Amex Credit Cards not all transactions updated if more than one card with them

AlexB

Very weird issue. I have three Amex cards, and all of them are under one profile (one set of credentials). What I noticed a few months ago is that during each connection to Simplifi only two out of my three Amex cards download transactions and updated balance from Simplifi.

Here's what happens:
- log in to Simplifi
- Amex connection asks for 2FA (btw, only this bank asks to provide 2FA one-time password every time I log in to Simplifi, others 'remember' I provided this data during initial connection)
- I provide this 2FA one-time password and my Amex cards seem to be updated

But.. When I review my monthly spending I see some weird numbers like just 50% of my expected grocery spend or some large purchase I know about is missing. The account and all three cards look Ok and updated, no warning signs, no errors. So, I go to Amex website and log in to them directly and compare all three accounts manually. Here's what I see every time (every time!):
- my 2 of 3 Amex cards are Ok, all transactions downloaded and balance is correct
- but 1 of 3 Amex cards is missing transactions after some date, it's not like random transactions missing it's just they are not updated after some date. And the balance is also wrong as those transactions missing.

So, the pattern is 1 of 3 cards is not getting new transactions. I haven't checked this but it looks this card is missing transactions after latest connection. I'm not 100% sure but probably I see transactions downloaded last time I connected. What's weird, two other cards have all transactions.

And, finally, this 1 of 3 cards changes over time. This month it was Amex Blue Cash Everyday but two months ago it was Amex Gold. So, the pattern is pretty much clear. When the system connects (and it connects for sure) to Amex just 2 of 3 cards get updated transactions and no error messages to inform me that 1 card is not updated. And this card is like randomly selected.

Simplifi support told me today there might be an issue with the bridge that connects Amex to Simplifi and it might have some issue during refresh that doesn't update some accounts sometimes. And as the connection itself is established and something downloaded there is no error message even if not all accounts updated.

That's very frustrating but as I don't even know if my accounts are updated. May be yes, may be not. I need to go to to Amex directly and compare all three accounts.

The temporary workaround that always helps is to manually reset Amex connection. It refreshes all three accounts but next time I need to reset again.

I guess those who have just 1 or 2 cards with Amex never experience this. So, asking those who have 3 or more cards with them do you experience this issue? Please comment to show it's important bug.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thanks for posting to the Community regarding this issue, although I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulties with your American Express accounts in Simplifi. 

To clarify, are the additional cards Authorized User accounts with American Express? If so, Simplifi manages these accounts a bit differently; we have a Support Article available here that goes over Authorized User accounts with American Express and how best to handle them. 

Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Hi, no all cards are my (no authorized users). As I mentioned they are also updated after reset and the affected card might be different next time.

But all cards are my cards, different products under same name.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thanks for confirming!

In that case, we'd recommend not resetting the connection, as this can cause further issues down the road. Instead, you'd want to report these issues to Support as they occur so the issue can be escalated and researched; it sounds like you may have already done this, but I'd personally be happy to take a closer look if you'd like.

First, I'd suggest taking a look over our Support Article here to troubleshoot missing transactions. If the issue persists, you'll want to provide specific example transactions that are missing with the Date, Payee, and Amount. We will also need to know the name of the account that the transactions are missing from, as it appears in Simplifi.

Additionally, you'll want to provide a screenshot of your transactions on the bank's website, as well as a comparison screenshot of the corresponding account in Simplifi showing that the transactions are missing. Last, we would need to know if the missing transactions are impacting the reported balance for the account. 

Please let us know how it goes!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Hi Natalie, yes talked to support and they told it's Ok to Reset after reporting everything. However, how to report to you here? I will not post my screenshots to this web comminuty as it's public. And support features built-into simplifi doesn't allow to upload external bank screenshots.

Also, you asked if it affects the balance. As I mentioned previously balance is always outdated in Simplifi if transactions are missing. It doesn't include them. It is as it is, some accounts are not updated and everything looks like it's not updated (no new transactions, old balance) except there is no warning sign. Other accounts with same bank are updated.

AlexB

P.S. I also appreciate your help but please refrain from reminding me how to sort/filter transactions (the link you provided). It's like you tell me you have transactions but filtered them out. That's not true. I'm very tech savvy to understand what I am doing and we are at the point where we perfectly know it's not how transactions are displayed but it's about them not being downloaded. You see, I'm a nerd and always provide many technical details. If being asked to check "have you plugged your PC to an electric outlet" I might become furious and ask to pay me for all the time I spent reporting as it seems nobody is reading my reports Sorry, but just to save yours and my time. As I'm a nerd and I actually read all links you send me and ask myself "why? I already explained it has nothing to do with those simple steps. So you are sending me this link 'by default' not reading it but I waste time reading it.

Tell me where to send screenshots in private and I will send you next time.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

To clarify, the troubleshooting steps outlined in the Support Article are not user-specific and are not meant to be offensive; these are generic steps that must be followed before escalating a missing transactions case.

Instead of outlining each scenario to a user and having them report back with their findings, I personally prefer to share the Article and let users identify any culprits on their own. If no culprits are identified and the issue is still not resolved, we can then look at escalating the issue. 

As for sharing the requested information privately, this can be done via a DM to me here in the Community, or I can email you a link to our Secure File Exchange. We will need the following information: 

1. The name of the account that the transactions are missing from, as it appears in Simplifi.
2. The Date, Payee, and Amount of 3-4 transactions that are currently missing in Simplifi. 
3. The current balance of the account as displayed on the bank's website.
4. The current balance of the account as displayed in Simplifi.
5. Screenshots of the missing transactions on the bank's website.
6. Screenshots of the corresponding account in Simplifi showing that the transactions are missing. 

Thanks in advance!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Hi Natalie, so this month I updated my budget and it happens again. Actually I guess it happens every time but I do not visit Simplifi often, mostly just once a month to update my budget situation. So, again Amex asked for 2FA and seemed like it updated all three cards. Again, it's SAME Amex profile. And again one of those cards is not updated. And again it's random card. I talked to your rep over phone a month ago and he guessed it might be related to updating more than one card at once so the system might get updates just for some cards but doesn't get it's just partial as some cards from this account were updated. Anyways, one of my three Amex cards under same account missing some latest transactions and other cards have later transactions.

I will DM you now with the details you requested above.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for providing the requested information!

I have gone ahead and gotten this escalated and will be sure to post back as soon as an update is received. 

When it comes to performing an account reset, please hold off on this. If the transactions download and the balance is corrected before the Team has a chance to investigate, they will most likely see this from the backend and close the ticket. We want to allow them some time to investigate while the issue is actively occurring. They're usually pretty fast at getting back to us on these types of issues, so it shouldn't be too long.

-Coach Natalie

EWC-9868546

AlexB

Thanks Natalie, I'd like also to note I tried solving same through support chat in the app and honestly speaking you need to fix that support chat as it works.... Let me explain how as that's persistent:

1. I always message outside your business hours and I know chat support will reply the next day. But for a year now I have same crap the next morning:

- 10 e-mails from "Coach". Just see them:

(e-mail 1) Hi Alex! Welcome to Simplifi 😄 I’m Coach Julio and I’ll be happy to help you today!

(e-mail 2) Thank you for your response. Please allow me a few moments to review everything.

// what response??? I sent you e-mail 12 hours guys! I am still sleeping atm, what response? You guys are talking to yourselves.

(e-mail 3) The missing transactions are they in Pending or Clear status with your Bank?

(e-mail 4) more questions from Julio

(e-mail 5) more questions from Julio

(e-mail 6) It appears you might have stepped away for a moment. No problem! I'll stick around for a bit to allow you time to reply!

(e-mail 7) It seems like you might need more time. So I'm going to close this chat for now, but do not worry. Once you reply, the conversation will reopen, and we can pick right back up.

(e-mail 8) Help Coach understand how they’re doing: Rate your conversation

Hm... You see this Natalie. That looks like crap so that's crap and that happens every time when I reach support outside business hours. I am a certified process improvement guy so giving free advice that every decent person will give you. May be you give me free annual subscription in exchange? That would be fair actually.

1. If your client is offline (and it's obvious as you are sending e-mails) DO NOT send every message as separate e-mail. That's crappy. That floods mailboxes and might even activate spam filters. In any case that's disrespect. There are tons of ways to improve this. Your system should track how often it sends e-mails. Many online communities send only the first notification and the next message doesn't generate notification if the first one was not opened.

2. If your client is offline and you know your system sends e-mail for every message do not type that many messages. Train your associates.

3. Your associates should be trained. Again - trained! And adjust their "scripted" responses accordingly. If you see that message was sent 12 hours ago or so all this scripted [removed - profanity] sounds like the person typing it is insane but we now they are not, they are intelligent human beings so please do not make them sound insane. Do not humiliate your staff and your clients See:

//  Thank you for your response. Please allow me a few moments to review everything.

First of all there was no response to him, I was sleeping. Second, if you see that message was sent many hours ago and you tell "please allow me a few monents" it sounds like it sounds (guess, I don't want to be rude). I'm already waiting many hours and offline for many hours already. Take another minute or two and RESPOND. By typing this non-sense you just show you are scripted as hell and you also initiate another useless e-mail fluding my mailbox. Not even stupid but also redundant e-mail message as a result.

//  It appears you might have stepped away for a moment. No problem! I'll stick around for a bit to allow you time to reply!

Again, nothing changed. NOTHING. I was sleeping. I haven't logged-in, I haven't returned, I haven't typed. All your reps behave same way answering to anything asked 12 hours ago. They behave like I'm here, ignore the fact that I left hours before they started replying and say this non-sense "it appears you might have stepped away for a moment". Really???

I'd say forcing intelligent human beings to type this way humiliates them That might be automated script so those programmers need to fix it. Just see, it make me as a customer angry, my mailbox flooded and your customer experience..............


It is what it is But you know it's very easy to fix. Just few simple tweaks to how chat support operates. And they need to provide ticket numbers. As when I provided screenshots to something that happened a month ago Julio was just guessing and asking same questions. My goal was not to hear same thing and reply with same replies. I just wanted to add to an existing case that's it. And he asks what I already discussed with you and with phone support a month ago. What a waste of time. I don't know why it happened but when I called month ago your colleague just told me "next time send us a screenshot". But how to send it and be sure it's properly reviewed? As we spend an hour discussing everything and is there a case with all that detail or it's gone? The thing I hate is to explain everything again and again and answer same questions again and again. Today Julio promised my screenshots will be escalated but not case number provided again.

Please, find that case, may be find my phone conversation a month ago and combine it with this thread to have one case with all the details. And give me case number if possible.

Thanks

Coach Natalie

I have forwarded your feedback, @AlexB.

To clarify, Chat Support is entirely separate from the Community. The ticket number I provided above (EWC-9868546) is the escalation that I filed for the issue you're seeing with your Amex account; you can use this when referencing the issue.

Also, when you post something to the Community, you won't need to also reach out to Chat Support. This can cause confusion and creates more work for you. If you post to the Community, I'll make sure you're taken care of. If you'd prefer Chat Support over the Community, you can definitely go that route instead. Totally up to you on which route to take, however, reaching out to one support channel is all that's needed.

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks, it's not like I prefer some way of getting support. I just point out that Chat support has a lot of flaws and needs to be improved. I do not know how to provide my feedback on their support so I provided it here.

AlexB

P.S. Again, for me it's one company regardless of the channel I use.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for your patience as this issue is being researched!

I've heard back from the Team on this, and apparently they need screenshots with a wider scope and more details. Please provide fresh screenshots of the following: 

1. The account summary page on the bank's website showing all accounts and the balances (please redact any personal info, such as account numbers), with a wide enough scope to show the page URL.
2. The drill-down of each of the accounts on the bank's website that shows the transactions (both pending and cleared), with a wide enough scope to show the page URL. 
3. The drill down for each of the accounts in Simplifi that shows the balance, as well as the list of transactions. 

Feel free to DM these again. Thanks in advance!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Hi Natalie, here are the screenshots you requested reflecting today's data. Please note, there is NO "Account Summary" page with this bank that shows account balances, just account names. Balances are on each appropriate account's page.

Please also note, page URL is shortened / hidden by Safari. I need to point out and click on the address bar to see URL. However, all pages have same URL https://global.americanexpress.com/dashboard it's a dynamic generated page.

As you see, Gold and Platinum cards reconcile well now but the Blue Cash Everyday card that I mentioned few days ago still has this issue of missing transactions and wrong balance.

To get this info today I logged-in to Simplifi and Amex today and Simplifi asked me (as usual) to provide 2FA. So, what you see is after Simplifi updated info and it's up-to-date for two unaffected cards. It just 'forgotten' one of three cards as usual. May be that matters, few days ago and today it's the same card not updated.

You can also see Macy's transaction on this BCE card. In Amex it's already posted but in Simplifi still pending. No such inconsistency with other cards. So it's not just transactions missing with BCE card but simply this card is not updated.

Please comment does this suffice and can I now reset my account in Simplifi?

[removed screenshots]

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for providing the requested information -- these are perfect!

I have gone ahead and resubmitted the ticket and will let you know as soon as I receive another update. Please continue to hold off on resetting the connection until they have a chance to fully investigate. 

We appreciate your patience!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie!

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for your continued patience!

I've received an update from my Team and they'd like you to go ahead and perform an account reset at this time. They'll be tracing the connection from the backend to gather logs and further info about the behavior. 

Please let me know once done!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie! Performed reset, now everything is synced and missing transactions added to Blue Cash Everyday card. The balance looks different because Simplifi added Pending transaction to it already but it's just internal math as if you deduct that transaction (last one, see screenshots) it will be same balance as at Amex website.

Screenshots of this card attached. Other cards were Ok from the beginning of our experiment.

AlexB

attachments

[removed attachments]

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for performing the account reset as requested!

I have gone ahead and resubmitted the ticket with the new information, and will be sure to post back as soon as another update is received. 

When it comes to the balance discrepancy with pending transactions, this will actually need to be fixed in Simplifi. Simplifi is designed to deduct pending transactions from the balance, however, sometimes the balance provided by the bank already includes pending transactions so they end up being double-counted. 

To resolve this, you'll want to navigate to Settings>Accounts, select the three-dot menu for the account in question, select "Edit account", check the box for the 'Balance with Pending' option, and then click "Update". Once done, you'll need to wait 4-6 hours for the next successful account refresh to see if making this change resolves the balance discrepancy. More details on how Simplifi calculates your balance, as well as the 'Balance with Pending' feature, can be found here. 

Please let us know how it goes!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie!

I guess it's different issue with the balance. In my case (and it applies to all my accounts as I see so far) it works this way. Let's say current balance on account is $100 (posted transactions). There is one more pending transaction for let's say $15. The bank will show balance as $100 because pending transaction is not posted yet. In other words, balance is only confirmed/posted transactions. Pending transactions may disappear, be updated, whatever. That's why banks never consider them part of the balance before they are posted.

Here, Amex works same way. They do not include pending transactions to the balance. However, Simplifi includes pending transactions. That's why, if you look at last screenshots, you will see that Simplifi balance is larger than Amex balance. And the difference is this pending transaction.

I've checked the setting for this account and the checkbox is Not checked. The text behind it is "Do not subtract pending transactions when calculating the balance with pending for this account, they are already subtracted." That's very interesting. I've read your support article and it describes the opposite thing. In that article the bank reports $1000 balance but Simplifi subsctracts by default making it $850. Correct? That's why by checking that checkbox Simplifi will not subsctract. In other words, checking that checkbox makes the balance higher and Simplifi subsctracts by default and you need to select that checkbox Not to substract.

But In my case it's opposite. The checkbox is not checked. Does it mean Simplifi is already substracting? But tha'ts not the case. In fact Simplifi simply takes balance from the bank and ADDS Pending transaction to the balance. Guess what happens if I now check that checkbox. It will add that transaction twice? I'm speculating but based on the checkbox description and the support article that's exactly what's happen. As for now Simplifi is actually ADDING that Pending transaction even with checkbox unchecked.

Please note, that applies to all my accounts. To all. All balances are displayed like Pending transactions are already posted.

Let me also speculate from a banker's perspective (I'm PhD in Economics, worked in finance more than 10 years). As I started here balance is what's posted, period. Including Pending transactions to the balance is incorrect because they are not finalized and might change. However, I have no big issue with this in Simplifi as I understand it might be convenient. Let's say I go to the grocery Dec 31st and purchase something. And January 1 I have nothing to do so I review my December spending report. My last transaction won't be posted yet but those groceries are actually purchased so yes I do know they are my spending and that will be posted later. So, there is some convenience to see it as "balance" meaning that's actual spending. So, it's convenient but not fully correct to display the balance this way. I just understand Simplifi works this way.

But what's interesting, your support article described some behavior unknown to me. I have many credit cards from different banks and this support article doesn't align with they way they display balance on their websites and in their statements. Here's the text:

"Example: If your bank reports your current balance as $1000 and you have a pending transaction of $150, Simplifi will show the account balance as $850. "

Here your support article speculates that the bank reports the balance of $1000 meaning there are $850 posted transactions and $150 pending. No. That never, never happens for me as a customer. Banks never-never report balance this way. They never include pending to the balance. That's against accounting principles etc. I guess there is some mistake in your support article honesty You can take any of your account statements they send you end of the month and see "End of Month Balance". If there are any pending transactions they will never be included to the balance. The reason why is the law. The bank requires you to pay the balance but they have no legal right to ask you to pay for "pending transactions" as they are not finalized yet meaning they are not your debt meaning they are not your balance.

I think the author or your support article means something else. That banks (thanks to economically illiterate programmers, whatever) report something via API that is not a balance but that is reported as posted+pending transactions. So that's what you receive from the bank via API. So your article is correct if we read it "banks report some figure to us". Even is some economically illiterate programmer named this "a balance" in API doesn't change true meaning of things. But I'd suggest you not to phrase it as "bank reports a balance" as for me as a user bank reports a balance to me in some visible form. Correct? Like on their website or in their app or I just receive their statement by mail. That balance is correct. Anything that you receive by API might differ and probably your article describes that but that's not a balance as (again) balance never includes pending. In you article there is some confusion because of that. 

And this checkbox is just to make this experience unified. If a bank reports (via API) a real balance you add pending transactions. If a bank reports balance+pending you do not add because the bank already added. That's it. This checkbox just helps Simplifi to understand how the bank reports.

So you show posted + pending in Simplifi naming it "a balance" which is not economically correct but I'm used to that and Ok with that. And this checkbox is to unify because some banks report differently via API (but as you see they all report in a same way to the user via their websites, statements as that's regulated by law).

Am I correct?

If yes than may be Simplifi will benefit from a system-wide setting that will allow us users either to see "pending" added to the balance (as it happens now) or not.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

To clarify, Simplifi is designed to deduct pending transactions (transactions in a 'Pending' state) from the balance reported by the bank. Most banks provide a balance that does not include pending transactions, so Simplifi will deduct them to give you an accurate reflection of your true balance. 

However, sometimes banks provide a balance that does include pending transactions and Simplifi will end up double-counting them. In this instance, you'll want to disable Simplifi from counting pending transactions, which can be done by checking the box for 'Balance with Pending' under the edit account options. Once done, you'll want to wait for 4-6 hours for the next successful refresh to see the change take effect. 

If you've determined that you see a balance on the bank's website that does not include pending transactions, but Simplifi is counting the pending transactions, I'd say this would most likely be the cause of the balance mismatch. If you don't want Simplifi to count pending transactions in your balance, and the bank is providing a balance that doesn't include pending transactions, you can check the 'Balance with pending' option for the account in Simplifi to prevent Simplifi from counting the pending transactions. In other words, this feature can be used as a preference option as well. 

Regardless of how banks work, this is how Simplifi is designed, and you do have the option in Simplifi to disable pending transactions from being counted toward the balance. 

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie! I tried to demonstrate you what I mean but the transaction is now posted so I need to make a few transactions today to have pending and then to wait for Simplifi to be updated I will do such test with two cards from different banks and drop you screenshots later with my comments.

Highly appreciate your explanations. However, can't get this:

"To clarify, Simplifi is designed to deduct pending transactions (transactions in a 'Pending' state) from the balance reported by the bank. Most banks provide a balance that does not include pending transactions, so Simplifi will deduct them to give you an accurate reflection of your true balance."

I guess it's the same confusion that I see on the support page. If you mean that "most banks provide a balance that does not include pending transaction" than why deducting them? I mean why should you deduct something that is not included. If you don't have something you can not deduct it etc. It will just lead to incorrect math.

However, let me do simple test with some transactions today and send you screenshots later. I understand you mean that I can tune Simplifi with this special checkbox however I have one thought about it. But let me check first.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Although I can't begin to speculate what the intentions behind the design for Simplifi are, I'm assuming that it's so you have a balance that includes pending transactions so you don't accidentally overspend. 

The ability to disable Simplifi from deducting pending transactions was a requested feature (please see here and here), and our Product Team implemented it. The feature also helps in instances where the bank is sending in a balance that includes pending transactions and Simplifi double counts them. So, it's a solution for that issue, in addition to a preference option. 

I hope this helps clarify things!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie, I was able to do tests with two banks (Amex and Citi) and have same results. Here's how it works for me.

First of all, fully agree with you that adding pending to the balance helps not to overspend (most of the time). While some pending transactions will never post most will.

What I suggest is to review the description related to that checkbox as it seems misleading. Here's how two tests that I performed yesterday worked for me and why I think checkbox description is wrong.

- Checkbox not checked -

In this scenario (default) I do not know what banks report but both Amex and Citi cards are shown in Simplifi with pending transactions included. Let's say real balance is $100 and $5 pending, in this case Simplifi shows $105 with checkbox not checked. Same for both banks and as it's by default setting it's same for all the banks I use with Simplifi.

- Checkbox checked -

I tested this yesterday and have same consistent results with both Amex and Citi. In this scenario the balance I see in Simplifi is exactly the same as at the bank's website. To perform this test I selected two cards with new transactions that are still pending and I see those transactions on the bank website as not posted yet. Before checking the checkbox pending transactions were added to the balance and Simplifi balance was larger than on the bank's website. But with this checkbox checked Simplifi shows exactly the same balance as the bank's website.

I attach screenshots for two banks, those screenshots are based on this scenario with checkbox checked.


So, this test proves that with this box checked Simplifi doesn't include pending transactions to the balance. I will not speculate here how the bank reports via API. May be your developers base on the fact that the bank adds pending transactions by default when reporting balance to you, I don't know. But as you see from the customer standpoint we do not see what API reports but we see the bank's website and on their websites banks never add pending to the balance.

So, what I'm trying to explain, what I think is very reasonable to do! See, your support article is not correct and the checkbox transaction is not correct. As we already figured out there are two ways to see transactions in Simplifi:

1) (default) not to check this box and to see balance with pending added (pending included), that's how it works by default and that's what you suggested might be "feature, not a bug to avoid overspending". 

2) to check this box and to see the balance with no pending transactions added, that's not by default but that is achievable by selecting that checkbox and that results in seeing the same balance in Simplifi as at the bank's website.

I think you agree with my description above as we tested it. But here's what your support article tells, completely opposite:

http://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4202003-how-does-simplifi-calculate-my-balance

Simplifi calculates your balance by deducting your pending transactions from your current bank balance -- this includes manually entered pending transactions with the current or a prior date. That way, you always know where your account stands!

Example: If your bank reports your current balance as $1000 and you have a pending transaction of $150, Simplifi will show the account balance as $850.

You should agree that's absolutely opposite to how it works actually By default Simplifi INCLUDES Pending to balance. Is it done to avoid overspending or for other reasons doesn't matter but it's how it works. It's fact, math is math. But support article tells that Simplifi deducts pending transactions. Not true. This support article tells that Simplifi calculates a balance by deducting transactions from current bank balance. Absolute [removed - profanity].

As you see, first of all that is NOT TRUE based on tests. Period. And as we already discussed bank's balance NEVER includes pending transactions. Your author who composed this article does not know what the bank balance is. May be that developer refers to some "number" reported via API that might be some economically illiterate people call "balance" for technical needs. It does not matter. Balance never includes pending from a legal standpoint so you can not say that the bank includes pending to the balance. It doesn't matter what the bank reports to you via API, it's "under the hood". But you should use correct terminology just because all customers know what the balance is, we all have bank statements etc. Sorry for being so blunt but that's as simple as 2+2=4 and I have PhD in Economics and worked in finance many years.

It's not that your system works incorrectly. Your system works as it works and I have no problem with that. It's just that your support article is absurd. You just need to rewrite it a little bit. First of all, if we see that Simplifi actually adds Pending by default you should not tell the opposite in your support article. Just make it clear in that article phrasing it like this:

By default Simplifi includes pending transactions to the balance (you may add some reason here), however if you prefer to see the balance consistent with your bank's website with no pending transactions included check checkbox X.

Now, that's what we see in Settings near that checkbox

Do not subtract pending transactions when calculating the balance with pending for this account, they are already subtracted.

And again Natalie, as you see that's the opposite to how it actually works. I performed this small test yesterday and you see screenshots. With checkbox CHECKED pending transactions are NOT added to the balance. And opposite, they are added (included) if this box is not checked. That's how it works. You can check yourself if you do not trust me

But this checkbox transactions tells exactly the opposite. It tells NOT to substract transactions when calculating the balance if checkbox checked. No no and no, you should change this description. Just change it to:

Subtract pending transactions when calculating the balance with pending for this account.

Sorry for being so persistent, just trying to help you to improve your product. And here I make zero suggestions on the code but just to make support texts correct. That's it. I know most of the time users do not understand something but sometimes they are actually right. So you should always question your beliefs based on support texts you use etc. Sometimes users are actually right and help to improve.

You are not paying me money for this so please at least pay attention to my arguments As you see it's plain simple English and you can test yourself to see that plain simple English support text is opposite to the truth. Even with my non-native English I can not explain you this without being boring as when you tell me "2+2=4 NOT true" it's so obviously absurd to me that I compose 10 pages to explain why "2 +2 =4 IS true". It's like when you argue with simple truth I do not know how to explain it...

Please note again, I do not suggest you to change the system, I do not question it. I understand how it works and I'm Ok with it here. I just see support text is absurd.

Thanks for understanding, I will not waste more of your time on this

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Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Yes, the tooltip for the account-specific 'Balance with Pending' option is confusing; this has already been reported to the Team and they are working on a redesign. However, checking the box will prevent Simplifi from counting pending transactions, regardless of how the tooltip describes it. We'll take a look at the referenced Support Article.

Thanks for the feedback!

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Thanks Natalie! Agree, technically it works as it should and gives enough flexibility to display data in preferred way.

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

Thank you for your patience as this behavior was being researched!

I've heard back from my Team and they're stating that the issue lies with the bank. Apparently, the type of file that's retrieved from the bank when updating your accounts is intermittently missing information during the download attempts, so the bank isn't providing the information. 

With that said, it sounds like you may need to continue to reset the connection each month to update all of the accounts. However, I do have one additional escalation route that I can take, so if you'd like me to send this to a different Team to investigate, I definitely can. If so, let's wait until the issue pops up again so we can obtain fresh examples and escalate it while the issue is actively occurring. Totally up to you, though! 

-Coach Natalie

AlexB

Hi Natalie, thanks! 

I'd like to escalate, sure. What should I do?

I guess it's either with the bank or with the sync provider. However, that was the initial guess that something is missing for this or that reason. My understanding is that Simplifi is able to communicate with the bank directly or with the sync provider to escalate this issue to them. Guess most synchronization issues happen somewhere on the bank side?

Coach Natalie

Hello @AlexB,

To escalate the issue again via the other channel, we'll want to wait for the issue to occur again. So, when the issue pops back up, you'll want to not reset the connection and instead provide the same requested information as above, but with new examples and balances.

Full disclosure -- the other escalation path will take longer to hear back on, so it may be a while before you'll be able to reset the connection. You should be able to manually enter the missing transactions in the meantime, though, but I'll find out for sure at the time of escalation. 

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie