Fidelity CMA Account gets added as an investment account (edited)

Grenae0924

I'm a new potential customer that unfortunately had to cancel my subscription recently. The reason is we do all of our Banking through Fidelity Investments via their Cash Management Accounts. These accounts work like Bank Checking accounts, however, you can make brokerage investments too within the account. It's actually a really awesome way to manage our money. However, when I started to set up my account with Simplifi and added my Fidelity Investments Account, it put the account under "Investments" rather than "Banking". All my standard charges etc. get pulled from this account (Mortgage payment, bills, etc.). But because it is categorized as a "Investment" Account inside of Simplifi, I'm unable to use this account when budgeting and syncing transactions. It really sucks.

My question would be to ask if there is a way the Simplifi software development/Connectivity team could reach out to the Fidelity Investment development/Connectivity team and change their software settings to allow Fidelity Cash Management Accounts to be set up as "Bank Accounts" in the Simplifi Software.

I have to think that there are tens of thousands of Fidelity customers that utilize their Fidelity Cash management accounts as a standard checking/banking account.

Can this be resolved? I'd love to use this software, but because I run all my monthly expenses through my Fidelity Cash Management Account, I'm unable to do so in Simplifi because it only shows it as an "Investment Account".

Coach Jon

Hello @Grenae0924,

Thanks for reaching out! This would largely depend on what the financial institution itself classifies the account as. Can you verify whether they classify this account as an investment account or a checking account? Let us know!

-Coach Jon

Dognose

This worked for me. I no longer see the internal buy/sell activity within the account.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/6759/add-fidelity-cash-management-account-cma-as-checking#latest

jfclague

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/53343#Comment_53343

I tried this but the only account option to select from is Investments so either it change or I am doing something wrong (I tried on the web and the app).

Coach Jon

Hello @jfclague,

Thanks for reaching out! Can you please provide a screenshot showing the Edit Account menu when selecting a different type for this account from your side? This will better assist us in verifying the issue you are experiencing.

-Coach Jon

SRC54

@jfclague Are you sure you are using Simplifi. Because in Quicken Classic, you CANNOT change a Fidelity CM account to anything but an investment account. (I made mine manual and made it a Savings Account.

In Quicken Simplifi, I was able to make it any kind of account I wanted, so I made it a savings account. I also had it as Other Banking Account or Checking Account.

Go to Settings:Accounts, Fidelity Inv and Retirement, and edit it.

Another thought. Last month, there was a bug in Simplifi web app that wouldn't allow you to change it but it got fixed. What version of Web App or Mobile App are you using? I am using 4.61.0.

Excuse my butting in, but I just opened a Fidelity CM account last month.

Coach Jon

Hello @jfclague,

It looks like as of the 4.57.0 Web Release, users can no longer change Investment Account Types to anything other than a different Investment Account Type. So, users will no longer be able to turn their Investment Accounts into Checking Accounts.

It seems the ability to change them to other account types was deemed a bug.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause! We can still escalate the issue of the account's classification, of course, as long as you provide the information I requested previously. Let us know!

-Coach Jon

jfclague

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/53383#Comment_53383

Jon,

Here are the screenshots from the web app and the iPhone app.

Thanks,

Jim

Web App v4.62.0.pdf

iPhone App v5.32.0.jpeg.pdf

Coach Jon

Hello @jfclague,

Thanks for the reply. Per my previous response, users can no longer change Investment Account Types to anything other than a different Investment Account Type. The thing we would be possibly escalating for here would be based on what your bank classifies your account as. Can you verify whether they classify this account as an investment account or a checking account? Let us know!

-Coach Jon

jfclague

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/53412#Comment_53412

It is classified as an Investment Account.

Coach Jon

Hello @jfclague,

Thanks for confirming. If the financial institution classifies the account type as an investment account, then unfortunately, we will not be able to escalate this issue since it is appearing as an investment account within Quicken Simplifi.

-Coach Jon

themoje

Just let users have control over classifying accounts however they please. It looks like this was functionality in previous versions of the app so it shouldn't be difficult to revert course here. There are seemingly plenty of people frustrated by this…

Coach Jon

Hello @themoje,

I definitely understand. I do know that our team is aware of the impact and is looking into solutions. We also have a great idea post you can follow here that covers this topic.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/12671/allow-users-to-classify-an-investment-account-as-a-non-investment-account

-Coach Jon

rdd

Here is the work around

1. Create a manual account for Fidelity CMA as a checking account
2. Link the financial institution under the manual account using the Fidelity Inv %& Retirement option
3. Click the CMA account in Fidelity authorization
4. When it comes back to Simplifi, do not add it to New select the drop down and link it to the manual account that you created in #1.
5. It is now linked as a checking account.

SRC54

@rdd Thanks for the workaround. I thought that might work, but I was afraid to test it as I already have it the way I want it.

By the way, it doesn't work for Quicken Classic Mac, but I didn't expect it would.

Thanks for the tip. I hope it will work for others.