Safe to delete empty institutions or not?
In Simplifi, I have a few institutions that no longer have accounts under them. For example, I have Barclays Bank Delaware with no accounts listed under it. Previously, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card was under that institution, but I had changed the card to manual at one point and then later closed the card. So right now, it just shows Barclays Bank Delaware with nothing under it. I can see my old Wyndham card listed separately under manual accounts.
When I go to delete the Barclays institution from Simplifi, it prompts with a warning:
"Deleting Barclays Bank Delaware will remove all of its data and transactions from Quicken."
I haven't clicked the delete confirmation button yet because I'm nervous that it will delete all my historical transactions for the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card. Can you find verified information on whether or not that will happen?
In the meantime, I started getting messages regarding these institutions that say:
"Account needs attention" and "Fix connection issue". The "accounts" are actually the institutions like Barclays that say things like "Last updated 212 days ago." Obviously, it's not going to update if there are no linked accounts under it anymore. However, these messages just started coming up over the past couple of weeks. So maybe there's an issue that's surfaced recently causing this?
I'm just not sure what to do. I hate seeing the nag in the messages screen, but I want to make sure that I don't lose any historical data.
Similarly, I also have a Vanguard institution listed that isn't in use anymore. At one point, I needed to change my username at Vanguard and that resulted in me creating a new Vanguard account. That account also doesn't have anything under it because I had moved the accounts to manual in the old account and then linked them to my new Vanguard account. So is it safe to delete the old Vanguard with nothing under it?
Thanks so much for your help.
Best Answer
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If there is no account listed under the Institution, it is safe to delete it. This often happens when you have disconnected accounts and reconnected.
However, if there is an account listed under the Institution, you DON'T want to delete that one.
I don't know why you would get warnings for updating accounts that are not connected or non-existent. I would assume those were for connected accounts.
Hope this helps.
PS. I asked the same question a couple of years ago, because I had gotten burned on deleting institutions and I wanted to make sure!! 😀
Steve
Quicken Simplifi (Safari & iOS) Since 2021
Quicken Classic (MacOS) Since 2009
MS Money (1991-2009) and Dollars & Sense (1987-1991)1
Answers
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In short, yes. Once all accounts are manual and/or deleted under an institution, removing it 'should' be safe. I've done it many times, including recently with CapitalOne after removing my Spark Business and T-Mobile branded cards.
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Rob W.
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No problem! Always better to make sure.
Steve
Quicken Simplifi (Safari & iOS) Since 2021
Quicken Classic (MacOS) Since 2009
MS Money (1991-2009) and Dollars & Sense (1987-1991)1

