Wisconsin 529 (edvest-529.com) Aggregator Link [edited]

Hello @Nate42,

Thanks for posting your request to the Community!

It looks like this financial institution may already be available in Simplifi under "Edvest College Savings Plan" —

Screenshot 2023-05-11 at 10.43.57 AM.png

Have you tried connecting to this option, by chance? Please let us know how it goes!

-Coach Natalie

https://www.edvest-529.com/aggregator

@Coach Natalie,

I'm also looking to add my Wisconsin Edvest 529 account to Simplifi, but am having trouble and found this thread. I was able to successfully add my Edvest account using the institution shown in your screenshot above. However, this login requires two factor authentication. The trouble is that every time Simplifi connects to download transactions, you are prompted to reconnect the institution by entering the two factor code. This makes for a sub-optimal experience.

What @Nate42 and I are looking for is for Simplifi to support a slightly different URL for Wisconsin Edvest accounts at:

(Note the -529 and /aggregator in the URL, which is different than your screenshot)

This site only needs a username and password and won't need two factor.

Our question: could Simplifi please add support for this different URL? I wouldn't want to change the existing EdVest institution because the username and password is (intentionally) different for the aggregator site.

Thanks.

—Philip

Hello @phoerr,

Thanks for confirming the request!

Although I'm not sure if support can be added for Wisconsin 529's aggregator, creating this request is definitely the first step. 🙂

-Coach Natalie

@Coach Natalie,

You mentioned this is the first step in the process. Can you help describe what the next steps are? Is there anything else you need from me?

Would you be able to tell us if adding this account will ever be possible?

Thanks.

—Philip

Hello @phoerr,

Thanks for reaching out!

There is nothing further for you to do from our end. Once a bank is requested, we cannot guarantee that a connection will be established. In the meantime, you can use the connection that's currently offered in Simplifi for Wisconsin 529, and then keep an eye on this post for any updates.

Sorry for not having a better answer!

-Coach Natalie

Alright, I'll be watching here for updates.

I went ahead and removed my account connected to the current Wisconsin 529 endpoint, as it's annoying having to re-authenticate every time I check Simplifi.

royf

The aggregator URL for EdVest 529 has been available for a year or two and this request was asked for over 6 months ago. It's also already supported on other financial aggregation sites. This is a basic function of any financial aggregation product today - especially a paid-for product. Why has this not been resolved yet? I've had several basic account issues trying to trial Simplifi and it's clear it's not worth the money. Please correct these basic account/URL issues.

RobWilk

My understanding is the financial institution has to agree and cooperate including providing a fee, based on what I've read here. For example, without a test account how would they build the connection

This works just fine in Mint. Why can't the Mint people talk with the Simplifi people so everyone is on the same page and this problem is fixed. The 2FA constant reminders are a huge pain.

@Coach Natalie This request to correct Edvest 2FA was back in June. Is there an open ticket to have this corrected? If so, what is the number and status please? Almost all banks have 2FA so the fact that Simplifi is not working and all of the other bank apps work just fine lead me to believe that this is on Simplifi's side

@Coach Natalie ?

darrylvoss

This is also super important to me. Add me to the list of folks interested in seeing this happen.

dthibode

Just adding to this as others have. Please fix Edvest to use the aggregator URL. Thank you!

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/24950#Comment_24950

Keep voting on it and I'm hoping we see this soon as well as some other awesome updates!

Dognose

As I noted in the Michigan 529 thread - CA, GA, OK, MI, WI plus others share the TIAA 529 platform. Supporting this would be helpful to many customers.

Uncle_Sam

@Coach Natalie , is there any update on this?

Hey everyone, as soon as we learn any news for this request, we'll be sure to post back with an update to let you all know. There are no further updates to provide at this time.

You are all also welcome to contact the bank directly and provide them with this link so they can get the ball rolling from their end: https://www.intuit.com/partners/financial-institutions/professional-services/ofx/

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie

I gave up on waiting and ended up switching to [removed] to manage my money: https://lunchmoney.app/?refer=5okoz5of

It works great for my Wisconsin 529 Edvest account (it uses Plaid under the hood to do the syncing).

@Coach Natalie I'm on the phone with Edvest in an attempt to get them to change their OFX Connectivity. I doubt they will make the change for OFX Connectivity but they humored me and said that they would pass on the link which I appreciated. Do you know if Simplifi is still working on and planning on adding an Aggregator option?

@Coach Natalie this request is also tied to my other one. We have 2 banks that still need to be added/fixed. Is there some way that I could see if this will ever be fixed?

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/31967#Comment_31967

I see the words "aggregator" at least 3 times on different requests so hopefully by solving it once it will work for multiple different requests.

ajbopp

Why is anyone requesting support from Q-Simplifi on this when the roadblock is clearly on the other end?

Dognose

If you go back to the top post you can see the aggregator link. We all hate screen scraping but, at least Quicken could use the limited URL rather than having the user log in through 2FA to the full account.

Jim B

I would also like to add my support for adding the Edvest aggregator link to Simplifi. I just entered my new credentials in Empower and it works great! Having to deal with MFA every time I log into Simplifi is less than ideal.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/31967#Comment_31967

It'd be so nice to have this aggregator project moved up on the priority list from the Quicken programming team….

royf

It's NOT on the other end and is 100% on Simplifi. These 529 plans specifically provide a separate URL for aggregator functionality and it has worked for years on other platforms. It is not our responsibility as users to get this to work. Simplifi is a paid product that is lacking functionality that other free products have had. Simplifi should be working directly with the aggregator platform they are using [removed - accuracy] to ensure these institutions are integrating properly.

This is one of several issues that Simplifi has proven they don't care to take care of. There are basic functions that this platform still does not handle properly that other free services have offered for many years (like not properly distinguishing between several accounts with the same institution, e.g. multiple credit credit cards from same institution). Basic issues like that directly impact (i.e. break) other functions, like being able to properly setup two-sided transactions in the spending plan, etc.

I'd remind you that this is a business - [removed - accuracy] - who is not your friend. It doesn't do you any good to coddle them.

Duke0486

Workaround to connect Wisconsin 529 accounts to Simplifi AND avoid multi-factor authentication every time you log into Simplifi:

As stated by @Nate42 above, "… it appears that Wisconsin 529 uses the same technology used by the New York 529 aggregator at https://www.nysaves.org/aggregator which Simplifi already supports." I don't even have a Wisconsin 529 account, but I have Michigan 529 accounts (which shares the same TIAA 529 platform as the Wisconsin 529 plan, among other states). Because Michigan's 529 uses the same TIAA 529 platform as Wisconsin and New York, my hope was that I could connect my 529s through the New York 529 institution already available on Simplifi.

In short, you can. I successfully connected my Michigan 529s through the New York 529 aggregator without issue, so I'm optimistic this will work for Wisconsin 529 accounts too. If you don't want to deal with multi-factor authentication every time you log into Simplifi, you'll need to create aggregator login credentials (which are entirely separate and different from your regular 529 login credentials). You do this online through the 529 site when logged in with your regular credentials. If you need help creating aggregator login credentials, please call the the 529's number for assistance.

Steps:

When logged into Simplifi, go to Settings → Accounts → +Account [i.e. the add account button in the upper right corner].
Type "New York 529" into the "Search all financial institutions" field. You'll see two available options: New York 529 College Savings and New York 529 College Savings Program Direct Plan - Non Aggregator.
If you created the separate aggregator login credentials I mentioned above and wish to avoid multi-factor authentication every time you log into Simplifi, select the first institution option: New York 529 College Savings
If you only have your regular 529 login credentials and/or don't mind multi-factor authentication every time you log into Simplifi, select the second institution option: New York 529 College Savings Program Direct Plan - Non Aggregator.
Enter the applicable login credentials based on the institution you selected, and you should be good to go!

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/48503#Comment_48503

Thanks @Duke0486! I tried and it will indeed work for Edvest. Thank you for sharing. I am however seeing that it will only add "Add as New" and it does not let me link to the current accounts. I wonder if I would have to first inactive my current Edvest accounts? @Coach Natalie do you know my other accounts do not appear and I only see "Add as New with no link"? Is it looking at the names, and amounts, or why wouldn't I just see every account that I could potentially link it to?

Duke0486

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/48514#Comment_48514

Happy to help, @Matt Anfang ! I was able to link the new 529 accounts to my existing ones without issue. However, my existing ones were manual accounts, so not sure if that makes a difference.

Maybe deactivating your old 529s would allow you to link them?