How Quicken connects to your bank
When you use Advanced Setup to add a new Quicken account, or when you edit an account that is already set up for Direct Connect, you have the opportunity to choose the method you want to use to connect to your financial institution. The methods available for you to choose from depend on the services supported by your financial institution, your preferences, and Quicken’s relationship with the financial institution. The three methods are Express Web Connect, Direct Connect, and Web Connect. The table below summarizes the differences.
| Feature | Express Web Connect | Direct Connect | Web Connect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatically download transactions from your financial institution. | X | X | |
| Pay bills and transfer money directly from Quicken. | X | ||
| Your financial institution may require a monthly fee and separate activation for this service. | X | ||
| You must manually download a file from your financial institution website to update your transactions and account balances. | X |
More information
Tell me more about Express Web ConnectMore about Express Web Connect
Availability - Most financial institutions.
Features - Download transactions and update account balances.
Setup - Use the website login information as your user ID and password when you add accounts at that financial institution to Quicken.
Bill Pay - Not available from within Quicken.
Use - You don’t need to leave Quicken to download transactions and update account balances.
- Just update your accounts and your new transactions and balances will be downloaded directly into Quicken.
Fees - You are not charged fees to use Express Web Connect.
Data - Express Web Connect is a one-way connection. Data is imported into Quicken, but Quicken cannot affect your transactions or balances in any way.
- Access and retrieval of data is automated through the use of scripts and nightly aggregation. During aggregation, Quicken logs in to your online banking website on your behalf. Generally this happens once a day and outside of business hours. Because of this, you may notice login activity on your online banking website overnight.
- Your login credentials are stored on Quicken-hosted servers. This makes updates faster for you.
- Your financial data is stored on Quicken-hosted servers. This provides a more complete history of your financial transactions than is typical for data stored on financial institution servers.
- We use state-of-the-art security measures to protect your login credentials and your financial data.
- Tell me more about Direct ConnectMore about Direct Connect
Availability - Direct Connect is available to customers of Quicken partner financial institutions.
Features - Download transactions, update account balances, pay bills, and transfer money between your accounts.
Setup - Contact your financial institution to check on availability and to sign up for Direct Connect with Quicken.
Bill Pay - Available from within Quicken.
Use - You don’t need to leave Quicken to use the features that Direct Connect provides.
- If you signed up for bill payment, you can create payments from within Quicken and send them at the same time you download transactions and update your account balances.
Fees - You may need to pay your financial institution a fee to use Direct Connect.
- Financial institutions pay Quicken a fee for to support the services that Direct Connect provides.
- Contact your financial institution for details.
Data - Direct Connect is a two-way connection. This means that data flows in both directions. First, a request for data is sent to your financial institution by Quicken. After the request has been authenticated by your financial institution servers, data is then received and presented in Quicken.
- Your financial data is stored on servers controlled by your financial institution or by a third-party they contact with.
- Your financial data is encrypted during download.
- Your customer ID and password are not stored on Quicken servers. If you choose to use the Quicken Password Vault, we encrypt them on your computer's hard drive.
- Tell me more about Web Connect
More about Web Connect
Availability - Web Connect is available to customers of Quicken partner financial institutions.
Features - Download transactions and update account balances.
Setup - Visit your financial institution website and create a website login if you don’t have one already.
- Use the website login information as your user ID and password when you add accounts at that financial institution to Quicken.
Bill Pay - Not available from within Quicken.
Use - To initiate an update by visiting your financial institution’s website, navigate to a “Download” or “History” area (the name will vary). When you see a Quicken logo or a button or link that says Download to Quicken, click it.
- To initiate an update from within Quicken, open the account you want to update, click
(the Account Actions icon), and then choose Update Now. This will take you to your financial institution website. Click the Quicken logo or Download to Quicken to update your account.
Fees - You are not charged fees to use Web Connect.
- Financial institutions pay Quicken a fee to support the services that Web Connect provides.
Data - Web Connect is a one-way connection. Data is imported into Quicken, but not exported.
- All imported data is stored on your computer.
- Your financial data is encrypted during download.
- Your login information is not stored in Quicken. You must enter it each time update your account.
- How do I determine what method my financial institution uses?
The connection method for your online-enabled account is listed on the Online Services tab of the Account Details dialog. (Choose Tools menu > Account List. Click the Edit button of the account you are interested in. In the Account Details dialog, click the Online Services tab.)