rollover IRA(1), 529(1), the page count on the Fidelity statement is, wait for it, 48 pages. Yes, not a typo. 48 pages!! When I print out the statement from the statement maker? 1 page. Smallish font, but I can read it. One page.

 

[annakarina]

Indeed! The html link has disappeared!

Thanks for posting this. I just noticed in early December that the html versions of Fidelity statements were no longer available and I was shocked not to have been made aware of this change.

 

[jollystomper]

If I happen to run it after the market closes on the last day of the month, and before the market opens the next day, it should match the statement. If I miss that, I'll update the CSV, over typing prices into the CSV from the hard copy I'll soon be getting in the mail.

For this step, any reason you would not use the operating system scheduling function to run the automation at a set time for you desired time interval? I do this for downloading quotes into a csv file for import into Quicken 2017 or spreadsheets.

 

[sengsational]

Old thread, but I wanted to mention that in line with my principle of not fuming about something without at least trying to fix it, I sent a letter to Fidelity. Not like I figure it will do much good, because, although I find it mystifying, "nobody else" seems to care that Fidelity doesn't give you something that you can use to "audit the books" on an external system without manually typing in the data.

July 9, 2022

Ms. Kathleen Murphy
Senior Advisor to CEO
Fidelity Investments
245 Summer St
Boston, MA 02210

Dear Ms. Murphy,

As a retail customer, I'd like to make my wishes clear concerning periodic statements.

It is my opinion that investors in America have the right to a monthly statement in machine readable form, without having to trust a third party.
Up until September of 2021, I was able to access a machine readable copy of my monthly statement. The format of the statement was "html" and although that electronic format was less than optimal, at least it contained the complete information that matched the printed statement.

But the "html" format of the monthly statement was removed from the Fidelity web site. The PDF remains, but that is a print format that's nearly impossible to parse. Thus, I contend that PDF is "printable", but not "machine readable".

There is a "csv" download remains an option, but that file is incomplete; the file lacks much of the data contained in the printed statement, so is insufficient in detail. It's essential to have every starting and ending balance and every transaction that affects the balance. This file falls far short.

I also explored using ofx.fidelity.com, but that API is, providing incomplete data; the interface does not provide balances as of a specific date. Because of this fact, it can not be used to generate a monthly statement that matches the printed one. To be clear, if your technical people tell you the API includes an "as of date" as a parameter, you can tell them that the parameter is ignored, and the balance you get is "now".

I would be glad to talk to you or someone in headquarters if they're interested in details that are not clear.

On a related note, Consumer Reports is looking for "stories" where banks have left consumers behind:

Transitioning to a more digital business model leaves many consumers behind, especially if banks charge fees for traditionally free banking services, or run their customer service entirely through a digital-only platform. This leaves consumers to struggle with getting basic account information, navigating a web of automated prompts or departments, or reaching employees who aren’t knowledgeable about their account or problems.
Consumer Reports wants to know how your bank is providing customer service, and any obstacles or fees you encountered interacting with your bank or credit union. Your comments may be sent to the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau and become part of the public record, ensuring banking accountability and possibly influencing new customer service rules.

I told my Fidelity story, in hopes that the department responsible for banks also does investment houses and maybe get them thinking about what I consider to be a problem.

 

[ERD50]

Old thread, but I wanted to mention that in line with my principle of not fuming about something without at least trying to fix it, I sent a letter to Fidelity. Not like I figure it will do much good, because, although I find it mystifying, "nobody else" seems to care that Fidelity doesn't give you something that you can use to "audit the books" on an external system without manually typing in the data.

On a related note, Consumer Reports is looking for "stories" where banks have left consumers behind:
I told my Fidelity story, in hopes that the department responsible for banks also does investment houses and maybe get them thinking about what I consider to be a problem.

Interesting - please keep us up to date if you hear back. -ERD50