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Moneydance Stopped Downloading Transactions From Charles Schwab

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Raymond Danahy's Avatar

Raymond Danahy

19 Oct, 2020 08:16 PM

I have a checking account, a brokerage account and an IRA account at Charles Schwab. I usually download transactions for each of these accounts once per week (Saturday). Transactions from each of these accounts downloaded normally on Oct. 10. However, on Oct. 17, none of the Schwab accounts downloaded any transactions. Outside of Moneydance, I looked at the Schwab site and there were transactions in each of the accounts that occurred after my last successful download. The bottom of the register window displays the message "Transactions Downloading." After a few seconds, the message disappears and no new transactions appear in the register. In the past, if there were no new transactions, I would get the message "Downloaded zero new transactions." So it appears that MD recognizes that there are new transactions. But they are not downloading. Account transactions from other banks and credit cards download properly. Only my Schwab accounts are affected.

I run MD version 2020.1 (1928) on a Windows 10 desktop computer. Do you have any suggestions for how to resolve this problem?
Ray Danahy

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  1. 121 dtd's Avatar dtd on 26 Nov, 2020 11:25 PM

    @sth - oh, i understand, which is why I reiterated about my own anger at Schwab.

    I have worked in customer service I/T, which is exactly where I'd reached someone with Schwab. I know to never raise my voice, because I don't like customers who do that to me.

    Yet I did it in this case. Which goes to show I was also a "bit annoyed".

    Schwab's action was atrocious, and I couldn't believe, that after a week creating an "advocate" to find out the details, that I got yet another scripted response.

  2. 122 dwg's Avatar dwg on 26 Nov, 2020 11:45 PM

    Financial institutions (not to mention other companies) reply on their customers being apathetic and it being too much trouble to do anything about any changes they make, services they discontinue etc.

    Unfortunately they are mostly right that customers will only grumble and do nothing else.

    You see the usual rubbish from companies, enhance security (this covers a multitude of sins and stops many customers), improve the customer experience etc etc. With changes FIs make I usually ask myself two questions, Does it reduce their costs, does it reduce their liability.

  3. 123 wrsober's Avatar wrsober on 29 Nov, 2020 01:56 AM

    After starting a new thread on this same topic on Tuesday, dwg pointed me to this thread shortly after I created the new thread. I have since read through the discussion on this thread. Based upon that reading, I drafted an email to my Schwab consultant late on Wednesday evening.

    The Schwab consultant got back to me early Friday morning as Thursday was a holiday here in the US. The consultant told me that he would have members of the Schwab IT team get back to me. I received that follow-up call in the afternoon on Friday.

    The conversation with the Schwab IT team included two Schwab representatives. In that conversation, they confirmed that the only three software applications that did not loose access to the Schwab customer transaction data on October 16 were Quicken, TurboTax and H&R Block.

    These guys from IT did not know the status of the Moneydance/Schwab data access agreement and obviously they have no knowledge of the status of the coding project at Moneydance.

  4. 124 dtd's Avatar dtd on 29 Nov, 2020 02:55 AM

    Thanks for contacting Schwab, the more the merrier.

    It appears you also got the "what" vs the "why". Not surprising, that appears to be the only response they give. Did you get into the lack of an alternative for customers who don't use these solutions (which is really only Quicken for financial vs. tax). (i.e. OFX/QIF manual downloads vs the inadequate CSV)?

    Thanks for your update. Good response time by Schwab, albeit with the same answers again.

  5. 125 wrsober's Avatar wrsober on 29 Nov, 2020 03:48 AM

    They did provide an answer as to why. The reason for the change is to improve security over the access to our transaction data.

    They had no alternative to the inadequate CSV data extract that is available to all Schwab account holders.

    I take really lousy notes.

  6. 126 dtd's Avatar dtd on 29 Nov, 2020 04:03 AM

    Hmm... so the why is to improve security by no longer allowing their clients to download their own data, in the same format they've downloaded it for over a decade.

    And instead, give it to other companies, but not us. Got it. Definitely improves security (not).

    Thanks - that's about the most "why" I have heard as well.

    Appreciate your response.

  7. 127 sth's Avatar sth on 29 Nov, 2020 08:20 PM

    @wrsober, this is not a technical IT issue. It is a customer service issue. It is that Schwab cut off aggregators (such as us clients in this case) by only notifying their "selected" aggregators. They did not allow a transition period or notification of this action. This is bad client service, not IT. I am continually pressuring Schwab on how they are going to "make it right" for me the client (and aggregator). Not some other institution that is not their "client". Involving your local contact is good and I will be doing this on Monday. They turned off this access and can turn it back on for the next 6 months, this is not a decision by IT but client services.

    The "fix" that sean is working on is not technically a fix but a bandaid. Schwab has allowed the older OFX downloads but only from some specific IP addresses. Thus all our downloads will have to go through a proxy server that Sean sets up. Besides being a security risk, failure point and slow, this is only temporary.

    The newer FDX format files and the use of the oauth platform. This platform does give increased security keeps the aggregator from having your password. It also allows revoking privileges etc. But integrating this is a longer project and will not be done for months. Hopefully this will make things more secure and other institutions are converting as well.

    Bottom line, Sean is working on a kludge fix for the next few months and then longer term working on a final solution implementing this new file format. It will be for all platforms and only on MD 2021. It will come out in preview mode first and probably some of the more adventuresome in this thread will test and report success.

  8. 128 mteplitsky's Avatar mteplitsky on 29 Nov, 2020 11:45 PM

    I too just discovered today that I am unable to download directly from Schwab. As an alternate, I went to Schwab's website to download a CSV file to my computer. But then I am not able to important that into Moneydance, for reasons that baffle me..

    Reading these threads, I'm not clear what to do next.

  9. 129 dwg's Avatar dwg on 30 Nov, 2020 12:54 AM

    I'm a fellow user.

    CSV files cannot be imported into Investment accounts in Moneydance.

    The structure of CSV files does not mesh with Investment accounts.

    They do often map well to Bank type accounts hence why they are supported for Bank imports.

  10. 130 dtd's Avatar dtd on 30 Nov, 2020 02:40 AM

    mtepslitsky - Unfortunately you are in the same boat as the rest of us.

    Schwab did a disservice to their clients on October 16 by shutting down access to their clients for their own data.

    Moneydance (Sean Reilly, primary developer) has pretty much put aside what should be his development plan and has worked on, as sth put it, a bandaid fix. He hopes to have it out soon - only a few weeks, pretty good, given no notification.

    Then he will go back to Moneydance development, with the FDX long term fix as part of the plan. Given the bandaid works, the FDX fix will happen ASAP, but within a longer term plan.

    So bottom line - what to do next? Hope that this fix comes out soon, and wish Sean the best, as this must be a stressful bit.

    If you have a version before 2019-2020, you will probably have to pay $25 to upgrade to 2021 (assuming you bought directly), but Moneydance didn't enact this issue, Schwab did.

    Ask Schwab to recompense you for this inconvenience. Actually, they owe all of us much more.

  11. 131 Jeff's Avatar Jeff on 30 Nov, 2020 03:22 AM

    Sean,

    Any updates or definitive timelines on this issue or its resolouition? Been 30 days since anything of substance has been said on this matter. 60 days since I was last able to download my transactions from Schwab. Willing to be patient if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Are we entitled to a refund of any part of our purchase of Moneydance?

    Thanks

  12. 132 dtd's Avatar dtd on 30 Nov, 2020 04:34 AM

    Jeff,

    It has actually been 44 days since October 16, not 60.

    Also, Sean made a statement in the last 10 days that he hoped to have a first stage resolution "soon", mentioning Nov 30, but things can change.

    https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/online-banking/17212-schwab-transactions-not-downloading#comment_48846468

    So not 30 days either.

    Asking if you are entitled to a refund from Moneydance, to me, is an odd question, since Moneydance had NOTHING to do with Schwab's decision, and is doing their very best to make it work, despite Schwab's arbitrary and non-informative change.

    If anything, I'd be asking Schwab if they owe me money for this inconvenience, in my opinion. (And, in fact, I'm working on this, though I don't expect any response of value.)

    Hope that helps.

  13. 133 mteplitsky's Avatar mteplitsky on 30 Nov, 2020 05:21 PM

    Thanks dtd for the personal response. I'm going to contact Schwab, at least to register my complaint, and cheer on Sean for tackling this.

  14. Support Staff 134 Sean Reilly's Avatar Sean Reilly on 01 Dec, 2020 09:46 AM

    Hi All,

    Just an update on our progress: I have the temporary solution and tunnel working in a development build of Moneydance that uses the tunnel to connect to Schwab's OFX server. We are still receiving an "Access Forbidden" response when connecting through the tunnel, but Schwab is working on that.

    Schwab is responding quickly to our messages, so I'm hopeful that we'll have the connections up and running and be able to release an update to moneydance that works with the new setup very soon.

    Thanks,
    Sean

    --
    Sean Reilly
    Developer, The Infinite Kind
    https://infinitekind.com

  15. 135 shopper's Avatar shopper on 01 Dec, 2020 06:57 PM

    FYI - Look at:

    https://www.propersoft.net/products/csv2ofx?utm_source=app-win&utm_campaign=about&utm_medium=CSV2OFX-3.5.0.0

    I've been using this little program to convert CSV files to OFX files. Not perfect, but does ok while waiting for a more permanent solution. Jerry.

  16. 136 ameridan's Avatar ameridan on 01 Dec, 2020 09:42 PM

    << following >>

  17. 137 sth's Avatar sth on 02 Dec, 2020 04:38 AM

    @sean, Thanks for the update! That is good news and I hope that those of us as Schwab CLIENTS are asking Schwab to put in extra work to make it worth on our behalf. It sounds as if Schwab is being receptive. There is strength in numbers!

    I hope you get it worked out with not much more effort. Thanks for the work on this going into the holiday season that is usually busy and also stressful. Your updates and responses have been timely!

    Hopefully all 75 people following this thread have purchased or are about the purchase the update!

  18. 138 bschottmi's Avatar bschottmi on 02 Dec, 2020 06:28 PM

    Shopper - I tried CSV2OFX but the transactions need a lot of cleanup to change each one to Buy or Sell and to set the right Security. But a good idea!
     With MD so close I deleted the 10 test transactions and will wait for the upcoming release that uses the Schwab OFX tunnel.

  19. 139 Nick's Avatar Nick on 02 Dec, 2020 06:40 PM

    I appreciate Sean's efforts and just chatted with Schwab as well. I'm ok for a bit longer but really rely on MD for my tracking and financial whereabouts. Don't want to, but have started researching alternatives. Been a customer for a long time and the thought of changing up sucks. Hoping a fix comes along quickly.

  20. 140 dtd's Avatar dtd on 03 Dec, 2020 03:33 AM

    Nick, other than Quicken, will any of the alternatives download Schwab either?

  21. 141 sth's Avatar sth on 03 Dec, 2020 04:01 AM

    @Nick, you mean alternatives to Schwab? There are many, Fidelity, Vanguard, Ameritrade, etc. Ones who may be treating their clients with a bit of service instead of their financial corporate associates.

    MD is in this position because it puts the data to you as aggregator instead of giving Schwab the keys to your accounts. You can certainly go to Schwab on line and give them access to all your financial accounts and let them do the aggregation and management. But.....

    MD is really the only one that puts you in charge rather than some online corporate database.

  22. 142 florian.schroff's Avatar florian.schroff on 03 Dec, 2020 06:06 AM

    Subscribe

  23. 143 DLG's Avatar DLG on 03 Dec, 2020 03:49 PM

    When this is fixed, for those of us who have been updating MD manually and doing the reconciliations manually, when we first download the transactions from Schwab, would easiest pathway be just to 'delete' the backlog of transactions downloaded, as opposed to trying to 'merge'?

  24. 144 Nick's Avatar Nick on 03 Dec, 2020 04:03 PM

    Yep alternatives like Moneywiz though it isn't the same. Again, not making threats or downplaying the position Sean/IK was put in but I'm only prepared to wait so long.

  25. 145 DV's Avatar DV on 03 Dec, 2020 07:27 PM

    Given that MD is unable to connect to Schwab to download directly, has there been any reconsideration to using a third-party?

    It seems at one point, MD considered using Yodlee, based on several older posts: https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/online-banking/1089-yodlee

    Schwab and Yodlee agreed on data exchange earlier this year.
    https://www.yodlee.com/envestnet-yodlee-and-charles-schwab-enter-financial-data-access-agreement

    Banktivity had a similar issue, but appears to now offer an alternative. Refer to the following posts.
    https://www.iggsoftware.com/direct-access/
    https://www.iggsoftware.com/support/articles/banktivity-6/schwab-is-offline-for-ofx-direct-connect/

  26. 146 timfetner's Avatar timfetner on 03 Dec, 2020 09:51 PM

    Hey DLG - what you will likely need to do is delete the transactions that you have entered manually. If you delete the downloaded transactions, then Schwab will just continue to download them to Moneydance. At least that is what has happened previously. I'm not familiar with the ability to merge transactions.

  27. 147 sth's Avatar sth on 04 Dec, 2020 02:31 AM

    Before you go all moneywiz, check that they actually have FDX capability and can connect with Schwab. I don't see any reason they are not in the same boat as MD since they aren't the "special list" of quicken and ??? that Schwab says are supporting their move to FDX.

    It seems that Banktivity has implemented direct access through a 3rd party aggregator. this is fine but there is a monthly charge to access your own data AND this means that the aggregator has access to your passwords and financial data. This is one of the things that MD is good at. Privacy. But YMMV.

  28. Support Staff 148 Maddy's Avatar Maddy on 04 Dec, 2020 11:10 AM

    Hi all,

    This is to inform you that upgrading to the latest free preview version should fix the connection problem with Schwab.

    Moneydance 2021 (2010) is now available to download from this page.

    For a full list of improvements in the preview version, please refer to this page.

    Specifically, the (end-to-end encrypted) tunneling for OFX exchanges with certain banks (like Schwab) has been enabled within this version.

    Please let us know if you have further questions or need more assistance.

    --
    Maddy, Infinite Kind Support

  29. 149 bschottmi's Avatar bschottmi on 04 Dec, 2020 11:28 AM

    HURRAH!!!! PRAISE TO THE HEROS!!!
    I just downloaded and installed MD 2021 (2010) and got all my Schwab transactions. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!
    Note: Some phases of the download processing was a bit slower than usual (No complaining out there!!) , but it all worked perfectly.
    Thanks again for all your work, Infinite Kind!!!!

  30. 150 Roger Rice's Avatar Roger Rice on 04 Dec, 2020 01:16 PM

    Linux install script didn't update me to the latest version. I had to download the.deb file instead. The .deb wouldn't upgrade so I had to uninstall and reinstall.

    After I got build 2010 installed, no Schwab transactions downloaded. I tried disabling/enabling/adding new/resetting/etc...

    So, no love here for any of my 5 Schwab accounts.

    What should I do next?

    Update: My Schwab investment accounts did finally download. My Schwab bank accounts did not. Did you only put the proxy update to the "Charles Scwhab & Co., Inc." entry but forgot the "Charles Schwab Bank, N.A." entry?

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