Setting up online - issue

ruraldance's Avatar

ruraldance

15 Apr, 2016 04:16 PM

Let me preface my issue with this: I have been on the hunt for an alternative to Quicken like so many others here because Quicken Essentials is lousy on a Mac and I don't want to go through tax season again with it.
I haver researched until I am blue in the face; downloaded Banktivity, found it lacking and decided on MD, but I have not paid.
So here's the issue: I wanted to test the online banking download feature and when I went to Online/Set Up online banking THE DROPDOWN BOX IS EMPTY. I nearly cried because I am so frustrated with the process of finding a new software!! If this does't work I may go old school on paper... just kidding. Who could stand that after 20 years of software personal bookkeeping. Please help me with this. I am using a 2012 Mac running 10.11.13 and heading for an update. I cannot buy this unless this issue is resolved.
Thanks in advance. Cindy

  1. 1 Posted by Tom Freeman on 15 Apr, 2016 07:40 PM

    Tom Freeman's Avatar

    Select new connection and a list of institutions should appear. If you Bank is not on the list let us know and our connection specialist will explore if a connection is available.

    You can peruse the FAQ's and download the user's guide from here: http://help.infinitekind.com/kb

    Tom Freeman
    Infinite Kind Support

  2. 2 Posted by ruraldance on 15 Apr, 2016 07:44 PM

    ruraldance's Avatar

    I tried that. I am with Bank of America and there is no listing for it. Here is a screen shot:

  3. 3 Posted by Tom Freeman on 15 Apr, 2016 07:48 PM

    Tom Freeman's Avatar

    Bank of America has recently discontinued their support for new direct connect activation. However, if your account was activated for direct connect before they turned off support, you should still be able to connect in Moneydance. We're not sure how long this will continue to work, but you can try connecting with these settings:

    Institution ORG: HAN
    Institution ID: 5959
    OFX Server URL: https://eftx.bankofamerica.com/eftxweb/access.ofx

    You can enter these by going the Online->"Setup Online Banking" menu item and then clicking on the Advanced Setting button. Again, this will only work if your account has already been activated for direct connections.

    If you haven't enabled OFX services with Bank of America previously, the best way to get your transactions into Moneydance will be to use a web browser to download them from your bank's web site. You can download into QFX, QIF, OFX or OFC files (sometimes referred to as Quicken or MS Money files), any of which will import cleanly into Moneydance. You can also open your bank's download page directly (after entering the appropriate address in the Account->Edit Account menu) by going to the menu bar and selecting Online->Open Account Website.

    If your bank decides to support direct OFX connections again in the future, we will be happy to work with them.

    Please let me know if I can be of further assistance, and thank you for your interest in Moneydance.

    Tom Freeman
    Infinite Kind Support

  4. 4 Posted by ruraldance on 15 Apr, 2016 07:57 PM

    ruraldance's Avatar

    Interesting: any reason this is happening? I did a direct download in my trial for SEE Finance just a few hours ago (terrible interface; can’t use it). And Banktivity connects no problem as of a few days ago.

  5. 5 Posted by David Hanley on 16 Apr, 2016 02:06 AM

    David Hanley's Avatar

    Hi,

    There are two methods that personal finance software can use to access your accounts: direct connect and express web connect. With express web connect, the software basically connects to your bank's website and downloads and imports OFX, QFX, QIF, and OFC files automatically. Direct connect actually connects to a server at your bank instead of their website and usually requires different login credentials than you would use to log into your banks website. From a user's perspective, these two connections look basically identical. Moneydance only supports automatic connections through direct connect and not express web connect.

    Banktivity is licensing express web connect from Intuit, and that's why you were able to establish a connection to Bank of America using it.

    To use Express Web Connect you have to give the usernames and passwords you use to log into your bank websites in your case, to Banktivity (who pass it on to Intuit). Intuit then stores these on their own servers. Intuit has to have your passwords on their servers to be able to connect to the bank on your behalf. For the technically inclined an important piece here is that Intuit cannot just store a hash of your password on their server. They must store your actual password in order to be able to use it. Storing actual passwords on servers, rather than a hash of a password, is considered extremely bad practice from computer security perspective, but in order to provide this service Intuit has no choice. They almost certainly encrypt the passwords at rest but they must have the full password available on their server. I am sure Intuit goes to great lengths to make their servers secure and I can hardly imagine just how incredibly awful it would be if Intuit's servers were hacked and their users bank account passwords stolen.

    Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!

    David Hanley
    Infinite Kind Support

  6. 6 Posted by ruraldance on 16 Apr, 2016 03:02 AM

    ruraldance's Avatar

    Thanks David. I will take this up on Monday. Good info!

  7. System closed this discussion on 30 Jul, 2016 03:51 AM.

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