UK coverage
Hi
I like the software compared to BankTree application but could not see the UK financial firms listed.
can you tell me if any Uk banks are accessible via Moneydance?
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
| ? | Show this help |
|---|---|
| ESC | Blurs the current field |
Comment Form
| r | Focus the comment reply box |
|---|---|
| ^ + ↩ | Submit the comment |
You can use Command ⌘ instead of Control ^ on Mac
1 Posted by Peter Williams on 16 May, 2020 10:36 AM
I'm in the UK and proudly European, with a son and family in Montreal so I use several currencies.
I quit Quicken 5 years ago when Intuit stopped its support. I moved to Banktree. Its a great pity Quicken 2004 was pulled because I have still not found anything to match it.
I used Banktree for about a year. It's a rubbish program and one is not asking very much in software terms, It can't be that difficult to replicate Quicken but no one has matched it. I have been using Moneydance since 2015. It's better than Banktree but still not as good as Quicken. If Moneydance could be persuaded to cater for Europeans it would be great but I see no prospect at present. Moneydance are headquartered in Edinburgh so it's odd that they don't take a more Eurocentric view of the World.
2 Posted by derekkent23 on 16 May, 2020 11:51 AM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Peter
Not certain if the two posts by the same person at https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/financial-institutio...
Most UK banks allow there customers to log in on line the there accounts and download transaction files which can be imported into Moneydance see https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/online-banking-and-bill-pay/m...
The only automatic bank connection Moneydance supports is Direct Connect which is only supported by banks in north America.
Other methods are available but involve passing you passwords etc to a third part which for your security Moneydance do not support see https://infinitekind.com/blog/online-banking-privacy-security
Could you expand on what you mean by “If Moneydance could be persuaded to cater for Europeans”
What’s missing?
Hope this helps.
3 Posted by peter on 16 May, 2020 01:25 PM
Derek
Thank you for your email. Simply importing transactions doesn’t have a lot of utility because you can just as easily download the banks CSV file and use that to manage your account, you don’t need to buy software.
I just wonder if we are talking of two different features. With the last Version of Quicken before its demise you could download the bank transactions which it would then compare in a second column against the entered transactions aiding the process of reconciliation and although it didn’t automate it was a huge help.
I did try the import facility when I first got the software and it didn’t allow for reconciliation then but I will try again.
Kind regards
Peter Williams
4 Posted by derekkent23 on 16 May, 2020 02:05 PM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Peter
You can manually add transactions to an account as they occur, then say at the end of each month download a transaction file from your on line account preferably in a format OFX or QFX. Once downloaded you can merge/confirm see https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/online-banking-and-bill-pay/c...
Or use the reconciliation feature. See https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/register-and-transactions/rec...
Try it out for yourself.
The downloaded version of Moneydance is a full working version with the only limit being a maximum of 100 manually entered transactions, with no time limit. Imported files from other financial programs and your bank have no limit on imports, provided that you do not confirm them. If you decided to purchase you are sent a key by email that unlocks the 100-manual transaction limit. If after testing with this free trial version you purchase and change your mind see the 90 day money back guaranty at https://infinitekind.com/refunds
For the future Moneydance never sunsets the version it releases. So, you don’t have to upgrade. If you won’t to upgrade the next version is free (say 2017 to 2019) and from then on you get a 50% discount. All upgrades within a version are free.
Make sure you are running this build of Moneydance https://infinitekind.com/preview
For information on how to use Moneydance see https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb
Hope this helps.
5 Posted by peter on 17 May, 2020 12:43 PM
Derek
First may I thank you for taking the trouble to reply to my comment. I am really very grateful. I have been using Moneydance since March 2015 and I had no idea that the facility for reconciliation you have pointed me to existed.
I have followed your link to “merge/confirm” below and will certainly use it in future. I would be very grateful if you could answer one or two question about it please?
1. When using the online banking bill and pay feature is every item on the imported QIF file identified with a blue dot? I’m wondering whether items that could be construed by the program as NOT matching any pre-existing entered transaction are added to the Moneydance account by default? Blue dots don’t populate every transaction (I tried experimenting by pulling in from my Bank QIF file the period from January 2019 to September 2019).
2. When examining one of the transactions in order to decide how to treat it, there is an option at the top headed “Details”. This always seems to be blank. What is it for, when would it be populated?
3. Am I right that the “merge” option is in reality the question “do I delete, or is this a slightly different and additional transaction to any others in the account – am I correct? Nearness of date must be part of the algorithm used. Rarely I buy something that doesn’t appear on my Bank Statement for perhaps 3 or 4 months. For example, because of COVID I ordered a cultivator six weeks ago but the supplier has no stocks until a new shipment arrives by boat, possibly not until the end of July.
I note that the program ‘learns’ about categories. Is it possible to turn that off for a transaction? We have a son, his wife and family in Montreal and visit at least twice a year. Any Debit card transaction whilst we are away is accompanied by a Non-Sterling Transaction fee. I always add this to the transaction cost which could fall into any of many Categories as one entry. I shall need to change this so that the transaction fees are entered separately in future and allocated to the same Category as the parent transaction. The program is never going to ‘learn’ a rule from this.
Thank you again.
Peter Williams
6 Posted by derekkent23 on 18 May, 2020 08:35 AM
I am not support staffs, just a user.
Hi Peter
If you are going to try things out then I suggest you do an EXPORT BACKUP so you can RESTORE FROM BACKUP in case thing don’t turn out as expected.
1. I never download QIF transaction files from my bank. The better banks offer transaction files in a number of formats. If possible, select QFX or OFX formatted files. The reason for this is that these file types include what is called a "Unique Transaction ID" (FITID) for each transaction. Moneydance uses thses ID to prevent duplicates. QIF files don’t contain this ID so unless you are carefully you can end up with duplicates. Good banks offer the feature to only include transaction since the last download to prevent duplicates. Other you can set a time range to prevent duplicates, but all in all if you can use OFX or QFX files. As I say I use OFX formatted files. There are a number of setting under FILES (MONEYDANCE on Mac) – PREFERENCES – NETWORK that affect the way downloads are handled. MARK TRANSACTION AS CLEARED WHEN CONFIRMED and USE BANK DATE FOR MERGED TRANSACTIONS are both self-evident. Another is AUTOMATICALLY MERGE DOWNLOADED TRANSACTION. With this box unticked when you import a QFX/QFX file all the downloaded transactions are interlaced with your manually entered transactions. At this stage of the process transactions appear to be duplicated until you merge/confirm. Downloaded transactions have a solid blue dot. When the AUTOMATICALLY MERGE DOWNLOADED TRANSACTION, box is ticked Moneydance attempts to merges the downloaded transactions with your manually entered transactions. The next part of the process to confirm all the blue dotted transactions. Click on the first blue dot a merge/confirm window will open. As you merge/confirm each transaction the blue dots turn to blue circles. You can edit your manually entered transaction, if required. If you click on the manually entered transaction as part of the merge/confirm process the category in your manually entered transaction will be used rather than the one used by the bank, which can be strange. Note if both the manually entered and downloaded transaction have a memo yours will be used or if you did not enter a memo but the bank download has the memo it will be used. Sound a bit complicated but once you start using it, it becomes clear.
2. Moneydance has a feature where by you can add an attachment to a transaction, say an invoice. If there is an attachment will appear in the DETAIL window, if not its blank.
3. Hopefully the first part is answered in one above. If a transaction does not actually take place and thus is not in the download then the manually entered transaction will just remain. When the download eventually does take place and there is a large date difference not sure what would happen. Possibly the price field would be used as part of the match process. I always just change the transaction date out into the future if I know the transaction will not be actioned for some time so I have visibility.
As far as I know you can’t turn of the category lean feature but in your example, I don’t think this should matter if you handle foreign currency transaction as intended
Assuming you want to enter foreign currency transactions into a base currency account.
You need first to set up categories in the foreign currency. TOOL – CATEGORIES – NEW. Remember to change the CURRENCY TYPE using the dropdown when you set up a non-base category to the required currency. As you can see you can end up with categories with similar names which need to be differentiated by currency.
Now when you want to enter a transaction for a category in that foreign currency select the appropriate category.
e.g.
Holiday:Travel - (GBP) -------- base currency
Holiday:Travel – (US Dollars)-------------- foreign currency
Holiday:Travel – (Euro)---------- foreign currency
When a non-base currency category is selected you will now notice that the Rate and Foreign Amt fields are open for you to use when you select a category created for use with a foreign currency.
Assuming that the exchange rate for the foreign currency is available under TOOLS – CURRENCIES the RATE value will fill in. Enter the Payment or Deposit amount (for credit cards Charge or Payment) in the base currency and the Foreign amount will fill in. You can change the Rate if required. Instead you can enter the Payment or Deposit amount (for credit cards Charge or Payment) in the base currency and the Foreign amount and the Rate will change accordingly. You can’t enter the Foreign Amt as there is only one field so you are not able to define it as a Payment or Deposit amount (for credit cards Charge or Payment).
I think splits will also handle a mix of base and foreign currency transactions.
You can also set up foreign currency accounts.
Hope this helps
7 Posted by dwg on 18 May, 2020 09:26 AM
I'm a fellow user.
With the latest version of Moneydance any downloaded and imported transaction should show with a blue dot, after the transaction has been confirmed this should change to a blue circle.
8 Posted by peter on 18 May, 2020 07:16 PM
Derek
Your email is fantastic. You should write the Moneydance Manual! You have unlocked a lot of Utility that I never knew Moneydance had.
I bank with First Direct which offers downloads as QIF, CSV , JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or midata so I think I’m stuck with QIF but thanks to your warnings I have a much clearer idea of what’s going on when I import.
I really appreciate the time you have put into answering my questions.
Kind regards, Derek
Peter Williams
9 Posted by derekkent23 on 18 May, 2020 09:35 PM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Peter
Glad I was able to help.
Have Fun.
Maddy closed this discussion on 18 May, 2020 10:06 PM.