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Schwab needs to "re authorize" Quicken access

I haven't downloaded my transactions from Schwab or Fidelity into Quicken since last week.

Today Quicken says Schwab changed it's methods and now requires a "bank-hosted sign in form" and wants to "re-authorize all my accounts.

There is nothing I can find on Schwab web site about this. Anybody else seen this? Does this sound legitimate?

Comments

  • I, too, have been unable to download my Schwab accounts. When I logged into the Quicken Support website, I found many reports of people losing their data and getting unexpected side-effects by following Quicken's advice to re-authorize! It seems that the Quicken side of this change is very unstable. I've decided to enter my transactions manually until I see some evidence on their Support site that there is a reliable fix. My Fidelity accounts don't seem to be affected; however that is one of the side-effects that I often saw: other financial transactions stopped working randomly! For your Fidelity account, you should be able to safely go to the "Edit Account" page in Quicken - then the "Online Access" settings - Deactivate the account followed by re-activating the account. I am not aware of any changes that Fidelity has made to their download process; only Schwab.
    I've been using Quicken for a very long time and this is the worst software snafu I've encountered. Forcing us to manually enter transactions at the end of the year is very time-consuming and defeats the purpose of using their software.
    Here is one example from the Quicken Support website. We are not alone:
    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7901922/schwab-access-messed-up
  • I have managed to restore several of my accounts by

    1) ensuring that "Schwab" is listed as the brokerage name, not "zz-Schwab" or zzz-Schwab" on the account details window ( this is in the recommendations)

    But this still would not allow me to "Activate" the accounts with the "Schwab brokerage" link, but there is another Schwab.com listed in the "add account" drop down menu

    "Schwab Investor-C"

    This seems to work for several of the accounts but not all

    I am very discouraged by this disaster. As you mention, this is the worst snafu from Quicken in the 25 years I have been using it
  • I got all my account to download. Changed password for safety's sake. Am calling Schwab technical support to find out what "Schwab Bank- Investor C" is
  • I got all four of my Schwab accounts to work over the weekend, spent hours reconciling the downloaded transactions with reality, and yesterday some worked some did not. The one's that worked yesterday today do not work. Sometimes the "fix it" dialogue says "success" but transactions still do not download. This is a complete and utter fiasco.
  • Thank you all for sharing your experiences and results.

    @sma3 - Please share what Schwab says about "Schwab Bank - Investor C". My accounts are not "bank" accounts; however if that's the only way to link our brokerage accounts, then I'll try it too.

    Maybe I'll install Quicken on a separate laptop and do my testing there so I don't mess up my eons of Quicken historical data.
  • I reached a knowledgeable guy in tech at Schwab who says they started transitioning to this new bank type authorization last month, because it is more secure and does not share our passwords with Quicken. Tha is when the "zz" started showing up.

    He admits Quicken has yet to fix it.

    Yesterday, with his help I was able to download my transactions using "Schwab Bank Investor-C" one of the options that pops up it you type "schwab" into the search bar at "Add an account". Others have used this successfully.

    Investor Bank C is a legitimate Schwab web site

    First you have to erase the "zz or zzz- Schwab" nomenclature in the financial institution, and deactivate the account.

    Then add the accounts back by searching for Schwab in the add account window but use Investor C instead of "Schwab & co"

    Some people have had trouble getting accounts listed but I got all my accounts linked to this Bank Investor C

    Unfortunately, although it still works, it has changed my brokerage accounts transaction menu into bank types. So no more dividend reimbursements, just deposit and wthdrawals. Even sales are just "withdrawals". You can edit them

    The other idea Schwab guy had was to go into

    TOOLs> Online center

    Click on "contact info" at top while holding downs CTRL SHIFT

    a window will pop up

    click boxes next to "financial branding " and "download F1 list"

    Refresh

    then Update/Send.

    He assumed that would instantaneously change the "Investor C" to "Schwab & Co" which it did not

    This morning I am still able to download transactions , but only from Investor C, per above and all as bank account transactions. I am able to edit them to "sales" and reinvestments

    Deactivating the account and using Schwab & Co to log in gives me the CC-501 error message, where all this started.

    So nothing has really changed, other than I have accurate balances in my accounts

    I will touch base with schwab and when I have the entire day to spend will try Quicken support
  • @sma3: Wow! Thanks for the detailed review of all you have learned and have done so far. I am following your saga closely - thanks for being the point man for us!
    The first question that popped into my head was this: if Quicken is treating all your brokerage buys and sells as "bank transactions", how does that affect the cost basis of your transactions?

    Thanks again for keeping us posted. I'll also share any news that I am able to verify.
  • WHat has happened is by using their Schwab Bank Investor C, Quicken turns the brokerage account into a bank account. However, you can still change the transactions into the correct dividend re investments, sales etc, but you have to do it manually

    Schwab says they have done all they can do and now Quicken has to fix it
  • I've been following this post with interest. I don't use Quicken, but I did have a problem with an external account linked to Schwab, my 401k with TRP. I view my TRP account through Schwab because it makes it easier to see everything together on one site for charting and total portfolio break-down purposes. In any case, that account link was lost for a few days last week. Seemed to come and go actually. Now when my summary account data charts I have these huge excursions down ​and back up on the chart. Ugly but I know it's not real.

    Since I don't use Quicken, this external account link problem I had may not be related to the discussion here, but it sure seems like a glitch on the Schwab side.
  • The tech guy at Schwab my broker put me into contact with ( far more knowledgeable than the usual person answering the phone on tech support) said Schwab wanted to increase it's security around third parties who downloaded account transactions. Apparently the previous method allowed the third party to access the passwords.

    If TRP was in this third party category, even though the data was coming from TRP, it may have been affected too
  • I noticed that Quicken has expanded their support page for this error. They now have step-by-step instructions and several ways to "reauthorize". I haven't tried it yet - hope to soon!

    https://www.quicken.com/support/errors-when-updating-or-adding-charles-schwab-accounts
  • The CEO sent out an email apologizing for the problems people are having connecting to Schwab: Link

    I’m on Quicken for Mac and switched over to the new Schwab connection early in the process and haven’t encountered any issues.

  • edited December 2021
    @MikeM- like you, I view all of our financial accounts through Schwab because it's easier to see everything together on one site. There is one institution though- JP Morgan bank accounts, that seems to need "reauthorization" every so often, presumably to maintain security measures.
  • The 12/3 support steps are nonsense in my experience. They do not work. I have sent information specifically to Quicken reps about the issues, at their request, but they have not fixed anything yet and there are worse stories than mine on their boards ( Some people report getting thousands of duplicate transactions that take hours to delete)

    The CEOs letter has the key problem

    "On top of that, our Customer Care capacity had been planned based on our earlier, largely incident-free, migrations. As a result, we were not adequately staffed to handle the contacts, and Care wait times were far higher than usual."

    It makes you wonder if they flub this, how well are they handling security?
  • edited December 2021
    Victory! First - I deactivated all my Schwab accounts in Quicken and changed the Financial info to say "Charles Schwab". Just plain old "Charles Schwab".

    I followed the steps on this web Support page; specifically the sections titled "What if my Schwab accounts aren't all available for reauthorization" followed by the section titled "What if I am getting a CC-501 error".

    https://www.quicken.com/support/errors-when-updating-or-adding-charles-schwab-accounts

    After following those steps (except for the "Cloud reset" - I don't use their web version. I only use my Desktop software), I was able to successfully download transactions.

    BEWARE: The download brought in a bunch of "Match" and "New" transactions that were already in Quicken. I reviewed every downloaded transaction and deleted the downloaded line items that were already in Quicken - even the ones marked as Match. I ONLY accepted the transactions that were truly NEW.

    Now let's see how long it lasts!
  • Yes, this morning the update worked after hours of effort over the past few weeks...with one glitch remaining. In some of my Schwab accounts the update indicates there are transactions to review...but when you look at the register there are none. Based on past experience I closed Quicken and after a restart the new transactions appeared (no need to re-update). Getting close, thankfully!
  • Unfortunately, I just tried to re activate my deactivated account to link to "Schwab & Co" and I got the cc 501 error again. I do not sync my accounts to Quicken on the web so cannot "reset" my cloud account

    Nothing has changed in over a week.
  • Even worse, I deactivated another account that I had previously linked the "Schwab Bank Investor C".

    Still CC-501 error with "Schwab & Co" and as with the other account I can link it to "Investor -C" but the account is not listed in the "link to existing account" drop down.

    Why do I think Quicken has done nothing to fix this in a week?

    I can't imagine anyone signing up for renewal ( mine is due in February) unless this is fixed quickly.

    Just think, being a loyal Quicken customer for almost 30 years get me what???

    A big fat ZERO!!

  • If people are interested I seem to have fixed the Quicken issue using @gsundel suggestions on the Quicken Community board.

    IT is lengthy but in sum

    deactivate all your Schwab accounts, especially hidden ones. Then Erase the account numbers and financial institution name

    On SChwab.com, go to "Services" then "security center" and allow Quicken access to all of the accounts you want to link

    @gsundel suggests you log out of quicken and log back in

    In Quicken "Add account" Use "Schwab& co" log in

    A list of all your accounts should pop up allowing you to link to existing accounts

    IF anyone has a recommendation for another portfolio management program I am all ears



  • @sma: The steps you list are exactly what I did too and I was able to re-establish my Schwab download links to existing Quicken accounts.

    However, all of my dividend and reinvest transactions come into Quicken as ReturnCap or some such oddly named transaction type. I have to edit each one to establish the correct "Div", "LT" or "ST" transaction type and then delete the extra download entry that also comes in for each one.

    Is anyone else having this issue with their downloaded transactions from Schwab brokerage for Mutual Funds?

    If I find the solution, I will share it here.

    Unfortunately for me, I already renewed my annual subscription. Very disappointed in this whole mess at the busiest time of the year for mutual fund transactions!
  • I have been lucky in that when I re-established my download capability, all the transactions came through OK. A lot of people on the Quicken discussion boards report the same problem though. Look for "Schwab CC_501 Loop" or other Schwab transaction error threads.

    Worried about Quicken security given this major snafu, I deactivated "share with Quicken " on the SChwab website ( Service- Security) REactivating today Schwab downloads worked, but none of Fidelity or Vanguard did

    Had to go in and deactivate/reactivate all of those
  • amateur said:

    @sma: The steps you list are exactly what I did too and I was able to re-establish my Schwab download links to existing Quicken accounts.

    However, all of my dividend and reinvest transactions come into Quicken as ReturnCap or some such oddly named transaction type. I have to edit each one to establish the correct "Div", "LT" or "ST" transaction type and then delete the extra download entry that also comes in for each one.

    Is anyone else having this issue with their downloaded transactions from Schwab brokerage for Mutual Funds?

    If I find the solution, I will share it here.

    Unfortunately for me, I already renewed my annual subscription. Very disappointed in this whole mess at the busiest time of the year for mutual fund transactions!

    Yes, I am having the exact same trouble since the change to the new system, a real PIA! That said, if you look at the Schwab transaction history on the Schwab website I can think I can see how Quicken is getting it wrong (there are multiple transactions for what should be a simple div reinvest). I think this is something Schwab will have to address itself.
  • Same thing here. The download continues to work, but all of the dividend and cap gains reinvestments are labled "bought" and there is a separate line with a transaction labeled "ReinvestInt" for int, st div, st and lt cap gains.

    On my Schwab accounts there are two transactions for each re investment, one with the source and dollar amount and a separate with "Reinvest shares
  • Yes - I agree! Schwab and Quicken need to further refine their downloads to reflect the actual transactions with their matching "Div", "LT", "ST", and "INT" transaction types. I just spent 2 hours reconciling my Quicken downloaded transactions:
    -> Highlight the "Bought" downloaded entry, Quicken adds it to the register; click "Edit" in the register, change transaction from "Bought" to "Reinvest", cut/paste the amount and shares into the correct box, click Save, go back to Downloaded transaction list and "Edit/Delete" the downloaded transaction that I just entered. Find the other "extra" downloaded transaction to delete it as well. Repeat with the next "Bought" line item. Then repeat with any that are "Cash Distributions" instead of Reinvested. Ugh!

    I am pretty sure other brokerages use the double-entry style of listing transactions and theirs come into Quicken correctly as a single transaction. Seems fixable!
  • Quicken Alert!
    I am working on this week's updates and started seeing balances that did not match WITHIN Quicken! I ran a "Networth" report and the balances per account did not match what I see for each account in the "Account List" bar.

    Digging deeper, I discovered that I have Schwab transactions that have been duplicated into other accounts that are not related in any way to the security and/or Schwab. Some of those accounts are "hidden" because they were taken to zero balances years ago.

    In one Schwab account, I found an "Interest" transaction of $19,000+ dollars that had nothing whatsoever to do with the security in which it was found and was causing my account balance in the Networth report to be inflated; yet the Account List view ignored that transaction and thus showed the correct balance.

    I literally discovered this a few hours ago. My next step is to run a report that will give me all Quicken transactions by Security/Account to find the rogue entries and then go one by one for every Schwab account to verify Cost Basis and Market Value.

    I am no longer going to use the download feature until Quicken and Schwab get this fixed.

    OH - and Vanguard uses the double-entry accounting method for transactions and they come into Quicken correctly matched with their DIV, ST, LT designations as single entries. No excuse for Quicken and Schwab to get this so wrong.
  • Update.

    There are still bugs. The double entry accounting persists, but is a minor irritant as one line is just blank. Most of my Schwab transactions download, but several from over a week ago are missing. Why who knows? The only way I knew was I saw a large drop in the NAV of a fund, that was due to an unrecorded distribution.
  • One more "change" that I noticed while reconciling Realized Gains/Losses between my brokerage accounts and Quicken. At one point in the past, Quicken said it would default all mutual funds to "Average Cost" for the cost basis. So I stopped taking the extra step to "check the Average Cost box" on the security details page. Well ... Quicken no longer is using average cost as its default method for mutual funds. I've had to drill into multiple funds in Quicken to explicitly check the "Average Cost" box in order to reconcile gains/losses with my brokerage. Next project? Drill into every mutual fund in Quicken and set it to Average Cost where applicable. Another change that I was unaware that Quicken made.
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