Downloaded transaction duplicating. Am I doing something wrong or is this an issue?

tobyN

I'm trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong in my handling of a transfer of a downloaded bank transaction and a manual account. This has happened to me several times, so I would like input on the correct way to perform this action.

I have my regular Checking account that downloads my transactions. I also have a manual account that represents Petty Cash.

1. I withdraw $1000 from Checking to put in my Petty Cash envelope.
2. The transaction downloads into my checking account in Simplifi with "Cash & ATM" set as the category.
3. I update the category to "Petty Cash" to show it as a transfer to the manual account.
4. Simplifi prompts me that it does not find a matching transaction in the Petty Cash account, and do I want to create one for it. I say yes. All good. There is now a transaction in Checking showing a transfer out to Petty Cash for $1000 and a transaction in Petty Cash showing a transfer in of $1000.
5. In the next day or two when I get into Simplifi again, another transaction is added to the Checking account for the $1000 with a category of "Cash & ATM". So I end up with 2 transactions in the Checking account for the $1000 withdrawal. I end up having to view the 2nd transaction and delete it.
6. As an alternate attempt at this, I just left the downloaded transaction as "Cash & ATM" and just created an unlinked Transfer in the manual account. But when I did that, Simplifi showed a popup saying that it found what it thought was a matching transaction in Checking and wanted to know if I wanted the two linked. I said yes, so I thought maybe I had the write answer now. But the next day, the duplicate transaction was again downloaded from the bank into Checking.

Is this a known issue? Should I be using a different set of steps to show a cash transfer to a manual account?

Thanks.

UrsulaA

This sounds like a bug, your process sounds good. Which bank are you using?

tobyN

Chase bank

ajbopp

Is either the first or second transaction from Chase marked as Pending when this problem surfaces? In my WF account, I'm currently seeing pending transactions duplicated. After they move to cleared, the problem corrects itself eventually...unless I attempt to edit the transaction before its cleared.

I suspect, but cannot demonstrate, that this is complicated by WF updating the Posted date on the transaction to the current day, every day until the transaction clears. I think this causes QS to think "New date...New transaction."

Just curious if you're seeing any similar behavior from Chase.

EL1234

Chase seems to update transaction dates when the transaction clears, I wonder if that's related to this issue. If so, a simple solution (meanwhile) would be to wait to change the category of the Cash & ATM transaction until the transaction has cleared.

See

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/28599#Comment_28599

tobyN

Yes, it is still Pending when I change the category, so that is probably the issue. Interestingly, when I view the transactions, both show that they are linked to a downloaded transaction from Chase.

I thought about waiting a few days before changing the category, but I then start ending up with a side list of things I need to remember to go back and do, which I would rather not have to worry about. I guess I could use a flag on the row or something as a reminder to myself that I need to make the change.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully this can get resolved.

EL1234

Interesting! You might want to contact the support chat to see if they can figure this out.

I personally use the Reviewed column to indicate what has been categorized and doesn't need action (ie: if I plan to return something I'll leave it unreviewed until I get the refund). I almost always wait until transactions clear to do this because in the past, when I changed categories of pending transactions, when the transaction cleared the category got reset. I've read recently that this behavior may have changed but haven't changed my approach yet. So I usually filter by Not Reviewed and hide the Pending section to see what needs to be dealt with.

tobyN

OK, I had a "process" I would follow to try to make it through what needed to happen for the transaction.

But it turns out that it makes it worse.

When the ATM transaction first downloaded a couple of days ago. I put a red flag on the row and used a Note to put a comment that I needed to change the category later.

Two days later, the transaction in the checking register updates again and removes the red flag and my note from the row. I had also marked the row as Reviewed, which was also cleared after the updated download. Confusing? Very!

I hope they can get this resolved. It shouldn't be so difficult and error prone for such a simple transaction.

Coach Jon

Hello @tobyN,

Thanks for reaching out to the community. If what I understand is correct based on what I have read in this thread, what probably is occuring is the secondary transaction getting downloaded into your Checking account is the matched transaction from Chase due to the first transaction being changed to a transfer into your manual account. This article explains what to do with duplicate transactions when both transactions are downloaded from your bank: https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4901071-how-to-resolve-duplicate-transactions#h_92280cb01f

Go ahead and make sure to follow these steps and let us know how this goes for you!

Thanks,

Coach Jon