Transactions Missing from Download
I have noticed that not all transactions are downloaded to at least one of my financial accounts. Specifically, the download from a credit card account includes payments and charges, but does not include monthly interest charges. Shouldn't these transactions also be included?
Thanks.
George
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1 Posted by -Kevin N. on Aug 31, 2013 @ 10:21 PM
Hi George,
Moneydance support will likely need to know if you are using direct-connect to import the data or if you are using a manual method. If so, what file format are you downloading / importing?
While you're at it, from the Moneydance Menu bar, go to Help > Console Window.
Copy & Paste the first several lines of text into your next post. This will provide MD support with your version of Moneydance, your OS and version of Java.
The name of the financial institution may also be helpful.
If this is a manual import, you may want to try to open the downloaded file in a simple text editor to see if the interest charged is an included txn. Be careful opening the downloaded file so as not to change is file association.
-Kevin N.
2 Posted by gestone on Aug 31, 2013 @ 10:31 PM
Kevin,
The financial institution is Discover Card, and I'm using direct-connect. The download works properly with my American express account - also using direct-connect.
Here are the first few lines of the console window:
Starting Moneydance 2012.5 (862) at Sat Aug 31 16:54:06 EDT 2013
Settings Folder: /Users/gestone/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Library/Application Support/Moneydance
OS: Mac OS X 10.8.4 x86_64
Java: 1.7.0-moneydance2012-888 (Oracle Corporation)
Thanks,
George
3 Posted by -Kevin N. on Aug 31, 2013 @ 10:58 PM
Hi George,
I also use Discover but I don't carry a balance so there is never an interest charge.
Is it only the interest charge txn that is missing?
I poked around Discover.com but couldn't find any means to manually download an importable file.
It might be worth a call to Discover's Tech support. I would steer clear of telling them that you are using Moneydance. Many financial institution have never heard of MD and will mistakenly state that they don't support it. If the question arises you could probably get away with telling them that you're using Quicken. Quicken uses the same OFX protocols as Moneydance for direct-connect.
-Kevin N.
4 Posted by gestone on Sep 01, 2013 @ 12:59 AM
Kevin,
As far as I can determine, it is only the interest transactions that are missing. I re-checked, and even though there was no balance in some months, those months where there was a balance, no interest transaction was downloaded.
I'll take your advice about not mentioning Moneydance when talking to Discover Card support. I used Quicken for a long time, and I know the download worked for them.
Thanks for your help today, Kevin,
George
5 Posted by gestone on Sep 01, 2013 @ 01:12 AM
Kevin,
I downloaded both a .csv and .qfx file from Discover Card, and there were no interest transactions in either.
Geo
6 Posted by -Kevin N. on Sep 01, 2013 @ 02:08 AM
Hi George,
Ah yes, I see now where the download links are on Discovercard.com.
From what I've read on these forums there are 3 possible ways for software to download data from a financial institution.
Direct-connect, which Moneydance and Quicken both use. This method connects directly to an OFX server.
Web-connect, connects to the financial institution's website and downloads a file much like the client can do manually. Quicken can use this method.
Finally, web-scraping, which connects to the financial institution's website and search's the HTML of the site for the pertinent data. I think Quicken can do this also.
Per your findings, perhaps Quicken may be using web-scraping to collect the interest charge. This could explain why it works with Quicken but not with Moneydance.
Regardless, the manually downloaded file as well as the direct-connect OFX file should each have the interest txn included in them.
This looks to be a Discovercard issue.
Let me know how you make out. OK?
-Kevin N.
7 Posted by Ben Spencer on Sep 01, 2013 @ 02:16 PM
If you open the OFX file in a text editor can you see the interest charge transactions or are they actually missing from the downloaded file?
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support
8 Posted by gestone on Sep 01, 2013 @ 02:47 PM
Ben,
I've examined both the CSV and QFX files I downloaded from Discover Card for analysis. No Interest transactions are included in either file.
Geo
9 Posted by -Kevin N. on Sep 01, 2013 @ 02:48 PM
Hi Ben,
Discovercard doesn't offer OFX as one of the manual download options.
They offer, QFX, XLS, CSV and QBO.
It there a way to intercept the OFX file from the direct-connect connection? Is it downloaded to a temp folder before being imported into MD?
-Kevin N.
10 Posted by Ben Spencer on Sep 01, 2013 @ 04:03 PM
Kevin,
OFX and QFX are essentially identical except that QFX contains a few quicken specific headers which Moneydance ignores.
gestone
I am not certain what to suggest. Given that the transactions are missing from the files you downloaded they are probably missing from the Direct OFX connection as well. If the data isn't there there is nothing we/Moneydance can do. I do think its worth contacting Discover card as a customer and complaining - though given that they are such a large organization any complaints will likely get ignored by level 1 tech support. Unless you can actually talk to someone technical I don't have much hope of them changing their process.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support
11 Posted by gestone on Sep 01, 2013 @ 04:17 PM
Ben,
I'll try to reach someone within DiscoverCard that can at least address the issue, or be made aware of it. It's been a while since I've used Quicken, and I don't have it loaded on my system now, so I cannot verify whether or not the interest/finance charge was downloaded. I just don't recall this being a problem when I was using Quicken. It certainly does not seem to be a problem with Moneydance. MD is simply processing what is included in the download.
This is certainly a situation with which I can live, since I know it exists.
I'll post what I find out from DiscoverCard.
Thanks,
Geo
12 Posted by gestone on Sep 03, 2013 @ 03:45 PM
I found this question/answer on the DiscoverCard site FAQ this morning.
"Why don't my monthly interest charges appear in my Quicken transactions?
Monthly interest charges currently are calculated as part of your current balance but do not download from the server in the list of retrieved transactions. You may, however, manually enter interest charges into your Quicken register if you wish to keep track of them as a separate line item."
Now we know. The monthly interest charge is available, but intentionally omitted from the download, so I'll simply logon and retrieve it manually for those months in which I have a balance.
13 Posted by -Kevin N. on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:02 PM
Hi George,
Thank you for reporting back with your findings. That's interesting. Odd, but interesting.
I guess the moral of the story is to pay off the Discover Card balance every month so that there is no interest charge. :)
-Kevin N.
14 Posted by gestone on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:42 PM
Kevin,
That's certainly the best option. ;-)
Geo
gestone closed this discussion on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:42 PM.
-Kevin N. re-opened this discussion on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:46 PM
15 Posted by -Kevin N. on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:46 PM
Hi George,
I pay off both my Chase Card and my Discovercard each month. They each pay rewards so it's optimal to do so.
I'm going to bookmark your post # 13 for future reference.
Thanks again.
-Kevin N.
16 Posted by gestone on Sep 03, 2013 @ 04:58 PM
Thanks for all of your help over the last few days, Kevin. As you can tell, I'm just starting to use MD, and your help has eased the implementation considerably!
Geo
17 Posted by -Kevin N. on Sep 03, 2013 @ 05:10 PM
Hi George,
You're welcome. It's my pleasure.
Technically, it was actually yourself who resolved this issue. :)
You'll find that there are some really clever and helpful people on these forums, not to mention the MD Support Staff who shine above the rest.
-Kevin N.
gestone closed this discussion on Sep 24, 2013 @ 04:16 PM.