Bogus Transactions
I have been using Monedance and Moneydance+ for a few weeks now and am generally pleased. However, in the process of downloading transactions in at least one of my accounts, bogus transactions are sometimes created. For instance, sometimes a transaction will be created that has a description from a previous transaction(s) and a payment amount from another, but in the real world it doesn't exist. I simply delete it. In another case, a real transaction is downloaded from the bank but not matched with a pre-entered transaction in the check register; instead, it creates a new transaction for the required amount with an unrelated check number and description. At this point I am on the lookout for this to happen and catch such occurrences during the reconciliation process, but it requires a fair amount of manual intervention. What's going on? Note that I have checked "Automatically Merge Downloaded Transactions" and "Only match downloaded transactions when they are at most 5 days apart". Thank you.
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1 Posted by sth on 12 Apr, 2025 04:27 PM
Check the difference between "as downloaded" and "current transaction" in the right hand side bar when you confirm these transactions.
MD makes sure the amounts match and then some sort of keyword match to a previous transaction when assigning a match. That previous match may or may not be correct.
Especially for the transactions "in the real world it doesn't exist." which you can right click and look at the raw download info to get an idea of what the bank thinks exists in the real world.
I have been using MD for thousands of transactions over the years and some are mischaracterized but the reason is usually obvious. If you accept the "as downloaded option" then there is an option to "merge" with an existing transaction.
I use more than 5 days for matching since sometimes folks take more than that to cash a mailed check.
HTH,
(NOT IK support)
2 Posted by terry.taylor99 on 16 Apr, 2025 03:41 PM
Thank you for your suggestions. I will keep an eye out for differences
between "as downloaded" and "current transaction" in the right hand side
bar when confirming these transactions. Here's an example I just
received: a transaction for $2307.75 on April 10, 2075 to Liberty
Collision, charged to "Auto Expenses: Accident Repairs". I did, in fact,
have auto body work done recently, but that transaction was already
cleared on March 21 and it was for a different amount. I did have another
transaction for $2307.75 for life insurance that cleared on April 4.
Somehow MD keeps trying to download a $2307.75 transaction even though it
has already cleared, then guesses incorrectly which payee it belongs to.
I'm beginning to think it may have something to do with PNC bank, but I
didn't have this kind of issue when I used Quicken. Looking at the raw
data, I see that PNC indicates that the payee is " LIBERTY COLLISION
CENTER", the payment is $2307.75 and the check number is 7006. These data
all point toward a previously reconciled check. I'll explore that more.
On Sat, Apr 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM sth <[email blocked]>
wrote:
3 Posted by terry.taylor99 on 16 Apr, 2025 04:15 PM
Your suggestion to look at the raw data was very helpful. It seems that PNC bank and/or Plaid combined information from two different checks. First of all, it references check # 7006 which was to an insurance company for $2307.75, but it also references "Liberty Collision Center" which was a totally different check for a different amount. Bizarre. I can see why MD was confused. I will further investigate.
4 Posted by terry.taylor99 on 27 Apr, 2025 10:33 PM
One last comment on "bogus transactions": After a little more investigation, I found that each such transaction was related to a check that was late in being deposited. I had set match downloaded transactions when they are at most 5 days apart. With that setting, when an "old" check was finally deposited MD didn't know what to do with it. After bumping this up to 30 days I didn't have a problem, so sth was spot on with his comment on April 12.
5 Posted by sth on 28 Apr, 2025 03:41 PM
@terry.taylor99, yes that time limit can mess up matching. I have mine set to 21 days. If it is too long it ends up matching transactions that are similar from the previous month.