Trouble with Empower account links and data refreshing

[Markola]

I’ve been using for years the complimentary Empower service to link all of my accounts into one dashboard. It’s always had trouble staying connected with the various financial institutions, and I’m constantly fixing and refreshing the links. Does anyone know of a different app or website, even paid, that works better than Empower to aggregate all my accounts for viewing in one place? I know Fidelity has a built-in one but it’s unimpressive.

 

[Koolau]

I’ve been using for years the complimentary Empower service to link all of my accounts into one dashboard. It’s always had trouble staying connected with the various financial institutions, and I’m constantly fixing and refreshing the links. Does anyone know of a different app or website, even paid, that works better than Empower to aggregate all my accounts for viewing in one place? I know Fidelity has a built-in one but it’s unimpressive.

I guess I didn't even know such links existed. I should probably find out more.

 

[Texas Proud]

I use the one at Schwab... and it also has problems connecting to Vanguard at times... have to go in and refresh when I see those accounts not being updated.... just did it...

 

[skyking1]

Empower does not work reliably for us either.

 

[Alan]

<rant>
My US pension was switched to Empower from Prudential last June and it isn’t anywhere near as good as Prudential. Took a lot of effort to get access in the first place because it insists on a zip code as part of security but only accepts numbers. Eventually got through on the phone and eventually they got me access. My address had not come over from Prudential and when I tried to enter it and selected country UK the field name “zip code” changed to “post code” but would only accept numbers. Another phone call to fix that.

This year no 1099-R available to download (one of the site deficiencies) or arriving by mail (my Prudential one for the first half of the year came as usual). FOUR more phone calls to try and get it, the address was wrong again twice, then told the address is correct and it had been sent but either it was not correct in that particular database or they were not paying the correct postage. No way would they send or make available a pdf, or tell me the details on the form (in particular I need their address and employer id) so I can create a substitute 1099-R. I did contact an ex colleague and she told me the details of the relevant bits on her Empower 1099 and I calculated both what my gross and withholdings would be to create a substitute 1099.

To phone them requires going through verification entering DOB, SSN and ZIPCODE so it takes ages to fail 3 times and get to a person as my post code is a combo of letters and number (no short cut available).

2 days ago my 1099-R arrived in the post with “AIR MAIL” stamped on the envelope in 2 places

<rant over>

 

[mrfeh]

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=415838

 

[pjigar]

I use Bank of America for account aggregation which uses Yodlee backend. There are always a few accounts which don't update reliability. Sometimes Yodlee will fix them after a few months, sometimes not. Most of these accounts have been various employer plan accounts (401K, HSA, ESPP, Deferred Income, etc.) where transactions are minimal (and I only care about the balance). I just add a manual account if some of these accounts do not update/refresh after a few months. My goal is to track expenses and net worth. Yodlee has never failed to refresh credit card/bank accounts and that is what I care about the most.

Here is more exhaustive list with the features I found but I can't comment on the "refresh reliability": Mint Successor

PS: FWIW Empower doesn't work for Yodlee either! It worked last year, now it doesn't.

PS1: I have been using BoA/Yodlee combo for 18 years!. BoA offered 2-factor authentication using offline OTP generator (SafePass) even back then. BoA allows you to download CSV of the transactions so I have an offline copy of all the transactions in a spreadsheet if Yodlee ever goes belly up.

 

[Markola]

Thanks all for comparing notes. Yodlee is janky for me, which is what Empower uses to connect to Vanguard. It uses some other connector for Fidelity. Neither is consistent.

First world problems!

 

[skyking1]

<rant>
My US pension was switched to Empower from Prudential last June and it isn’t anywhere near as good as Prudential. Took a lot of effort to get access in the first place because it insists on a zip code as part of security but only accepts numbers. Eventually got through on the phone and eventually they got me access. My address had not come over from Prudential and when I tried to enter it and selected country UK the field name “zip code” changed to “post code” but would only accept numbers. Another phone call to fix that.

This year no 1099-R available to download (one of the site deficiencies) or arriving by mail (my Prudential one for the first half of the year came as usual). FOUR more phone calls to try and get it, the address was wrong again twice, then told the address is correct and it had been sent but either it was not correct in that particular database or they were not paying the correct postage. No way would they send or make available a pdf, or tell me the details on the form (in particular I need their address and employer id) so I can create a substitute 1099-R. I did contact an ex colleague and she told me the details of the relevant bits on her Empower 1099 and I calculated both what my gross and withholdings would be to create a substitute 1099.

To phone them requires going through verification entering DOB, SSN and ZIPCODE so it takes ages to fail 3 times and get to a person as my post code is a combo of letters and number (no short cut available).

2 days ago my 1099-R arrived in the post with “AIR MAIL” stamped on the envelope in 2 places

<rant over>

Can you use a forwarding US address to cut out all that monkey motion?

 

[Alan]

Can you use a forwarding US address to cut out all that monkey motion?

I have no forwarding address in the USA, and don’t want to pay for one just for this. Everyone else seems to cope with a foreign address including the following financial places I regularly access online: Prudential, Vanguard, HSBC US, SSA, Amex, IRS, ADP etc

Empower says that it deals with overseas customers and addresses but even Canada does not use numeric only zip codes. At least I can log in to Empower using my email account to receive a validation code.

Plus, in this day and age, why don’t they provide downloadable pdf files for payment advice, tax documents etc. Everyone else does, including the SSA.

 

[Gotadimple]

I hear you Alan. It is a PITA for sure. Same deal as you, my account was bought by Empower. Getting mail address changed (in the USA) still required that I go back to the former employer to have them do that. Of course the company had been bought out 3 times so writing to the successor company was a waste of time.

Back to Empower Customer Service where magically they were able to accomplish something.

TLR: Generally not friendly or easy to work with.

 

[indiajust]

I use schwabs to track net worth and history, it now includes real estate as zillow is becoming a goto data feed provider for this. The only accounts it wont pick up are those like private credit, hedge, more or less anything that does not link to the banking system. So I have about 15% of net worth that does not show up.

I use Quicken to integrate everything into one view. And that pulls transactions as well as personal loans, side accounts, personal assets, crypto, everything i can think of.