Double-subtracting pending transactions for balance -- USAA Bank

DryHeat · July 16

On the USAA website, my checking account shows an Available Balance of $10,763.67. The latest transaction on the website is a pending withdrawal of $1,379.40. It is taken into account by the bank in calculating the balance, as you can see in the bank website register:

That is the only pending transaction for that account on the bank website. It is also the only pending transaction in the Simplifi register for that USAA account.

The balance at the top of the Simplifi register is $9,384.27. This equals the bank's available balance minus the pending transaction. ($10,763.67 - $1,379.40 = $9,384.27)

So it seems that USAA is subtracting the pending transaction when it calculates the balance it shows on the website, and then Simplifi is subtracting it again to calculate the balance it shows on the Transaction Activity register.

I thought that setting "Balance type" to "Bank balance (Default)" would prevent this. I have it set like this:

What am I doing wrong here?

SRC54 · July 16

I doubt you are doing anything wrong. This happened to me with my local bank, and it took weeks to get them (my bank) to fix it. I was lucky to have a contact name with the online department at my state bank.

Like you, I found that the balance type didn't make any difference. So all I can recommend is to report it here as you've done, so Simplifi can look into it and report it to your bank as well. Because you don't know (yet) who is at fault.

By the way, they got the connector fixed so it downloaded correctly the posted balance but on their web site they still conflate the two and the current balance and posted balance always show the same!

By the way, I had a clue it was the bank because the error showed up in both Classic and Simplifi. In classic, of course, the balance stayed right since it actually totals everything, but auto-reconciled told me there was a problem with the downloaded balance not matching.

DryHeat · July 16

@SRC54

I don't think it's a problem with the bank. I'm pretty sure (but never completely sure) that the balance the bank reports is my actual balance minus any pending transactions that the bank knows about. (Which in this case is just one transaction for $1,379.40.) That's what the bank shows as "Available Balance."

Here's my problem… Based on the help document below, I thought that setting the Simplifi account's "Balance type" to "Bank balance (Default)" would cause Simplifi to just display the balance exactly as it is downloaded from my bank — without Simplifi making any adjustments for pending transactions.

https://support.simplifi.quicken.com/en/articles/4202003-how-to-resolve-balance-discrepancies

But it looks like Simplifi was also subtracting that one pending transaction for $1,379.40 from the bank's reported balance, so it ends up getting subtracted twice. (That was the only pending transaction, and it was downloaded from the bank, not manually entered.)

This morning the pending transaction has cleared and the situation has changed:

the previously pending transaction on the USAA website has cleared
the "Available Balance" on the USAA website is exactly the same as yesterday
the same previously pending transaction in Simplifi has cleared
the Simplifi balance now matches the bank website "Available Balance"

My best guess is that Simplifi was subtracting the pending transaction from the balance, even though I had told Simplifi not to do that. So what does choosing "Bank balance (Default)" actually do?

SRC54 · July 16

It still sounds like the bank did something weird. It could also be that the balance updated first and then the cleared pending came through with the next download. That happens to me a lot with my national banks:

Chase, American Express and Capital One. These three will update the balance but not download the cleared transaction until the next update. You'll know if it happens again.

When I was having the trouble I mentioned above with my local bank, the Available and Current Balance was the same every time. And their website still does that although that wasn't and isn't true.

As far using the default setting for Bank Balance or changing it NEVER seemed to make any difference for my local bank. It doesn't kick in until the next download and the next download always had the cleared transactions. I never did run that down.

Regarding what I do with Chase, Amex and Capital One, I either clear the pending myself or wait 4 hours for it to resolve.

None of this may help you, but throwing it out there for future reference. 😀

DryHeat · July 16

@SRC54

"It still sounds like the bank did something weird. It could also be that the balance updated first and then the cleared pending came through with the next download."

I'm not sure what you are suggesting happened. Mainly because the bank balance on the website could never have updated to anything less than $10,763.67 (actual balance minus pending transaction). That is the absolute minimum that the bank could ever have considered the "balance."

Maybe it would be clearer if we used some numbers. To more or less match the actual situation, assume that:

bank actual balance	11,000
bank pending transaction	1,000
bank available balance	10,000
Simplifi shows balance as	9,000

To me, it seems the lowest balance the bank might provide for download is 10,000 (actual - pending).

So that would only have gone down to 9,000 (in Simplifi) if Simplifi is subtracting the pending 1,000 transaction. Which I thought it wasn't supposed to do if I use "Bank balance (Default)."

So, using these numbers to illustrate, what is it you suppose the bank might be doing?

SRC54 · July 16

No, I understood. I was just trying to suggest some things that also occur to the rest of us. You said it was counting the pending twice. That has happened to us. It also happens to us that some accounts update the balance first and then later clears the transaction. When that happens it brings the account back into balance because it no longer has the pending to subtract.

I think these glitches are just part of it. They often resolve themselves. There is some logic to it.

Coach Jon · July 16

Helo @DryHeat,

Thanks for reaching out! Most banks provide a balance that excludes pending transactions. However, if your bank includes them and Quicken Simplifi is also set to count pending transactions, they may be double-counted, leading to a balance discrepancy. Once the pending transactions clear, the balance should correct itself, which I am glad it did in our case!

You can set the account to exclude pending transactions from the balance as you did, just remember that you will have to wait 4-6 hours for the next successful refresh to see the change take effect.

I hope this makes sense!

-Coach Jon

DryHeat · July 16

@Coach Jon

"You can set the account to exclude pending transactions from the balance as you did, just remember that you will have to wait 4-6 hours for the next successful refresh to see the change take effect."

I did not recently change the Simplifi account to use "Bank balance (Default)." **

It was already set to use "Bank balance (Default)." Sorry I wasn't clear on that.

So I think if that were going to work, it would already have worked. The balance is in sync now not because of a change in bank balance method, but because there are no longer any pending transactions.

Is there anything else I should look at?

** Setting to "Bank balance (Default)" is what I believe you are referring to when you say "set the account to exclude pending transactions from the balance." I understand that to mean that Simplifi then ignores the pending transactions in its Activity Register and just displays the balance the bank reports. Please correct me if I am wrong on that.

Coach Jon · July 16

Hello @DryHeat,

Thanks for the clarification. You would be correct here. Selecting "Bank balance" disables Quicken Simplifi from counting pending transactions towards the balance for the account. Since it sounds like your bank is already counting pending transactions toward the balance being sent over to Quicken Simplifi, this is the option you would want enabled.

-Coach Jon

DryHeat · July 16

@Coach Jon

I'm not sure how much clearer I can be on this, but I'll try.

"this is the option you would want enabled."

I have that option enabled. I have always had that option enabled. (See my previous post.)

"Selecting "Bank balance" disables Quicken Simplifi from counting pending transactions towards the balance for the account."

Simplifi is still counting pending transactions in calculating the balance. (See detailed description in my first post.)

Do you have any other suggestions about this?

Coach Jon · July 16

Hello @DryHeat,

Thanks for the reply. I am aware that this is the option you have enabled. If Quicken Simplifi is still currently calculating pending transactions toward your balance, I would have you check the bank balance setting for the bank as well as the individual account. Then change the setting and wait 4-6 hours for the next refresh, then change it back again and wait once more to see if the change takes effect.

If it still doesn't, I would suggest refreshing your current token with this bank, since it is an OAuth bank. To gain a new token, you will have to revoke Quicken from accessing your bank's website and then reconnect your accounts.

Navigate to the bank's website, sign in, and then remove Quickens access from the bank's third-party linked apps.
Make all of the accounts with the bank manual by following the steps here.
Once you see the account(s) listed in the Manual Accounts section under Settings > Accounts, go back through the Add Account flow to reconnect to the bank.
If the connection is successful, carefully link the account(s) found to your existing Quicken Simplifi account(s) by following the steps here.

I hope this helps!

-Coach Jon

DryHeat · July 16

I will wait to see if the problem recurs the next time I have a downloaded pending transaction.

If it does I will try the "change/change back" procedure on the bank "Balance type." I suppose the idea there is that Simplifi has started ignoring the way it is set, but will pay attention again if I flip the switch back and forth.

I am reluctant to go the "make all the accounts manual, etc." route in the absence of any suggestion that the problem could be on the bank's side. After all, Simplifi seems to be downloading balances correctly. It's the way Simplifi is handling the pending transactions that is a problem.

Double-subtracting pending transactions for balance -- USAA Bank

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