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Amex CC no longer downloads transactions

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RJ

06 Apr, 2010 06:14 PM

Hi,

I've been using MD to download Amex CC transactions for a while now successfully, but suddenly it no longer works. I disabled Online Banking, then went into Online->Setup Online Banking, then started a New Connection to American Express, picked the right acct, entered my name/pwd info, and then I get the following error:

Online Error

There was an error communicating with your financial institution. The details of this error are below.

Bank Name: American Express

The error code reported by the server was: 2000
[ofx.unsupportedClientApplication] Client application or version is not supported by this server.
[ref: xxx ]

(I'll provide the ref info to an admin if needed.)

Has Moneydance stopped being supported by Amex??

1. 1 Posted by Jessica Little on 07 Apr, 2010 12:57 AM

   

   Hi RJ,

   Unfortunately, you've run into a known bu in Moneydance. Luckily, we think we might have this fixed! If you're willing (and running a Mac), could you try installing a test update to see if it solves the problem? You can download it from our website at http://moneydance.com/preview/744/MacOS_X/Moneydance.zip. Please let me know if this works for you.

   Jessica Little
   Moneydance Support

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2. 2 Posted by RJ on 07 Apr, 2010 04:17 PM

   

   I have a Mac, but unfortunately I don't use Moneydance on it as it's a work computer. How long do you think until you have a fix that works on other machines as well? (Since MD is Java-based I'm a little surprised the update is Mac-only.)

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3. 3 Posted by Jessica Little on 08 Apr, 2010 07:22 PM

   

   Hi RJ,

   This is a test release, so it's not actually out in the wild yet. The fix will definitely be released for all platforms as part of release 3 of Moneydance 2010, which we hope to get out very soon. However, if you let me know what operating system you're using Moneydance on, I can send you a link to the appropriate test build for you.

   Jessica Little
   Moneydance Support

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4. 4 Posted by Bob W. on 12 Apr, 2010 01:18 AM

   

   I'm encountering the same error with all of the several Amex card accounts I have. My accounts are a mixture of charge and credit, and they don't all point to the same online ID. I tried build 744, but I still get the message when using it. Is there anything else I can try?

   Config: Mac Pro with OS X 10.6.2; Java Version: 1.6.0_17

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5. 5 Posted by RJ on 12 Apr, 2010 02:22 AM

   

   Hi Jessica,

   I have Moneydance on Linux. I guess from Bob's comment Build 744 might not work either, but if you can give me a link to the test build for Linux I'll try it out as well.

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6. 6 Posted by Jessica Little on 12 Apr, 2010 05:43 PM

   

   Hi Bob and RJ,

   We've actually just released a new build, number 746. Youc an download it from our website at http://moneydance.com/trac/wiki/Moneydance2010Beta. Could you try installing that and see if it helps any?

   If that doesn't work, here's a shot in the dark: Could you try contacting AMEX and asking them to "reset" your verification status for your personal finance manager software? It might be that previous failed connections from before we updated our connection information somehow flagged your account. It wouldn't surprise me if such a flag expired after a while, which is why people who couldn't connect suddenly can. If you ask them to reset your connection and that solves the problem, great! Then we'll know what to tell others having this problem. If, on the other hand, the don't know what you're talking about...well, back to the drawing board!

   Thanks for your help in troubleshooting this problem. Hopefully we'll have it sorted out soon.

   Jessica Little
   Moneydance Support

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7. 7 Posted by Bob W. on 13 Apr, 2010 08:21 AM

   

   Okay, I tried 746, and no go. So I called Amex and was routed to the Internet services support group. The guy I talked with was pretty insistent that there isn't a separate verification flag for software, that it just ties back to the main login. He said that if I can manually log into the site (which I can), that the software shouldn't have a problem. His only suggestion was that sometimes, Quicken and the like will end up with invalid credentials that need to be changed, and suggested I ask how to do that.

   Is there some way by which MD identifies itself to the server, something akin to the user-agent string in HTTP requests? I don't know anything about the OFX protocol (obviously :-), but from the error message being returned by the server, it sounds like MD is identifying itself in such a way that Amex's servers don't recognize it. Does MD need to say it's Quicken or something? That said, from what you say, it sounds like others have had it start working again, which wouldn't make sense if it's a program-identification issue. An odd issue, for sure.

   Ah, the problem is definitely on the MD side. I just downloaded a demo copy of iBank, and it was able to download my data without incident. In fact, I can switch back-and-forth between the programs, and iBank will download each time while MD fails each time. Thus, it appears a change in the 2010 release broke MD.

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8. 8 Posted by Jessica Little on 14 Apr, 2010 03:32 PM

   

   Hi Bob,

   When Moneydance connects to AMEX, we identify as Quicken 2008, so we should be recognized by the server. That fact that the connection seems to be working for most folks makes me think that perhaps there's some information that's got messed up on some people's individual installs of Moneydance.

   We can test that out but clear out all of the conenciton information in your Moneydance install and then trying to connect to AMEX again. I've attached a file that will help do that. Before proceeding, please back up your Moneydance file, just in case something goes wrong. So far, this hasn't caused any problems, but better safe than sorry!

   To use the file, first save it to your computer and then follow these steps:

   1) In Moneydance, click on the Extensions Menu and choose the "Add..." option
   2) In the window that pops up, make sure the "From Internet" option is selected and then click next.
   3) From the list of available extensions, choose the "python scripting interface" extension, then click Next to download the extension and finish to complete the installation.
   4) Again, click the Extensions menu. This time, choose the "Python Interface" option.
   5) In the python scripting window, click the "read from file" button and load the file from whereever you saved it. You won't get any confirmation of anything happening, but you also shouldn't get any error messages. Close the window when done.
   6) Set up the connection to your bank like normal. Since all of your settings have been cleared, you should get the most recent connection information for your bank.

   Hopefully, that will work. If it doesn't, please let me know.

   Jessica Little
   Moneydance Support

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9. 9 Posted by Bob W. on 15 Apr, 2010 02:19 AM

   

   Okay, I get up through step 4, but I'm not sure what file to select in step 5 - I'm never prompted to save a file anywhere. Where might the file be and what would it be called?

   Thanks.

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10. 10 Posted by Bob W. on 15 Apr, 2010 08:51 AM

    

    I noticed that I missed the reference to an attachment - sorry for the confusion. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything attached, neither here nor to the e-mail copy I received.

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11. 11 Posted by Jessica Little on 17 Apr, 2010 05:48 PM

    

    Hi Bob,

    I'm sorry, I forgot the attachment! Sometimes I wish this support software had Gmail's "did you mean to attach something" feature...

    Anyway, the file is attached to this message. Let me know if you still have trouble connecting after using it.

    Jessica Little
    Moneydance Support

    • remove_all_services.py 139 Bytes
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12. Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 24 Jul, 2011 07:45 PM.