Problem Reconciling Credit Card
Sarah Ferrency
via web
I am all of a sudden having difficulty reconciling my credit card statement. It appears that the balances are wrong. My bank (Bank of America) recently stopped offering OFX and now only offers WEB Connect, two types of QIF, and comma delimited. I think this happened for the first time last month, and last month I think there was a problem because I ended up not paying my entire credit card bill inadvertently, because I was relying on Moneydance's balances.
So when I go to reconcile, the "as of" box is automatically checked, and it says 9/20/11 even though I appear to have last reconciled 11/19/11. Then the balance listed as "beginning statement balance" is actually my ending balance for this statement (1/20/12), and the balance listed as "end statement balance" is the balance from 9/21/11. I tried unchecking the "as of" box, but I can't change the balances manually. I also tried re-downloading this month's statement using the other type of QIF (I picked the firs tone when OFX no longer was an option)
I never enter anything manually for this account, I just download and go through and categorize my purchases using the "unconfirmed" filter. I think I might have had a similar problem last month and that is why I didn't reconcile last month, because normally I reconcile every month. I don't have time to deal with this! And I'm totally frustrated that I paid interest because of this! I upgraded to 2011 hoping it would go away but it didn't. I was running 2010r2 or something like that before. Thanks.
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2 Posted by Sarah Ferrency on 24 Jan, 2012 07:16 AM
Oh yeah, and one more thing- when I opened the reconcile window, I didn't even look at the balances initially, and all of my transactions from this month were listed, but without the yellow diamond, so not as 'reconciling'. Even though the only way they got there was from a download. That was just annoying, but then I saw that even when I checked them all, it was still way off. And I also noticed that my last reconcile (11/19) was off by $4.99, another thing that had never happened before. I figured I was just being spacey and it was no big deal so I entered a transaction to fix it, but now I wonder if it was part of a confluence of problems associated with the now missing OFX.
3 Posted by Sarah Ferrency on 24 Jan, 2012 07:18 AM
It looks like the first thing I posted disappeared when I replied. Let's see if it happens again.
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Problem Reconciling Credit Card
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Sarah Ferrency
January 23, 2012 @ 10:00 PM via web
I am all of a sudden having difficulty reconciling my credit card statement. It appears that the balances are wrong. My bank (Bank of America) recently stopped offering OFX and now only offers WEB Connect, two types of QIF, and comma delimited. I think this happened for the first time last month, and last month I think there was a problem because I ended up not paying my entire credit card bill inadvertently, because I was relying on Moneydance's balances.
So when I go to reconcile, the "as of" box is automatically checked, and it says 9/20/11 even though I appear to have last reconciled 11/19/11. Then the balance listed as "beginning statement balance" is actually my ending balance for this statement (1/20/12), and the balance listed as "end statement balance" is the balance from 9/21/11. I tried unchecking the "as of" box, but I can't change the balances manually. I also tried re-downloading this month's statement using the other type of QIF (I picked the firs tone when OFX no longer was an option)
I never enter anything manually for this account, I just download and go through and categorize my purchases using the "unconfirmed" filter. I think I might have had a similar problem last month and that is why I didn't reconcile last month, because normally I reconcile every month. I don't have time to deal with this! And I'm totally frustrated that I paid interest because of this! I upgraded to 2011 hoping it would go away but it didn't. I was running 2010r2 or something like that before. Thanks.
4 Posted by Sarah Ferrency on 24 Jan, 2012 07:19 AM
Home → Problems →
Problem Reconciling Credit Card
Sarah Ferrency's Avatar
Sarah Ferrency
January 23, 2012 @ 10:00 PM via web
I am all of a sudden having difficulty reconciling my credit card statement. It appears that the balances are wrong. My bank (Bank of America) recently stopped offering OFX and now only offers WEB Connect, two types of QIF, and comma delimited. I think this happened for the first time last month, and last month I think there was a problem because I ended up not paying my entire credit card bill inadvertently, because I was relying on Moneydance's balances.
So when I go to reconcile, the "as of" box is automatically checked, and it says 9/20/11 even though I appear to have last reconciled 11/19/11. Then the balance listed as "beginning statement balance" is actually my ending balance for this statement (1/20/12), and the balance listed as "end statement balance" is the balance from 9/21/11. I tried unchecking the "as of" box, but I can't change the balances manually. I also tried re-downloading this month's statement using the other type of QIF (I picked the firs tone when OFX no longer was an option)
I never enter anything manually for this account, I just download and go through and categorize my purchases using the "unconfirmed" filter. I think I might have had a similar problem last month and that is why I didn't reconcile last month, because normally I reconcile every month. I don't have time to deal with this! And I'm totally frustrated that I paid interest because of this! I upgraded to 2011 hoping it would go away but it didn't. I was running 2010r2 or something like that before. Thanks.
5 Posted by james f on 24 Jan, 2012 10:20 AM
In what format are you Downloading your credit card transactions from the bank? OFX, QFX, or QIF? I would suggest either OFX(Microsoft Money) or QFX(Quicken).
I have been using Moneydance since 2002. Based upon my experience, I would suggest the following:
1. Download and Merge transactions on a regular basis. Every couple of days or so.
and
2. Reconcile right after you finish Downloading and Merging transactions.
The above two suggestions are so that you don't run into the situation that you have described about your reconciliation being off.
6 Posted by Sarah on 24 Jan, 2012 06:02 PM
I had some difficulty posting last night- for some reason when I replied to myself to add info, it replaced my original post. I tried a couple of times to re post but it never showed up. The only formats available are QIF and comma delimited. I think this is the source of the problem- OFX was available until recently. I'll try to re post my original message with all the details when I get on my home computer.
7 Posted by sarah ferrency on 24 Jan, 2012 07:34 PM
Home → Problems →
Problem Reconciling Credit Card
Sarah Ferrency
January 23, 2012 @ 10:00 PM via web
I am all of a sudden having difficulty reconciling my credit card statement. It appears that the balances are wrong. My bank (Bank of America) recently stopped offering OFX and now only offers WEB Connect, two types of QIF, and comma delimited. I think this happened for the first time last month, and last month I think there was a problem because I ended up not paying my entire credit card bill inadvertently, because I was relying on Moneydance's balances.
So when I go to reconcile, the "as of" box is automatically checked, and it says 9/20/11 even though I appear to have last reconciled 11/19/11. Then the balance listed as "beginning statement balance" is actually my ending balance for this statement (1/20/12), and the balance listed as "end statement balance" is the balance from 9/21/11. I tried unchecking the "as of" box, but I can't change the balances manually. I also tried re-downloading this month's statement using the other type of QIF (I picked the firs tone when OFX no longer was an option)
I never enter anything manually for this account, I just download and go through and categorize my purchases using the "unconfirmed" filter. I think I might have had a similar problem last month and that is why I didn't reconcile last month, because normally I reconcile every month. I don't have time to deal with this! And I'm totally frustrated that I paid interest because of this! I upgraded to 2011 hoping it would go away but it didn't. I was running 2010r2 or something like that before. Thanks.
Support Staff 8 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 06 Mar, 2012 06:52 AM
Sarah,
I'm sorry it's taken us so long to respond to this issue. The Beginning Statement Balance on the reconcile window is a calculated value, which is
Initial Balance of the Account+ Cleared Deposits - Cleared Payments
To change the Beginning Statement Balance, you'll need to adjust one of these variables. To change the Initial Balance of the account, open the account register and go to Account->Edit Account. You can change the Ending Statement balance in the Reconcile Window. The "As Of" box just marks transactions which have been imported as "reconciling" when the window opens. It would be especially helpful to see a screenshot of the issue you are experiencing, if it is still occurring.
Again, I apologize for the slow response, and please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 06 Mar, 2012 06:52 AM.
sarah ferrency re-opened this discussion on 05 Apr, 2012 05:25 AM
9 Posted by sarah ferrency on 05 Apr, 2012 05:25 AM
Thanks for getting back to me. I made a workaround by making a new credit card account in Moneydance and starting fresh, because I couldn't find the problem. I think I know what's wrong now. When I download my transactions from Bank of America, I have to choose from WEB COnnect, QIF for most users, QIF with 2-digit year, or comma delimited (see screen shot 1). There used to be OFX there but no longer. I choose QIF for most users, and what appears to be happening is that it is importing the beginning and ending balances incorrectly. See on Screen Shot 2, the beginning balance is actually the balance after the first transaction of the month, and the end balance is 0. I can change the end balance, but not the beginning. I shouldn't have to go in every month and adjust the values going into the calculation. Finally, when I go to reconcile, none of the transactions which I have just downloaded and confirmed are actually marked as clearing, so I have to mark each one. I haven't seen a way to mark them all at once. See Screen Shot 3.
So- should I be choosing a different file format? Should I set up automatic downloading? I forget why I didn't ever do that; I know my other (local) banks don't support it/you. Thanks!
Support Staff 10 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 05 Apr, 2012 04:21 PM
Sarah,
The Beginning Statement Balance on the reconcile window is a calculated value, which is
Initial Balance of the Account+ Cleared Deposits - Cleared Payments To change the Beginning Statement Balance, you'll need to adjust one of these variables. To change the Initial Balance of the account, open the account register and go to Account->Edit Account. This number has nothing to do with the QIF import, so not to worry- I'd suggest looking for older transactions which have become uncleared to see if you can find the source of the issue. You'll need to enter the End Statement Balance yourself, as it's not transferred in the QIF file.
Now as for the "marked as clearing issue"- to have the transactions in screenshot 3 marked as clearing, you need to check the "As Of" box in screenshot 2.
As for automatic downloading- you can certainly set it up, but it's important to note almost all banks charge a monthly fee for this service (generally $9.95 to $14.95/month). If downloading manually is not a huge hardship for you, it might make sense to stick with it.
I hope this all makes sense, and please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 05 Apr, 2012 04:21 PM.