What happens when your bank connection doesn’t work?

Are you having trouble updating your bank feed into QuickBooks Online? We’ve put together a basic troubleshooting guide with steps to fix your connection.

Standard/Direct Feed:

To begin with let’s outline the differences between bank feeds. There are two types:

Standard Feed:

QuickBooks Online connects with most banks using a standard feed connection between your bank account and QuickBooks profile which requires you to enter in your log in details each time you wish to update your bank.

Direct Feed:

Direct bank feeds however, provide a secure and reliable connection between your bank account and QuickBooks, where it will automatically import any transactions from your bank and eliminate the need for any additional bank sign-in information.

If you are with Santander, then direct feeds come as standard without any extra administration. However, if you are one of the banks listed below, we would recommend you follow the steps below to update your connection to a direct feed.

• NatWest
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Lloyds
• HSBC

Connecting using direct feeds

1) Navigate to the banking tab and look for this heading before selecting ‘Get a better connection’.

2) Process through the next menu by selecting ‘Get direct feeds’ and continue to the menu seen below and fill out the relevant information.

3) On completion, QuickBooks will create an authorisation form for you to print and sign.

Basic troubleshooting solutions:

If you do not hold an account with one of the providers offering direct bank feeds, here is a list of basic troubleshooting solutions that may help improve your connection.

• The recommended internet browser to use with QuickBooks Online is the Google Chrome browser. Try using this browser if you aren’t already.

• Ensure that you are entering the correct log in details.

• If unsuccessful, navigate to the thumbnail button in the top right hand corner of the browser underneath the ESCAPE (X) , select more tools , clear browsing data , Select ‘cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’ , Clear data and then try update the bank. This step is for Google Chrome. Other browsers will have a different process for removing cache and cookies.

• If this does not work, open a ‘New incognito window’ found under the thumbnail, log into your QuickBooks and try update your bank. Again this is for Google Chrome, other browsers have different private browsing options.

•  If this still does not work, try using QuickBooks Online in another browser such as Firefox, Windows Explorer or Safari.

• If unsuccessful, give your accounting firm a call and they will get in touch with QuickBooks to attempt to resolve the problem for you. Unless the connection issue is known they will likely ask for you to call them directly so they can use screenshare to diagnose the issue and raise a case with the appropriate technical support team.