Question

Bank transaction Detail text changed / obfuscated by QBO

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
July 3, 2023
4 replies
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Anybody else having this problem, or is Intuit experimenting on ME? I am reviewing transactions downloaded from a bank directly to QBOnline. The bank details have critical information replaced by X characters. This requires me to log in to the bank to determine what the missing details are.

For example - this is how the transaction appears in QBO:
Online Transfer to CHK ...XXXX transaction#: XXXXXXXXXXX 06/16
And now in the Bank:
Online Transfer to CHK ...1606 transaction#: 17646883594 06/16

QBO is redacting information that:
1) Is ALREADY partially redacted by the bank
2) Eliminates ANY possibility of discerning WHICH account the money is to be directed to

I contacted QBO Tech Support and was told:
"Thank you for the clariﬁcation of your concern. I understand that there are information on the uploaded information from the bank that's been covered/replaced by X. This is a design on the system that we cannot change to protect bank owners information. We understand that this is quite a hustle specially if you are the only user on the account." I'm not kidding. I wish I was.

This information is not being obscured by the bank. The partially redacted account numbers appear on the bank site perfectly clearly. I downloaded a batch of transactions from the bank and inspected the resulting files, and the details are included exactly as shown on the bank web page.

I NEED these details to direct the accounting system to apply the transfer correctly, and Intuit has decided that they need to "protect" MY CLIENT's bank information from ME. But they are NOT protecting the client's data, as in my position as a trusted assistant, I have access to the unredacted account numbers, and further, I can analyze and produce detailed reports of the client's entire financial profile.

What they are doing is security theater. This makes MY job more difficult, and doesn't improve security for the client one whit. Now the automation that USED to allow me to automatically recognize and accept these transactions is broken, so now I have to log in to the bank and have QBO and the bank open simultaneously and look up the details of these transactions manually. This is a step BACKWARDS, not an improvement.

WHY am I connecting the accounts to QBO again? Someone please remind me. This is so stupid it literally hurts. It makes NO sense from any point of view that I have yet seen.

I have raised the issue with QBO via the gear icon feedback link, but I have not heard back from them as of today.

QuickBooks Online

C

Carneil_C

Hi there, @Dave226.

We'd love to help you fix your issue, but I need more information to help me get on the same page. Could you tell me more about it? Are you referring to the bank details or the bank description that X characters have replaced?

Also, what is your specific bank institution? This way, we can verify if there's a reported issue about this matter.

I appreciate any details you can provide. I'm looking forward to your reply.

D

Dave226Author

I don't know exactly how you differentiate between bank details, and bank description. To be clear, the text received directly from the bank is shown in my original message. What is displayed in QBO as bank details is changed by the time QBO displays it. This is also shown in my original message. I hope this clarifies. If it is not clear to you, please clarify exactly what is meant by "bank details" as distinct from "bank description". I thought I laid this out pretty clearly in my message.

The text as delivered by the bank (partially redacted, only showing the last 4 digits of the pertinent account) is changed when QBO displays the text. This text is the same, whether listed as "Description" or "Memo" in the Banking "Review Transaction" dialog.

I wish for the QBO redactions to stop, and I can find no setting that allows me to stop it. I think the redaction ALREADY provided by the bank is sufficient to protect customer data from casual inspection. And still allows me to efficiently perform MY task, which is to classify and record the transactions in the proper accounts.

(Edited to add the specific bank involved): The bank is Chase Bank, and it affects all my Chase bank clients. For more details, (obviously), you can initiate a tech support session.

C

ChristineJoieR

Thanks for bringing this information to the Community page, @Dave226. I'll share tips on to import the complete description of your banking transactions in QuickBooks Online.

I wonder why how it goes like this. If your banking transaction is based on your bank description, this should flow the same information on the banking section.

On the other hand, I want to make sure the columns are added on your banking screen to show all the bank details. Let's see if you added it by ticking the box from the Gear icon under the Banking section.

Here's how:

From the Banking screen, navigate to the Gear icon.
Looking at the column section, tick the Show Bank Details box.

If the banking details still aren't showing, I recommend uploading the transactions manually through a CSV file. Then update the banking descriptions or memo before uploading the file in QuickBooks Online.

Here's how:

Go to the Banking tab on the left pane.
Select Upload transactions.
Select Drag and drop or select files and select the file you downloaded from your bank. Then select Continue.
In the QuickBooks account dropdown, select the account you want to upload the transactions into Then select Continue.
Follow the onscreen steps to match the columns on the file with the correct fields in QuickBooks. Then select Continue.
Select the transactions you would like to import. Then select Continue.
Select Yes.
When you accept your transactions, click Done.

You can also refer to this page for the complete instructions on uploading your banking transactions: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online.

Then again, we can exclude the banking transaction and upload the specific transaction manually to your QuickBooks Online account.

There you have it, @Dave226. I'm glad to have you today.

D

Dave226Author

This post has been deleted.

Thank you for your input, Wayne.
Before I access the Tech Support chat AGAIN for help on this issue, I would just like to point out, for your edification and to improve the perception of Intuit as an organization that takes customer requests seriously, that my initial post here plainly pointed out that I have already done this once.

It appears, from where I am sitting that you either did not read my original post, or you are just refusing to acknowledge that I have already done this. This does not speak well of the clarity and completeness of Intuit Customer Service responsiveness. A simple acknowledgement that the previous Tech Support response to my concern was either incomplete or incorrect before inviting me to try again would be much more courteous and add a lot of needed credibility to any additional response Intuit may have in store for me. Additionally, the Tech Support call is clearly on file with Intuit, and an acknowledgement of THIS fact would also be appreciated, since you are inviting me to try again. Simple courtesies like this would do a lot to improve Intuit's reputation

For your convenience and as an aid to assist in improving the training regarding appropriate Customer Service responses, please find below a copy of the relevant information contained in my very first posting about this issue (copied from my initial post above) These things are not irrelevant when answering a Customer concern, and ought to be acknowledged:

[I contacted QBO Tech Support and was told:
"Thank you for the clariﬁcation of your concern. I understand that there are information on the uploaded information from the bank that's been covered/replaced by X. This is a design on the system that we cannot change to protect bank owners information. We understand that this is quite a hustle specially if you are the only user on the account." I'm not kidding. I wish I was.

This information is not being obscured by the bank. The partially redacted account numbers appear on the bank site perfectly clearly. I downloaded a batch of transactions from the bank and inspected the resulting files, and the details are included exactly as shown on the bank web page.]

C

Cboom8

I am currently dealing with the same issue for AMEX. It all of a sudden switched to just XXX-XXXX-XXX in the memo field instead of the bank detail. Absolutely useless information when scrolling through reports especially when the memo seems to take priority over the description.

KlentB

I know how important accurate and relevant details are for your financial reporting, Cboom8.

When downloading transactions, it's essential to be aware that the flow of data is governed by your bank. They determine how the information is sent and received by QuickBooks Online, as well as the transfer method.

Currently, many banks, including AMEX, have started adopting a new connection service called Open Authorization to ensure the confidentiality and protection of sensitive info shared with third parties.

OAuth is an industry-standard protocol that enhances security by providing a more controlled method for transmitting data. As part of their commitment to safeguarding your account, they often update the security measures in place to align with the latest industry standards and best practices. It can include masking certain details during the synchronization, which could be the reason behind the obscured memo you've noticed.

That said, I recommend reaching out to AMEX directly. Their representative can provide you with additional context about the changes and how they might impact the way transactions are displayed in external applications like QBO.

In the meantime, you'll want to consider manually importing the entries into the program. This will allow you to input the appropriate memo, maintaining the accuracy of your reports. Once done, refer to these articles for guidance on the categorization and reconciliation process:

If you have further questions about bank feeds or need assistance with other areas, please feel free to let me know by replying below. The Community is open 24/7 and always ready to help you with your bookkeeping needs.

D

Dave226Author

Will you PLEASE stop saying this is encryption. It is not. It is obfuscation, and it is data destruction. Encryption is a method of transmitting a message that ensures the message cannot be read by anyone other than the prearranged and intended recipient. The point of encryption is that while the message is unreadable to an outsider, the actual transmitted data is recoverable, when the right decryption method is applied.

Replacing every "encrypted" piece of data with the letter "X" is not encryption. The data is not recoverable by any method whatsoever. Stop misusing the language. This is data destruction. Obfuscation is a nicer word if you like, but this is NOT "encryption", so please stop using this word.

And the work-around of "Just manually upload your data" is very counter-productive, and short--sighted of Intuit and Chase (and now AMEX, apparently). What happened to upgrades and updates not BREAKING things that previously worked. Now, automatic download and Bank connections has become nearly useless, and automatic categorization is also damaged because the data has been destroyed. Two thirds of my previously functional "Rules" are now useless. Do we now advise all our clients with Chase Bank that they should stop using Chase? or stop using QuickBooks? Because this is quickly going to spiral into higher prices for doing bookkeeping. "Well, you see, I have to manually enter all the Chase data by hand, you see, and it takes 150% longer to do."

I have onel client who runs 4 businesses out of the same bank (Chase), and also has his personal checking account with Chase. He frequently makes transfers between the different businesses and also makes contributions and transfers to and from his personal checking. Previously I could easily classify these transfers based on the last four digits of the bank account included in the bank details. Now they all contain exactly the same account number XXXX. This is impossible to classify. The data is not there any more. I now have to either 1) open the bank website and look up each of the transactions manually using the date and amount to disambiguate them. or 2) cease using the "Bank Connection" feature entirely for these accounts and go back to downloading the data from the bank manually as a csv file, post-processing it to make an acceptable format for QBO Import function, and proceeding from there. Can anyone tell me why I should continue to use the "Bank Connection" feature fro Chase Bank, given this circumstance? Has not QBO just become MUCH less valuable by this breaking of previously available functionality?

This is happening because Chase makes all data transfers run through a "third party" data transfer service that treats all data transfers the same. QuickBooks and accounting services providers are treated exactly the same as "Android Game of the Month" transactions. Do they seriously expect us to believe they could not have worked out a better solution than this? Maybe this is because Intuit has moved into the payments arena. I don't know. But surely Chase could have arranged a different data delivery channel for accounting services vs payment services. Whatever the case, it seems like no one at either of these giant companies actually cares what we think. "Let them eat cake." didn't work out very well for Marie Antoinette. And "Simply download the data directly from Chase." is not going to work out very well for Intuit.

Fixing this should be a priority for Chase and/or Intuit. But it probably won't be.

T

tomvalentincpa

Noticed this has also started to plague AMEXs as well.

Categorizing money transfers from a CHASE to a CHASE is still a nightmare and might as well be throwing darts at a dart board because full transaction IDs and the last four of the accounts is fully obfuscated in the QBO bank feed. So if you have multiple transactions of the same $ amount, but they're all transfers, what's even the sense in accurate bookkeeping anymore?

What's the sense in (what used to be) transparent information automatically being fed if we're "forced" to manually input them as the solution?

This isn't ideal considering part of the appeal is the bank feed being fed into QBO via the infrastructure, so I do not have to do manual excel inputs anymore.

I guess being set back 5 years in terms of work flow or more is perfectly okay with these institutions.

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Dave4751

I see that as of today this nightmare still is happening.

I have been working with the office of the President of both Chase and Intuit and neither has been able to get it fixed. By following the instructions of their technical staff they have managed to corrupt my financials. I am now missing two weeks of transactions in September, 2023.

My advice, - be very careful taking their advice. The Technical staff from both companies have no idea why this problem had existed for over 5 months and they have no clue as to how to fix it.

D

Dave226Author

Hi Dave4751

Sorry to see someone else get their fingers stuck in the gears.

At this point, I have stopped believing the following:

We don't know why this is happening, but it's (someone else)'s fault.

We really want to fix this for our (valued?) customers.

We don't know how to fix this.

I am sure that this is not a technical problem. It is a political problem. The technical people have been instructed to make this happen, and they are also instructed NOT to fix it, nor to admit that it is even happening. What I have not figured out yet is "What is the real agenda here?" Someone is benefiting from this, but I have no idea who. or how.

It must have been decided at a fairly high level, because no one on either side of the problem is making the slightest attempt to actually solve it, and the "efforts" to do something about it are halfhearted attempts at obfuscation and deflection.

The proffered "solution", as you have so painfully discovered, is no solution at all. If they really wanted to fix this, they would roll back whatever change they made to the system that caused it until they figure out how to accomplish whatever the real goal is without ruining 5 years of QBO development.

Bottom line: They (for whatever reason) don't WANT to fix this (or even acknowledge that the problem exists). It is a management failure, not a technical problem.

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