Why does payee get changed to something illogical instead of just matching the statement?

quick username

I don't understand the logic that would change the payee from the statement value of THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEX and show the payee as THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA? It's pretty annoying to have to go manually correct things like this or waste time to set rules to undo illogical behavior.

Coach Natalie

@quick username, thanks for posting!

Although I can't speak for the renaming that occurred or why, I do know that Quicken Simplifi applies a logic to rename your transactions to something simpler and may have gotten it wrong in this instance. To clarify, is this the only transaction/Payee that you've seen this with, or does the issue appear to be widespread?

Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

quick username

It happens occasionally, I guess I can post the other examples here when they pop up again; however, would this example not be considered substantial enough to track as an official bug? It seems like a blatant error in the renaming programming.

Coach Natalie

@quick username, we'd need some additional examples to show the product team it's an actual issue and not a one-off situation. Let us know if it pops up again with different Payees, etc.

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie

quick username

Here's one that's not as ridiculous as changing "New Mexico" to "Iowa" but I don't need "Debit" shortened to "De ##bit". I get shortening the statement description, but can words like Debit just remain unchanged?

EL1234

I've seen wrong renames like this as well. Sometimes it even renames to match a different transaction, and I need to open up this transaction to figure out why I spent an unexpected amount this time, and then I see the details on the statement were quite different. I'll try and post here next time I see it.

UrsulaA

Here are some wrong renames from my Mint import showing examples of the behavior pointed out on this post. I imported 2,749 transactions into a Mint Debt account and 44 transactions show payee names like the screenshots.

Screenshots_2024-01-06-21-47-22.png

Screenshots_2024-01-06-21-46-13.png

Coach Natalie

@quick username, @EL1234, & @UrsulaA, since Quicken Simplifi is designed to learn over time, I'd suggest renaming the incorrect Payees to help teach the program in hopes of better results in the future. A renaming logic is used to rename Payees to something simpler, but there does appear to be one-off situations where it renames to something weird (I see this from time to time as well). At this point, I think you will all see the quickest solution with some manual intervention when these items occasionally pop up.

Please let us know how it goes!

-Coach Natalie

UrsulaA

Thanks @Coach Natalie - I went in Simplifi and updated the names with some bulk edits.

EL1234

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/25383#Comment_25383

Yup - that's what I do, but only when I notice that there's a mistake :)

Phemfrog

This has happened to me twice this week. This morning I found this one. Not even remotely correct or related. It linked a $200 transfer to my car payment recurring series, which is $413 every month. The thing is that I have a recurring series set up for this $200 transfer every month. Unlinking it and relinking it fixes the problem, but I cannot understand why it mislabeled it in the first place. The only information that is the same in the two transfers is our last name, C****s. The other example this week I don't remember the details, but it mislabeled a paycheck from my husband's company to mine. I have recurring income series for both jobs. His company name is not similar to mine.

Screenshot 2024-01-17 091226.jpg

Flopbot

I skimmed this post and didn’t see any mention of using Settings > Payee Renaming Rules to help guide Simplifi to renames your payees as you wish. Payee Renaming Rules offer a really simple way to control the Payee name and override Simplifi’s underlying auto adjustments. Given a little time and work in setting up renaming rules will go a long way towards making things download as you wish.

There are some instances when these rules get tripped up - with payees who use Square for example (sq*name_of_shop), but by-and-large they cover most instances. Simplifi doesn’t play well with the asterisk.

There’s just no way that Simplifi can account for the millions upon millions of constantly changing potential payee names out there so this process is just the reality of that situation. Yes, it’s odd/funny that it changed the state.

quick username

And how about this one? Made a payment to capital one? no no - you must have paid Kohls $1000!

UrsulaA

From your screenshot, looks like you had a manual transaction that was matched against the payment. I can tell from the "a manual and bank transaction were combined…" Can you unmerge the transaction and share what you see? That will help with troubleshooting.

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/26321#Comment_26321

Agree - fortunately with some rules my payees come down OK. I have corrected few downloaded transactions in the past month or so since joining Simplifi.

quick username

@UrsulaA, I went to go investigate the merge… and it appears this was how Simplifi shows things when the other "matching transfer" is still pending. SInce both are cleared now, it doesn't show the merged/combined note anymore, but I had already set yet another rule to overrule yet another completely illogical payee renaming. Capital One changed to Kohls!? @Coach Natalie , can you reconsider opening a bug report to address these illogical occurrences?

Coach Natalie

@quick username, I think in order to report this as a bug, we'd have to show that it's a reoccurring issue and not just one-off situations. Since Quicken Simplifi is designed to learn over time, we'd want to first try renaming the Payees to correct the name to try and teach the program. If the issue continues to persist for that particular Payee, or if a pattern can be identified such as the Payee being renamed to something weird while pending, but then correcting when cleared (or something along those lines), we can look at the behavior.

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie

EL1234

I just found one last night when I was reviewing pending checks (that I wrote out and were not yet deposited). I found an "ATM Debit Transaction" for the same amount and when I opened the transaction, the fine print said "Appeared on your bank statement as Check # 832".

For some reason I couldn't merge them, the button didn't show up, so I renamed and categorized the debit transaction and deleted the pending one that I had created manually (months ago).

RobWilk

I know someone else was talking about this recently, but this is the first time i saw it and i couldn't locate the original post with search.

Please note here how costco was renamed - doesn't look right. You can see the original at the top. I later hand-edited it to fix it.

This was my citi costco anywhere visa where this renaming error occured, if that matters.

UrsulaA

I have seen this too. Special characters in original statement do not play well with Simplifi.

UrsulaA

Here is the related discussion.

[removed link to merged thread]

Siggy

I made a transaction at a paint store that was labeled on my statement as "JC LICHT - 1221 - CLARK S."
The statement name includes the street the store is on (Clark). Simplifi changed the name to "Clark Oil."

Is there a way to dial down or turn off this logic? It continually mislabels my transaction and forces me to manually update and review my transactions. This aggressive logic also creates havoc on my recurring bills and payments.

I hope the logic gets better or improvements are made to the platform because this is causing me headaches and not making it easy for me to trust my data.

Coach Natalie

@RobWilk & @Siggy, thanks for posting on this topic!

Please take a look at my comment here for how to proceed:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/26565#Comment_26565

Let us know how things go!

-Coach Natalie

RobWilk

Understood— in my case, I usually manually enter transactions, but i was running behind that day (bunch of medical tests/appointments)… So it got entered in simplifi automatically. Usually, I won't see this unless maybe i go out of my way to delay entry.

quick username

Here's another example of (ridiculous) renaming behavior.

UrsulaA

@quick username - Your screenshots keep showing "a manual and bank transaction were combined" - Can you unmerge the transactions and see what happens? The downloaded transaction has Simplifi's adjusted name and the manual transaction has what you previously entered by hand or via a recurring reminder.

This still sounds like a bug.

quick username

Payee does not change when I click unmerge. As a separate issue, I do not create manual entries, I only use simplify to aggregate account transactions, so I don't know why it keeps saying it's merged with a manual transaction.

UrsulaA

It is strange, you should get two transactions when unmerging - one hopefully has the correct payee name. Merging and unmerging transactions is a web app only feature.

Is your credit card payment a recurring transfer? If so, that creates a pending transaction before posting that is a manual transaction. I have Capital One cards too and do not see this behavior.

quick username

It's not a recurring transfer. These were adhoc payments.

Coach Natalie

@quick username, thanks for posting!

Please see my comment here for how to proceed with this issue:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/26565#Comment_26565

-Coach Natalie

quick username

I'm renaming them manually, behavior keeps occurring as I'm trying to show with continued examples. I also now have missing transactions, and no obvious way to un-delete (if i accidentally deleted) and no obvious way to know how many may also be missing beyond the ones i caught manually. As other's have mentioned… I'm really starting to develop some trust issues w/ this platform. I have to assume your legacy platforms are more robust, probably past time to explore those.