Confused about importing bank transactions in OFX

[Michael Leone]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 4:56 PM, David Reiser<dbreiser at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> On Jun 11, 2009, at 4:40 PM, Michael Leone wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM, David Reiser <dbreiser at earthlink.net>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Jun 11, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Michael Leone wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've just started using GNUCash for personal use, and I am confused
>>>> about
>>>> importing transactions in OFX format from my bank. I have created all my
>>>> accounts, and now want to import all the transactions of my checking
>>>> account
>>>> for the last 5 days, rather than enter them by hand. But when I go to
>>>> import
>>>> the OFX file, GNUCash seems to put all the transactions into an account
>>>> called "Imbalance".
>>>
>>> Imbalance is the other side of the transaction already. The first time
>>> you imported an ofx file from a particular bank, gnucash asked you what
>>> account you wanted to associated with that ofx source.
>>
>> Actually, no, it didn't ask me what account to associate. That's why I
>> was confused ...
>
> Hmm. That's not a good sign. Can you open the ofx file in a text editor and
> see if there is an <ACCTID> entry? Perhaps the bank isn't emitting a
> conforming ofx file.

It does. However, I was *not* prompted to associate an account. I
imported, and was was then immediately presented with a "Generic
import transaction matcher". I do use the bank account number in the
name of the checking account, however (I have more than one, at the
same bank, so I re-named the GNUCash account names to include the
account number. Makes things easier for me).  Dunno if that means that
GNUCash made the association for me ...

Here's the beginning of the OFX file:

-------------------------------
OFXHEADER:100
DATA:OFXSGML
VERSION:102
SECURITY:NONE
ENCODING:USASCII
CHARSET:1252
COMPRESSION:NONE
OLDFILEUID:NONE
NEWFILEUID:NONE

<OFX>
<SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
<SONRS>
<STATUS>
<CODE>0
<SEVERITY>INFO
</STATUS>
<DTSERVER>xxxxxxxxxxxx
<LANGUAGE>ENG
</SONRS>
</SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
<BANKMSGSRSV1>
<STMTTRNRS>
<TRNUID>1
<STATUS>
<CODE>0
<SEVERITY>INFO
</STATUS>
<STMTRS>
<CURDEF>USD
<BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKID>xxxxxxxx
<ACCTID>xxxxxxxxxx
<ACCTTYPE>CHECKING
</BANKACCTFROM>
-------------------------------

So importing that OFX file isn't working for me. GNUCash 2.2.9, Win XP Pro.

I suppose I can try the QIF format. My bank (Citizens Bank, in the US)
has a choice of "Quicken 99" format, which gives me a QIF file ..

-- 
Michael J. Leone, <mailto:turgon at mike-leone.com>

PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF
Photo Gallery: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeleonephotos>