I understand your concern on the lack of a mechanism to manually reconcile. However, Quicken Online does provide reconciliation information.

The Transactions page for each account presents Upcoming transactions in a group and Cleared transacations in a separate group. By the design of the website,  the Cleared transactions are those that have cleared and only those. For example a check you have written does not appear in your cleared transactions until the bank clears it. If, as I do, you record the check in Upcoming transactions, it will remain there until the bank clears it, at which point, it will be moved automatically (by Quicken Online) to Cleared transactions. This same process is used for all financial institutions, not just banks.

In effect, reconciliation is taking place completely automatically each night when Quicken Online connects to your financial institutions.

One very pleasant side effect of the way Quicken Online presents transactions that have not cleared is that they are all grouped together at the top of the page. This means I don't have to search through all the transactions to find the ones that have not yet cleared.

When one first starts to use Quicken Online, it will take a few cycles for the website to learn to match up a newly cleared transaction with the one that was manually entered in Upcoming transactions. The matching process works best when the manually entered information, such as amount, data, and payee, are the same as what the bank reports in the cleared transaction. I have found that the matching process is not perfect and that at least one bank (the one I use) does not provide the payee name or check number to Quicken Online.

I hope this helps.

Replies to this message

PokerDude (Mar 22, 2009 10:07 am)

Goodspinach (Apr 7, 2009 1:58 pm)

bschell (Apr 14, 2009 4:47 pm)

veggeep (Jul 10, 2009 7:04 am)

marksanctuary (Sep 7, 2009 8:41 am)

Actually I want to add one point here that is missed.... there is no way to tell an unauthorized transaction that QO downloads overnight unless you scour through all the transactions one by one and match them to receipts. I really like how Microsoft Money matches transactions/reconciles.... maybe QO can learn something from them. Oh by the way.... I have been using QO for a long time now...and it still has issues matching uncleared transactions I manually input for those that clear over night. It's suppose to learn....but it is not that good. I'm not complaining for a free product....just pointing out the obvious.

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bob_lent (Mar 22, 2009 4:21 pm)

I agree. I want to know which transactions where downloaded since the last time I looked at the list so I can look for misc-categorized, unauthorized, and missed matching Upcoming transactions. If each transaction had a check box named, say Review Pending, which was set by QO during download, I'd then know which ones I have to look at. I'd then turn off the check box after a review for the above conditions.

I really need that reconcile feature! I'm not sure what to do right now, but I don't think this is it.

Have you all given up on your handwritten log books? I cannot imagine not using the log to write down checks, debit card and online transactions. I started using QO because I want to track my spending and I can't do that on paper. (Well, I could, but that would be really messy and time consuming.) Having all of my accounts showing at the same time, gives me at one glance my entire net worth (which bright red, I might add). It also gives me a better idea of what I need to do financially to get rid of the red and move into the black. However, no computer program, online or otherwise, will ever take the place of my checkbook register. That would be like giving up Chase. Perish the thought! (Shredder, however, is totally negotiable.)

I'm not so worried about reconciling against my statement, but I really want it to automatically move my Upcoming Transactions to Cleared transactions. I've never seen it move mine. I end up with the transaction in both places and my balance being way off. Then I have to go through and manually delete each pcoming transaction that has cleared.

Is there any way to make this work better?

This is the ONLY reason I use quicken! My bank has a website that provides all the functionality I need.

The ONLY thing I wanted from Quicken was to balance my checkbook.

I'm really disappointed. Please bring this back!!! Yes, we're a paperless society, but, when it comes to computers, I say trust, but verify.

(And I work in the computer field, by the way). Even with all our technology, I can give you a reason why we still need to balance our checkbooks. I returned something to a clothing store, but instead of crediting my account, the clerk accidentally charged me a second time! I NEVER would have found this if I didn't balance my checkbook!

Please bring this back!

Thank You and Warmest Regards,
Sarah

I like that I don't have a monthly project of reconciling my account.

I like that my entered transactions are automatically 'reconciled' for me.

I just want the transactions that were unexpected to be highlighted in some way. Actually, lowlighted would be better, just make them grey until clicked on, no checkbox needed. (Clicking a second time would make it grey of course, and a counter at the top that says something like "5 new transactions")

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albertomederos (Jul 2, 2009 5:32 am)

I fully agree. Just because a transaction has cleared the bank doesn't mean that I approve it--someone could be using my credit card without my knowledge or a vendor could have charged me the incorrect amount. I need to be able to "check off" transactions that I approve and have those marked as "cleared by user." Then, every time I log on, I'm only having to review transactions that I have not yet approved.

If this feature were implemented, then I might be able to live without a monthly reconciliation feature since I would be doing it on the fly.

I would even be willing to pay to use an enhanced version of Quicken Online if some of these advanced features were added.

Replies to this message

Argelius (Feb 6, 2010 7:49 am)

Absolutely agree that the reconciliation feature needs to be included. It is the only feature not available on my bank website and the reason I came to Quicken Online.

I've encountered a problem recently with Quicken Online. The ending balance is correct but Quicken doesn't download all my transactions. It's a problem I put forth to Quicken and they have escalated it to high priority.

In essence, the transactions are not updating/downloading which means the account is not correct. There are transactions that do not appear, despite using the "find missing trasactions" feature.

This is the major reason why bank reconciliation is most important!

Remember people, Quicken is still tweaking things. I hope you are one of the lucky ones to have all transactions downloaded with no problems.

But those who don't have this luxury need bank reconciliation to make sure all transactions are downloaded. Call me crazy, but I don't have blind faith on new software programs - and I have good reason.

Like most others here, I also was surprised to see no reconciliation option. But there is a way to mark them manually to show that I checked them.

As I'm going through comparing the bank website to the Quicken site, I just type OK in the notes field for each transaction I've reconciled. It actually works pretty well, and it's easy to see where I left off the next time I go to reconcile.

I'm happy with the fact that the only transactions that show up as "cleared" are the ones that cleared on my bank statement. Perfectly happy with that. However, I have to agree with the points raised about being able to clear transactions manually. If I dispute a transaction that my bank has marked as cleared, and they change it, or remove it from my statement, is QO going to recursively update my cleared transactions online?

Also, I would like to be able to enter cleared transactions from prior statements (pre-dating the initial 90-day grab), and so far, there doesn't appear to be any way to do that.

As to the need for identifying the latest transactions after an update, how 'bout highlighting the new ones in the "cleared" column?

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artemisia (Jul 22, 2009 2:51 pm)

I am also stunned. I have been monitoring Mint and Yodlee for this feature so its a race! But I am starting to lose hope since nobody offers it and all 3 have many postings in their support forums asking for the feature. Is it a conspiracy or is this feature just that unpopular now?

Not only that veggeep but I'm still having this problem because the program is so new:

My bank ending balance is X.

When I total all individual transactions, the total is Y.

Turns out, Quicken isn't downloading all my transactions from my checking account. I told Quicken about this and they are still trying to solve the problem.

It seems to happen everytime I go into my checking account and view/download activity at my account. Bad, bad bug.

So in essence my all cleared transactions aren't showing up in Quicken. And if I depend on only what Quicken says, most of my bills aren't being paid. Not to mention the trends reports would be useless.

No bank rec feature? Then I want running balances - NOW!

The minute (and I'm watching) another online finance software offers running balances or bank reconciliation I am running to it - along with thousands of others.

Replies to this message

jameswguy (Jul 29, 2009 5:59 pm)

Without really explaining why.

How can I have all entries going into a particular acct (folder on quicken) be reconsiled already (all entries be reconsiled).

I manually 'flag' all entries in this one cash acct as reconsiled just so it wont show on some reports that i run regularly. But I dont want to do the 'exclude' acct for other reasons.

AUto-reconsile with no real effort???

Thank goodness there is no reconcile option. The way they have it setup now is exactly what I have been doing in spreadsheet for years. I stopped using all the finance programs because reconciling would garbage up things more than helping. This tool is based on online banking where everything is downloaded and you do very little work yourself. Love it!

Exactly! Could not say it better myself!

Stunned is acually understated. Not having a reconciliation feature in personal finance software seems as absurd as an online broker not providing price quotes. Lets all fly blind... I don't trust me or my bank to be error free. That is why you reconcile!! I know from experience the dollars in question can be very significant. What are we thinking??? Microsoft Money left the market why??? They had a perfect solution to the recon issue. I am gone looking...

Simply put, that without reconsilation as a feature the product will die quickly.

I know that with my own contacts that Quicken would almost immediately lose almost all of Oklahoma & Tx customers.

I also via my own brother who is a high end VP up north that they would probably lose about 20% of the customers worldwide on my brothers sayso alone.

Per his boss, even more.

Removing reconosliation as a feature (and its a primary feature to me, alll other aspects are extras in my case.

Without reconsoliation I would go 100% online with non-quicken alternatives and loikely stop using QUICKEN in total.

Fortunatley for all of us, QUICKEN hsa never been the only game in town.. Just the best one around.

With reconoliation, its not even going to be in the majors.

can someone provide a link or something aboiut this or something.

I need to determine if its factual, as my contacts would stop supporting quicken and stop selling it outright.

Its funny, but without that feature, a product that is currenty 28% of my income , would go to zero rather quicky.

Fortunatley the alternatives would help me reclaim at least part of that %.

Problem is I would still lose some of the customer base per lack of quicken, as it is true that recon is not the only use for quicken , it is the main feature.

I didnt relize till now, that this was aboujt quicken online?

Well, i never use quicken online, I have always use quicken (desktop)... and if i use online I go to my bank, never the online.

I could care less about quicken online ... and dont care about whehter it has recon or not.

All my previous comments were presuming quicken desktop not online.

As it is 100% of my contacts/clinets etc...
none of them use quickenonline but do use their banks online banking.. as i do.

Thanks for all your feedback. I actually gave-up on Quicken online and went back to the desktop version of Quicken.

Responding to a couple of points made:

I don't use my check register at all. I put my debit/credit card receipts in my wallet and then enter them into Quicken at the end of the day. I also use carbon copy checks and put the carbon in my wallet (but given I use my bank's online bill-pay I probably only write 3 checks per year!).

My biggest concern is that I want to make sure I have approved all transactions that my bank's online statement has downloaded to Quicken. If all transactions are automatically reconciled by Quicken, I have to go back and manually reconcile by typing O.K. next to them or checking "approved". This is a step backwards from the desktop version of Quicken.

Replies to this message

Tulsaboyw (Oct 4, 2009 5:38 am)

Hmm,, not a issue for me..
If I have to go online, I just dont ever bother with Quicken online..

Many a bank have a onlinebanking process that ius actually better than quicken.

As far as 'entering transactions;.

About the only time i enter any tansactions is for 'cash only' transactions that i want to remember. usually for tax reasons.

I too rarely write paper chks and havent done more than 4-5 a year. Even then its soley for bills that I have that wont do credit card or etf or similar.

Recon, I havent done that myself in over 15 years, and if quicken desktop was to lose that feature i would likely go to my own version of chkbook pgm and go ahead and publish it.

I can guaranteee that a chkbook pgm (online or otherwise) that has no recon would lose customers bigtime.

I agree. It's the whole reason why I opened my Quicken account.

Replies to this message

Tulsaboyw (Nov 5, 2009 11:01 am)