ofx direct connect

[David Reiser]

On Nov 4, 2006, at 3:14 AM, Jon Hamkins wrote:

> David Reiser wrote:
>
>> If you are outside CA or WA, BofA's data is:
>>      <ProviderURL>https://ofx.bankofamerica.com/cgi-forte/ 
>> fortecgi? servicename=ofx_2-3&amp;pagename=ofx</ProviderURL>
>>      <Org>HAN</Org>
>>      <FID>6812</FID>
>> and hsbc's is:
>>      <ProviderURL>https://pfm.ebank.us.hsbc.com/prod.ofx</ 
>> ProviderURL>
>>      <Org>ISC</Org>
>>      <FID>9901</FID>
>> Where the BofA url says '&amp;' I'm pretty sure you have to  
>> replace  it with just '&' (no quotes)
>
> Thanks, this is great information!  Regarding B of A in California,  
> a .qfx file downloaded from the B of A website indicates
>
> <FID>6805
> <ORG>Bank of America
>
> I'm not sure what to make of this, since the fidata tools at http:// 
> www.jongsma.org/gc/ indicate this for B of A (California):
>
> <Org>Yodlee</Org>
> <FID>433</FID>
> <ProviderURL>https://216.34.60.221/DatafeedAPI</ProviderURL>
>
> This did not seem to work for me, although perhaps I have to get B  
> of A to flip a switch to allow direct OFX access (not through the  
> web)?
>
Nope. The problem is: Money and Quicken connect first to the Yodlee  
server, Yodlee tells the app where to connect next to get the real FI  
profile, and the profile itself contains the real data server address.

So far, the only way around this that I know of is to connect once  
with Quicken or Money and then dig out their ofx.log file. The real  
address is in the log file.

The downloaded qfx's (usually) won't have the server address, since  
it's in the log entry header, rather than the qfx stream itself. And  
the bank's don't want the server addresses readily available (it's  
either a support or a security issue -- but security by obscurity is  
doomed to eventual failure)


>      ----Jon
>
Dave
--
David Reiser
dbreiser at earthlink.net