Warning: Quicken Interface to Schwab is Toast

[OldShooter]

A week of two ago I tried to download my Schwab account data and was confronted with a message that Schwab had changed their authentication procedure and that my accounts needed to be re-authorized. Fine. I went through their procedure and, among other things, found that they had created multiple new accounts for me, similar to the original account names. So "Checking" was duplicated by "zzz-Checking" and so on.

I won't go through all the hassles, but suffice to say that I am still unable to download, nor can I delete the spurious accounts. I have received at least two apologetic emails from Quicken telling me how hard they are working to fix the problem.

The Quicken people have never been a very trustworthy bunch. In this case, my guess is that with the subscription revenue coming in regardless of investment in the software they have cut back on the software efforts and this is the result. I am going to reconsider using some other program even though it probably means a clean start, abandoning years of Quicken history. Last time I paid attention, MoneyDance seemed to be the obvious candidate. Suggestions?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I switched to Moneydance 2 years ago and never looked back.

 

[tulak]

I switched to MoneyDance from Quicken, not because I disliked Quicken, but because in 2012 I moved to a Mac and Quicken on the Mac was bad. In retrospect, I have no regrets.

I’ve used MS Money, Quicken and MoneyDance and each of these programs have their own quirks. If you’re interested in trying MoneyDance, then they have a limited version you can try for free.

Btw, this issue might not be Quicken specific. There’s another thread on the forum (downloading Fidelity html statements) where I mention the trend to move to data aggregators for downloading financial data. OFX is going away and that can be disruptive to all of these financial apps.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Quicken also has a problem right now connecting with some credit unions. I haven't been back to check the status in a couple of days but very annoying.
I already left them last year and then came back for the convenience but this I am definitely gone when the subscription is up.

 

[cranberryjoe]

I'm a Moneydance user but don't have a Schwab account. When I checked the Moneydance support forums a few days ago I saw lots of messages the last few months about Schwab no longer working with MD. Apparently Schwab permanently shut down their OFX servers recently. That will affect MD, Quicken, and the like.

The newest version of Moneydance (2022.2) has a new OPTIONAL feature called Moneydance+ which uses Plaid instead of OFX to download transactions. This lets MD+ download from thousands of more financial institutions. OFX seems to be slowly dying.

MD+ requires you to pay a subscription fee because it's not free for the Moneydance developer to use it. If you already own MD, it's $2/month. You can also choose to pay $5/month without buying the software separately, making it full subscription software like so many others are doing. It's important to highlight that this subscripton fee is OPTIONAL. If you don't pay for MD+ you get the same existing behavior/price/support as Moneydance has always done (including losing download support for places like Schwab when they drop OFX).

I have not yet tried Moneydance+. It's very new, and from the support posts it's still quite buggy. I'll revisit in a few months. I have a few credit cards and banks that I have to manually download into MD, and if this makes them automatic, then it may be worth $2/month for me.

See the Moneydance blog posts about this change.

https://infinitekind.com/blog/moneydance-plus-privacy-subscriptions
https://infinitekind.com/blog/moneydance-2022

 

[Montecfo]

I just use the download for credit card data. If that becomes a problem, I will just stop recording those details, let subscription lapse and go unsupported.

There are a lot of online tools to analyze transactions now.

 

[Kwirk]

Moneydance has met my needs for some years now.

The initial transition was a bit challenging but hopefully that has been improved.

I haven't tried Moneydance+ and will avoid it for as long as I can. Vanguard data downloads w/o problems. I avoid financial institutions (Capital One) that don't download readily.

 

[tulak]

Great write-up cranberryjoe.

I’m hesitant about MD+. I’ll stick with OFX until it stops working, but I realize that eventually I’ll have to probably use an aggregator. Even though I might go manual for some accounts that I don’t trust with an aggregator.

I appreciate Moneydance’s openness about the transition and communication on their blog. Another reason that I’m happy to use them over the alternatives.

 

[cathy63]

I just got another update to Quicken today that has more fixes for the Schwab issues, so anyone who's still using it might want to run Check for Updates.

Release notes:

Version R36.54 (Dec, 2021)
What's fixed
· An issue in which, for Charles Schwab users with multiple accounts, in unusual circumstances some transactions could be downloaded to the incorrect account. Note: customers who experienced this issue can correct previously downloaded transactions using “Move Transactions” from the gear menu for the investment register.

Version R36.48 (Dec, 2021)
What's fixed
· Issues with account logins, deactivations, and reauthorizations related to Charles Schwab account migration.
· Issues displaying account balances in the register for some Charles Schwab and Capital One customers.

Version R36.45 (Nov, 2021)
What's fixed
· Issues deactivating direct connect investment accounts.
· Connection issue with Charles Schwab resulting in missing transactions.
· Issues syncing investment accounts between desktop and mobile/web.

Version R36.41 (Nov, 2021)
What's fixed
· Issue downloading bond buys/sells from Charles Schwab.
· Issue syncing IRA investing accounts.

Version R36.38 (Oct, 2021)
Improvements
· We’re updating the infrastructure used to connect Quicken to financial institutions, making it more secure and reliable. This is part of a long-term rollout that started in the last release. We have updated the connection infrastructure to Charles Schwab. Customers with Charles Schwab should update now to continue downloading transactions. You will need this version to take advantage of this new connection. The old Charles Schwab connection will be discontinued, so you should upgrade immediately.
What's fixed
· An issue in which bills that were in the Awaiting next bill status were not shown on the Bills dashboard.