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Posted by John Gregory on May 6, 2006, 12:24 pm
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I think I'm getting confused so before I go too far down the trail chasing
what I THINK I'm about to learn, perhaps someone can confirm I'm on the
right trail.
I recently moved money electronically among a few banks for the first time.
That lead to a conversation with one about "on-line banking and bill
paying"; it's free. I was surprised and said I'd investigate.
Well I've finished reading all they've printed to their website, including
the terms and conditions. I'm a little concerned about their "sharing bill
paying info with third parties" so I've asked for clarification. That may be
a show stopper right there.
Anyway... I then switched to Quicken 2005HB to see what's needed. I've read
about "downloading transactions to my account" and believe I understand.
Along the way, however, I started reading about "Quicken Bill Pay" (QBP).
That appears to be Intuits own service which will handle the actual payment
for about ten bucks a month... verses "free" from my bank. Now I'm leery;
there ain't no "free" lunch anywhere! I fear I'm about to discover I will
still need QBP to have my bank handle the "free" payment. Their website
http://www.nationalcity.com/personal/onlineservices/onlinebanking/QuickenFAQ.asp#paybills
tells me I can "pay bills directly via Quicken software" ... but it doesn't
tell me how.
I'm trying to find out just what I need to do in Quicken to take advantage
of this "free" banking service. Would appreciate someone taking a moment to
comment and/or point me in the right direction for getting the details I'll
need.
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Posted by Stubby on May 6, 2006, 1:04 pm
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Your banks BillPay is a tarbaby. If you use it, you'll be able to
categorize your expenses but you won't be able to include checks written
on other banks or even your pocket cash. And you won't be able to
switch away from that bank's service because it will be hard to copy the
transactions into your new system. Although you can probably go through
a comma-separated values file step, but that's painful.
John Gregory wrote:
> I think I'm getting confused so before I go too far down the trail chasing
> what I THINK I'm about to learn, perhaps someone can confirm I'm on the
> right trail.
>
> I recently moved money electronically among a few banks for the first time.
> That lead to a conversation with one about "on-line banking and bill
> paying"; it's free. I was surprised and said I'd investigate.
>
> Well I've finished reading all they've printed to their website, including
> the terms and conditions. I'm a little concerned about their "sharing bill
> paying info with third parties" so I've asked for clarification. That may be
> a show stopper right there.
>
> Anyway... I then switched to Quicken 2005HB to see what's needed. I've read
> about "downloading transactions to my account" and believe I understand.
> Along the way, however, I started reading about "Quicken Bill Pay" (QBP).
> That appears to be Intuits own service which will handle the actual payment
> for about ten bucks a month... verses "free" from my bank. Now I'm leery;
> there ain't no "free" lunch anywhere! I fear I'm about to discover I will
> still need QBP to have my bank handle the "free" payment. Their website
>
http://www.nationalcity.com/personal/onlineservices/onlinebanking/QuickenFAQ.asp#paybills
> tells me I can "pay bills directly via Quicken software" ... but it doesn't
> tell me how.
>
> I'm trying to find out just what I need to do in Quicken to take advantage
> of this "free" banking service. Would appreciate someone taking a moment to
> comment and/or point me in the right direction for getting the details I'll
> need.
>
>
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Posted by Lisa C on May 8, 2006, 6:34 am
Please log in for more thread options > Your banks BillPay is a tarbaby. If you use it, you'll be able to
> categorize your expenses but you won't be able to include checks written
> on other banks or even your pocket cash. And you won't be able to switch
> away from that bank's service because it will be hard to copy the
> transactions into your new system. Although you can probably go through a
> comma-separated values file step, but that's painful.
>
>
????
That is simply not true!
Wachovia bank has offered free bill-pay through Quicken FOR YEARS. Before it
was bought by Wachovia, my branch was a CoreStates, and then a FirstUnion.
All offered bill-pay through Quicken (though at one time there was a charge
of $3.99 per month if your balance went below a certain threshold, IIRC)
As posted in this thread by Guy, you simply write a check -- either in the
Online Center OR directly into the register, using the SEND term in the
check number column. If you have not set up the payee as on online payee,
Quicken will prompt you.
You can even mix-and-match services. I use my bank's website to schedule
fixed payments for loans, and Quicken to send variable payments like credit
card and utilities.
There is no distinction between transactions initiated at the bank website,
checks written by hand, atm transactions, and those sent via the online
center. When cleared through the bank, all transactions download for
matching or accepting as new transactions.
As for the free lunch, the OP is correct, it is not free. Banks, like other
businesses, offer certain services to attract customers. Perhaps you will
use a bank-associated credit card, or enter into a personal loan agreement
with the ban, use the atm at a remote location, or order checks... all
things banks can and do charge premiums on.
Your free lunch is more likely to be threatened by the Intuit bean counters
who discovered that their biggest cash-cow was not in improved software, but
in disabling services for existing copies of older software. This includes
such wonderful innovations as forcing upgrades by 'sunsetting' older
software (disabling payroll, merchant services and other options in
QuickBooks, and OFX online transfers in Quicken) and, in addition, removing
some capabilities altogether (like the ability to import QIF files from your
bank for checking, savings, and credit card accounts). Read some of the
FAQ's for OFX download, and maybe you can pinpoint why Intuit does this.
Q: Why does Intuit charge financial institutions a fee to connect to
Quicken?
A: Intuit charges a fee to financial institutions to connect to Quicken via
Open Financial Exchange (OFX) because Intuit products, like Quicken, are
uniquely positioned to provide financial institutions with a better way to
attract, retain and serve their customers by offering a more valuable
service. This small fee enables Intuit to offset costs, offer connectivity
to more financial institutions, and continue to develop better products and
services using the faster, easier and more accurate OFX method.
Q: Does Intuit charge all financial institutions the same fee to connect
Quicken?
A: Intuit offers various pricing options for connectivity based on the size
of institutions customer base. Smaller banks pay less than larger banks.
Q: Will my Financial Institution charge fees for OFX download?
A: Financial Institutions determine what - if any - fees will be charged for
download into Quicken via OFX. Contact your Financial Institution and ask
them if they charge fees for download into Quicken. When you call, be sure
to explain that you want to download into Quicken and would like to
understand if there are any costs for doing so.
Q: Does Intuit require banks to charge their customers for connectivity?
A: Absolutely not. Intuit does not mandate that financial institutions
charge their customers for OFX connectivity with Quicken. In fact, many
financial institutions offer this service free of charge to their customers.
Of course, the folks at Intuit were not quite so forthcoming in telling the
customers who just this year were forced to upgrade from the 2003 product.
We found out AFTER conversion. The choice is to take the newer product, with
QIF disabled, or send for a refund, and keep your older product with
INTUIT-disabled OFX.
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Posted by John Pollard on May 8, 2006, 9:44 am
Please log in for more thread options Lisa C wrote:
> Your free lunch is more likely to be threatened by the Intuit
> bean
> counters who discovered that their biggest cash-cow was not in
> improved software, but in disabling services for existing
> copies of
> older software. This includes such wonderful innovations as
> forcing
> upgrades by 'sunsetting' older software (disabling payroll,
> merchant
> services and other options in QuickBooks, and OFX online
> transfers in
> Quicken)
> and, in addition, removing some capabilities altogether
> (like the ability to import QIF files from your bank for
> checking,
> savings, and credit card accounts).
Except that those capabilities (QIF file imports) were not
removed ... despite what the faq's or others may say. QIF file
imports were made slightly more difficult, but they are still
operational.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup
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Posted by Lisa C on May 9, 2006, 8:15 am
Please log in for more thread options > Lisa C wrote:
>> Your free lunch is more likely to be threatened by the Intuit bean
>> counters who discovered that their biggest cash-cow was not in
>> improved software, but in disabling services for existing copies of
>> older software. This includes such wonderful innovations as forcing
>> upgrades by 'sunsetting' older software (disabling payroll, merchant
>> services and other options in QuickBooks, and OFX online transfers in
>> Quicken)
>
>> and, in addition, removing some capabilities altogether
>> (like the ability to import QIF files from your bank for checking,
>> savings, and credit card accounts).
>
> Except that those capabilities (QIF file imports) were not removed ...
> despite what the faq's or others may say. QIF file imports were made
> slightly more difficult, but they are still operational.
>
Bleh.
The Intuit site explains that QIF capabilities were left in place for use in
technical service issues. It's still there because Intuit needs it. BUT it
is disabled for all but cash accounts. Sure, you can import to a dummy
account and move the transactions, but the categories are missing. And,
there is even more possibility using the move that you will end up with
duplicate transactions, regardless of the Intuit PR.
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