Moneydance+ Download Button Lists
John C
I added a new account at Morgan Stanley so I went through the process to update the connection to show this new account. I disconnected the Morgan Stanley connection and started all over with this firm, and the old and new accounts properly showed up (two are bank accounts and two are investment accounts at this firm). However, now the download buttons on all of these 4 Morgan Stanley accounts show a drop down list with two options: one says "Download from Moneydance+", and the other says "Download from Moneydance+:[name of the account]". I did not use the "Re-link Connection" option in the MD+ set up process. Is this why I'm seeing two download options instead of one? I do not know which one I should be using, or how to get rid of the one that is not needed. I went through the Toolbox extension options but did not see one that fits, except maybe the online banking "Force Disconnect an MD+ Connection (USE WITH CARE)", which I am hesitant to use with that warning, plus I would not know which connection to disconnect. Can you please help me to identify and get rid of the online connection that is not needed? Thank you
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1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Oct 14, 2023 @ 09:50 PM
Step 1. Try the toolbox cleanup banking links option. Did that work?
If not, why not just force disconnect both with toolbox and then make a new connection? Or gamble and force disconnect one, see if you got it right, if not, disconnect the other.
2 Posted by John Cauble on Oct 14, 2023 @ 11:27 PM
Hello, yes the toolbox cleanup banking links option worked! Thank you very much!!
Now, if I could only get Morgan Stanley and Etrade to actually download all transactions (in the bank accounts, Investments work fine), then I’d be set. I started a conversation about this several months ago, and again on Oct 3 – these firms blame Plaid, and Plaid blames these firms…
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/online-banking/1247258-morgan-stanley-no-longer-downloading
3 Posted by dtd on Oct 15, 2023 @ 12:11 AM
Well, Plaid delivers whatever the banks provide, so if items are missing, I'd usually point at the bank.
What items are missing?
4 Posted by dwg on Oct 15, 2023 @ 12:17 AM
Alas Moneydance can only download what is made available.
Financial Institutions are constantly showing they have little interest in providing data to their customers, so they tell them to use aggregators, with no consideration of privacy or security. If you have a problem then contact them they tell you to talk to the aggregator.
But the aggregator is not their customer so they often do not interact well with them either, or can make it impossible for an aggregator to even download the data.
You can often be left with the choice of downloading transaction files - if they make suitable ones available, and many don't, or manual entry.
5 Posted by John Cauble on Oct 15, 2023 @ 12:51 AM
Thank you for your responses and for this information!
The items that are missing are mainly interest income, and transfers into these bank accounts. Transfers out seem to work, although not always. Sometimes interest comes in, but much later. It seems to be random sometimes, but the overall trend is described above.
Yes, I have downloaded transaction files in the past, but got tired of having to log in to several places with forced 2 step authentications, so I try to manually enter the data that I know about each day. I have also stopped using certain banks and migrating to the ones that work well, but there are other things I like at Morgan Stanley and Etrade that keep me there.
The old OFX connections seemed to work the best, but these have gone away at many banks.
I learned it was not a Moneydance problem a while back, and I tend to believe Plaid over the banks. I thought I’d post on Moneydance just in case someone has figured anything out.
Thanks again for your prompt replies!
6 Posted by dwg on Oct 15, 2023 @ 01:50 AM
If you find it difficult in the U.S. spare a thought for the rest of the world.
I'm in Australia, Direct Connect does not exist, it never has, and I would say never will.
Banks generally provide transaction files for you to download in CSV and/or QIF and/or OFX format(s), I noticed the OFX files from one of my banks does not have transaction IDs making OFX no more use than QIF and QIF are damn easier to read.
As for Investments. If you directly invest in shares your buy/sell contract notes are only downloadable in PDF format from the broker, useless for importing from. Dividends are provided through share registries and the Dividend advises are again available only in PDF format and they are not consistent. So even if you wanted to try and extract the data, the variations make it difficult.
As for Managed Funds the Investment houses tend to only make the data available in CSV format, and it looks something like a bank statement with just Date, Description and Amount, totally useless for importing from.
The aggregators that support Australia tend only to download bank transactions.
7 Posted by John Cauble on Oct 15, 2023 @ 03:20 AM
I humbly apologize. I have been spoiled with well over 20 years of OFX direct connections that worked perfectly. Even had online bill pay directly ftom Moneydance. Never seemed like rocket science, so never understood why banks took these away. Thank you for giving me this perspective.
From: dwg
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2023 9:50 PM
To: [email blocked]
Subject: Re: Moneydance+ Download Button Lists [Online Banking #1247335]
8 Posted by dtd on Oct 15, 2023 @ 03:34 AM
The banks took them away (many of them) because they didn't want to provide data to their customers. Sounds crass, and they say things like "added security" but I doubt that giving the data to aggregators is "more secure" as it adds another company into the mix.
9 Posted by dwg on Oct 15, 2023 @ 03:41 AM
It is the way bank's have been going for some years.
Driven by accountant's with the goal of reducing any costs they can, so shut down Direct Connect means less systems to maintain, less staff needed to maintain them, fits nicely into their spreadsheets. It also reduces support costs elsewhere since they no longer have to deal with customers reporting they are having problems with the system, since there is no longer a system.
You see the same sort of things happening elsewhere, shutting down of branches, force customers to use online self service banking, it is all about reducing costs, customer service is no longer a real considerations for many of the institutions since they are "all the same", so you see a race to the bottom.
We have seen the same in Australia, banks have gone from being respected organisations to being cellar dwelling scum.
10 Posted by John Cauble on Oct 15, 2023 @ 05:43 AM
That's what I suspected. I've seen it with IT departments and Tech companies, no longer focused on what's best for the end user, only what saves costs, or better yet what makes their life easier. IT used to be a co-equal helpful partner, now they think they rule over of all us inferior people. They've managed to scare CEOs and CFOs about cyber threats, they can do whatever they want to do, no skin off the non-user, out of touch executives noses, just as long as it saves money.
Do you know which U.S. banks, if any, still work well with Moneydance in terms of Bill Pay directly from within Moneydance *and are best for downloading all transactions)? I might consider moving at least my checking account (which has the most transactions) to another bank to benefit from these features.
Thank you very much!
11 Posted by dwg on Oct 15, 2023 @ 06:23 AM
Yes IT often, at least, try to rule over the company they are part of, I have seen that in action.
We know which banks in general support Direct Connect, but that does not tell us exactly what services they support. Many support downloads without supporting Bill Pay. TIK (Moneydance) can probe looking for Direct Connect, but without having an account I suspect that information of what actual services are provided is not available.
Only Moneydance users that make use of Bill Pay are likely to be able to answer your question.
12 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Oct 15, 2023 @ 07:22 AM
Toolbox 🧰 +1 😃
13 Posted by John Cauble on Oct 15, 2023 @ 05:14 PM
That makes complete sense. Thank you again for all of your help!
System closed this discussion on Jan 14, 2024 @ 05:20 PM.