Who can set up online banking?

QuickBooksHelp · ‎October 24, 2018

Find out who’s authorized to set up bank connection in QuickBooks Online and Self-Employed.

Here are the most common questions we received about authorization during bank connection set up.

Who can set up an Online Banking connection?

Most banks or financial institutions allow any bank user to set up the bank connection with QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed. In some cases, they may limit access to third-party applications to ensure your transaction data is safe. This only allows the primary user to set up the initial setup of bank connection.

Why do I need to be the primary user to set up my online banking connection?

You may encounter restricted access when you try to set up a new connection between QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Self-Employed and a bank or financial institution. This is due to bank and financial institutions’ policies.

What banks allow users other than the primary user to set up online banking?

Most banks allow the secondary or delegate users to set up online banking in QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed.

Chase®️ customers (primary account holders) can entitle authorized users (secondary or delegate users) to set up direct connect in QuickBooks Online and Self-Employed. Here’s how they can entitle an authorized user:

Sign in to Chase.
Select Account management.
Select Access and Security Manager.
Select Edit / Assign access for the Authorized User.
Under Profile-level rights, select Third Party App Access checkbox.
Select Turn On to establish access for the authorized user.

Once the access is provided on your Chase profile, authorized users should be able to set up direct connect in QuickBooks Online and Self-Employed. If you have any questions, call 877-CHASEPC (877-242-7372) or visit the chase website.

What banks don’t allow users other than the primary user to set up online banking?

Each bank has its own messaging if it doesn’t allow secondary or delegate users to establish app connections. This message comes from the bank and not us. It may say something like "Your account is not eligible" or “only the primary user can do this task.”

We’re aware that Bank of America requires the primary user to set up the connection. Some banks also restrict access for secondary or delegate users.
Here's a list of specific messages that we’re aware of:

Bank of America

We're sorry but only the Business Account Owner is eligible to consent to share account data with a Third Party Site.
We’re sorry, your account is not eligible. Please close your Browser.

What should I do if I run into this restriction?

If you run into this restriction when you set up or update a bank connection in QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed, have the primary bank user set up the connection.

Why was I able to set up these connections in the past?

Each bank has its way of classifying different activities which results in different permissions. Some banks may view downloading transactions as an activity that’s only for the primary user, while some may not. The same thing applies when you set up the bank connection in QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed. You may be able to set up the bank connection with some banks as the secondary user, but it doesn’t mean you can for all the other banks.