Online Banking Setup

[David Reiser]

On Oct 29, 2013, at 10:39 AM, jazeera <vishrao at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
>       I am a newbie here and I have been having issues with online banking
> setup. Some folks have mentioned running getfidata.sh, few others have
> talked about importing setup files and some have mentioned python scripts
> and JSON scripts. Isn't there anything basic out-of-the-box functionality
> here?

Yes, but if you didn't find your banking institution following the wizard's instructions, then yours is not a basic case.
> 
> The wizard talks about Bank Code, FID, ORG etc and it states that the
> banking institution should have sent those pieces of info when they created
> my online access. Well, I don't recall them doing it. 

I set my banks up many years ago before the wizard was as interactive. Most US banks don't provide that information -- it's either Quicken or nothing. The only thing US banks are likely to supply is your user ID and maybe a temporary password.
> 
> Is there is an in-depth definitive documentation that goes over the entire
> application so that a layman can follow in order to make any sense? Seems
> like the available documentation in extremely superficial.

I don't think its superficial, just very oriented to either the base case or individual special cases. 

Have you seen: http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Setting_up_OFXDirectConnect_in_GnuCash_2 ?

A few of the many reasons there is no definitive documentation are:
  The ofx protocol is an open standard, but its implementation details are neither standard nor open.
  The implementation details are not even close to consistent from bank to bank.
  I have never talked to a bank customer service organization that had any intention of supporting the level of detail required to enter my own connection details.
  Most of them couldn't supply that detail if they wanted to. The IT person with the knowledge has no customer contact.
  Many banks count on Intuit handling all of the connection details internally in Quicken.
  The banks have no interest in supporting any software if they can help it.

Also, many banks are discontinuing offering support for Quicken. My credit union allows me to download ofx data while signed into their web site. But there is no OFXDirectConnect service for anyone at the credit union.

> 
> By the way, OFXCONNECT did not find my banking institution.

If you've looked at the wiki page above (and links from it) and haven't found your institution's data, the only other place I know that might have it in the open is:
http://www.ofxhome.com/index.php/home/directory

If that doesn't work, and you're sure your bank offers Quicken DirectConnect support, then you could get an evaluation copy of Quicken, sign in to your bank once, and extract the data from Quicken's ofx.log file.

Just having that data isn't a guarantee of success. There can be other implementation details hidden in Quicken that aqbanking/gnucash can't handle.
> 
> Thanks
> Jaz
> 
> 
Good luck. It's likely to be very frustrating until you successfully connect. If you do succeed, things are usually stable for at least several years (or until your bank is purchased by another bank).

Dave
--
Dave Reiser
dbreiser at icloud.com