GNUCash value proposition

[GWB]

I download the transactions for each month, or quarter, in every
format available, then import into gnucash and whatever other
financial software I'm using.  If they allow it, I download the OFX,
QFX, CSV, IIF, QIF and QBO files.  I first try importing OFX.  If that
doesn't work, then QFX, if that doesn't work, QIF.  Almost all of the
time I only need one format (OFX or QFX), but on rare occasion (when I
need to double check post date versus transaction date) looking at the
other formats can be useful (usually csv, but even IIF and QBO can
have some data the others are missing, depending on the institution).

I moved away from direct connect because it is potentially less
secure.  You can see how Quicken describes their methods and fees
here:

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-quicken-connects-your-bank
https://www.bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness/online-banking/quickbooks.go?js=y

Notice this line: "Quicken logs in to your bank's website on your
behalf."  Who knows, maybe Quicken (and their servers) are hack proof,
but I would rather avoid the data going through any more servers than
necessary.  You can download the activity and transaction data
directly from the institution using a regular web browser, but you
should check to make sure the connection is https (and not http, which
is not encrypted).  I download the files directly from the institution
over a VPN connection, but that might not work for you.  Call your
bank and ask them how to make your browser connection secure.  If you
use a decent vpn provider (like ivpn.net) your security may be as good
as, or better than, Quicken's Express Web Connect or Web Connect.

I paid for various forms of direct connect for years from various
institutions, and the fees just kept rising.  So my experience has
been if they don't charge for it now, they will at some point.  If
they do charge for it, they will at some point keep raising the fee.
As has been pointed out, you can't integrate bill pay into GnuCash
like you can in Quicken, but many banks offer some form of online or
web bill pay for free.

Gordon

On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 11:00 PM, Steve Cohen <stevecoh2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmm, I tried this and could not get anywhere with it.  It accepted my
> credentials but would not show me any accounts.  There were error
> messages in the logs that seemed GUI related and a pointer to
> ofx.log(with user ID and password obfuscated by me).
>
> One thing I noticed that Gnucash wouldn't let me pick a Quicken version
> later than 2013 while I am running 2014.  Not sure that matters.
>
>
> Sending:
> -------------------------------------
> OFXHEADER:100
> DATA:OFXSGML
> VERSION:103
> SECURITY:NONE
> ENCODING:USASCII
> CHARSET:1252
> COMPRESSION:NONE
> OLDFILEUID:NONE
> NEWFILEUID:20170423222735.000
>
> <OFX><SIGNONMSGSRQV1><SONRQ><DTCLIENT>20170423222735.000<USERID>**********
> <USERPASS>*******************************
> <LANGUAGE>ENG<FI><ORG>Chase
> Bank<FID>1601</FI><APPID>QWIN<APPVER>2200</SONRQ></SIGNONMSGSRQV1><SIGNUPMSGSRQV1><ACCTINFOTRNRQ><TRNUID>20170423222735.000<CLTCOOKIE>1<ACCTINFORQ><DTACCTUP>19691231</ACCTINFORQ></ACCTINFOTRNRQ></SIGNUPMSGSRQV1></OFX>
>
>
>
> On 04/24/2017 09:27 PM, David Reiser wrote:
>>
>>> On Apr 24, 2017, at 11:31 AM, Steve Cohen <stevecoh2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> ...
>>> But as I began thinking about ways to move from Quicken to GNUCash, the
>>> following obstacle is holding me back:
>>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/OFX_Direct_Connect_Bank_Settings#Chase It
>>> will apparently cost me $9.95 a month just to be able to automatically
>>> download my transaction data from Chase Bank, which is more than Quicken
>>> would cost me if I upgraded every year (which I don't).  Possibly plus
>>> connection fees to the other financial instituations, (brokerages,
>>> pension accounts, etc.) that I now connect to via Quicken.
>>>
>>> So my question is, and please don't take this as a hostile question, is
>>> whether it is correct that in making the jump from Quicken I will have
>>> to pay the banks these high connection fees to use OFX?   If it is, I
>>> might just opt to stick with Quicken, which I'm not crazy about. Or am I
>>> missing something?  While there is documentation that is as recent as
>>> this year, there are also documents dated 2006 or 2008, so I'm not clear
>>> about the prospects and viability of this project.
>>>
>>> What do GNUCash users do?  Pay the ten bucks a month?  Give up on OFX
>>> and automatic downloading, or download data from the banks' websites and
>>> manually import into GNUCash?  Or something else?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> Steve Cohen
>>
>> If you are already downloading transactions from a Chase checking or savings account with Quicken, and are not already paying $9.95/month, then you won’t be paying it with gnucash, either. You’d use the same login credentials you already gave Quicken. Chase bills for access, not for the particular program that is accessing the data. You would, however, have to go through the two- or three-step process to confirm to Chase that gnucash’s attempt to login was legitimate.
>>
>> I only have credit card accounts with Chase, and those are not charged for DirectConnect downloads. There are published levels of ‘personal banking’ relationships for which Chase allows DirectConnect data downloads without additional charge, but the fees for those levels are excessive in my book. If you’ve had the account for long enough, you might be grandfathered out of DirectConnect fees. Or if you were/are persuasive enough with customer service, that might get the fee waived, too.
>>
>> One thing you would not get with gnucash via ofx is initiating payments to anyone from within gnucash. That part of DirectConnect has never been attempted in the gnucash realm — too expensive to validate the code, since Quicken and a few banks with custom code are the only organizations that could make access to a test server possible. And they aren’t so inclined at a fee any open source project could stand (and maybe not any price at all for open source code).
>>
>> Dave
>> --
>> Dave Reiser
>> dbreiser at icloud.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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