Bank lockout after too many attempts at login

MelLightbody · ‎December 04, 2023

Hi Community.

In the last week we had 6 failed attempts at logging into our bank account after a change in our PW. These attempts locked our bank account.

When looking at these failed logins, I've got questions.

1) Does QB log in from a particular IP and only that IP?

2. when QB logs in, does it show as from a particular browser like IE or Safari or Mozilla? i.e. How do we know when it is QB online trying to connect to our bank account and not a hacker?

3. If there is one failed login (for whatever reason) how many more times does QB attempt to log in to our bank account?

Basically, I want to make sure that QB doesn't lock our account inadvertently until I can update it.

Hope that makes sense.

AlverMarkT · ‎December 04, 2023

Thanks for the update, Mel.

Let me chime in on this conversation and add details to your follow-up questions.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) depends on the number of login attempts allowed by your bank. Signing in to your bank account through QBO, regardless of the browser, would count as an attempt because the same credentials are used. However, this may still depend on your bank since it is also possible that they allow logging in multiple times using the same credentials through software like QuickBooks. I recommend reaching to your financial institution to confirm this.

Yes, QBO would allow multiple times sign-ins until you input the correct username and password, but then again, this will depend on the login attempt policies set. After updating your linked bank account with incorrect credentials thrice, you'll receive an error like in the image below and an email notification about your bank connection not working. Still, you can redo updating your bank login info.

About your last follow-up question, my colleagues and I utilize providing articles as future help. We envision providing a holistic response to customer's concerns and anticipate future needs.

As a future help, I'm adding this article that guides what to do if you experience any issues connecting to your bank in QBO: What to do if you get a bank error or can't download transactions in QuickBooks Online.

You're always welcome in the QuickBooks Community should you have further questions about bank login attempts in QBO. Take care.

View solution in original post

GenmarieM · ‎December 04, 2023

Welcome to the Community space, @Mel.

I am here to provide some insights about the connection between QuickBooks Online (QBO) and the bank.

QuickBooks doesn't have a particular IP address, and yes, when logging in to QBO, it will show from a specific browser because of cache data accumulation that your browser has.

Regarding your concern, it is important to note that QuickBooks automatically initiates a login to your bank account when it is connected manually.

The number of login attempts you can make may vary depending on your bank. It's essential to ensure that the bank link you're trying to connect is accurate to avoid failed attempts. You should visit your bank's website and copy the latest bank link to do this. Then, you can paste this link into the connect bank section of QBO.

You might want to consider categorizing your bank transactions after connecting with your bank. You can visit this article for guidance: Categorize online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Come back to this post if you have follow-up questions. I'll be here to lend a helping hand.

MelLightbody · ‎December 04, 2023

Thank you so much, GenMarie. This info is helpful regarding which browser shows up.

So a couple of clarification follow-ups.

1) If log on to QBO through Chrome, that means QBO would show up as a log on attempt via Chrome? So, to be specific, if my bank shows a log in attempt via Safari and I don't ever use Safari that would mean a Safari login attempt would not be coming from QBO, right?

2) To clarify my question about login attempts. I know that my bank allows only three login attempts before it locks the account. Does this mean that QBO would continue to attempt logging in until the bank locked the account? Or will QBO default out after the first failed log in. Does that make sense? My question is *how many attempts* will QBO make before it recognizes it is a failed connection? TY.

I look forward to this clarification.

3. I already only categorize my transactions after connecting to the bank so I'm not sure what you are trying to convey. Sorry. What did I write that prompted you to offer this advice?

AlverMarkT · ‎December 04, 2023

Thanks for the update, Mel.

Let me chime in on this conversation and add details to your follow-up questions.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) depends on the number of login attempts allowed by your bank. Signing in to your bank account through QBO, regardless of the browser, would count as an attempt because the same credentials are used. However, this may still depend on your bank since it is also possible that they allow logging in multiple times using the same credentials through software like QuickBooks. I recommend reaching to your financial institution to confirm this.

Yes, QBO would allow multiple times sign-ins until you input the correct username and password, but then again, this will depend on the login attempt policies set. After updating your linked bank account with incorrect credentials thrice, you'll receive an error like in the image below and an email notification about your bank connection not working. Still, you can redo updating your bank login info.

About your last follow-up question, my colleagues and I utilize providing articles as future help. We envision providing a holistic response to customer's concerns and anticipate future needs.

As a future help, I'm adding this article that guides what to do if you experience any issues connecting to your bank in QBO: What to do if you get a bank error or can't download transactions in QuickBooks Online.

You're always welcome in the QuickBooks Community should you have further questions about bank login attempts in QBO. Take care.

caitlin scavo

Hello!

I've had the same thing happen. I'm on the phone with QB support now and they are saying that QBO does NOT try to reauthenticate or "login" using your credentials after you've manually linked the accounts, but this thread says something different.

I keep posing the question to them, how does QB know that there has been a change in login info? How does the connection fail if QB isn't trying to re-authenticate?

My bank says we have 31 failed login attempts, which was MOST DEFINITELY not me, and I've had to change my online banking password 8 times in the past two weeks because of this. My online banking credentials are constantly locked. We confirmed with our in house IT that there is no suspicious activity happening on our end.

My personal feeling is that QBO does try and reauthenticate using old/outdated online banking login info, which is causing the bank to see 31 failed login attempts, yet no one from QB has been able to confirm this.

RheaMaeH

Hello there, Caitlin. I'll share insights into how QuickBooks Online (QBO) is linked to your bank account.

QuickBooks Online doesn't automatically detect changes in your bank login credentials. If you change your user ID or password for a connected bank account outside QBO, the bank feed import will fail until you update these credentials within QBO.

If you want to update your online banking credentials, follow these steps:

Go to Transactions and click Bank Transactions.
Click the appropriate account
Select Edit and click Edit sign-in info.
In the Sign in to Account window, enter your new login credentials.
Tap Save and Connect to save changes.

I'm aware you've already reached out to our support team, and working closely with them is the best action at this time. They have the necessary tools to investigate this issue securely, with your privacy as a top priority.

Here's how:

Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
Going to Help (?).
Select Contact Us.
Enter your concern: Let's talk.
Choose a way to connect with us: Start a chat or Get a callback.

Furthermore, you can manually upload transactions if you want to enter old transactions, can’t find your bank, or connect them to QBO.

I'll be here if you have other questions about the connection between your bank account and QBO. I'm here to back you up.

caitlin scavo

To be clear, I am working with support to verify that QB does continually attempt to login/authenticate using your online banking credentials, in order to continuously pull transactions after you set up the manual "link account" feature.

Support has yet to confirm that QBO does continually attempt to reauthenticate using your online banking credentials, in order to pull the transactions on a continuous basis.

Here is our specific example, we use the Link account feature for all of our companies, we have roughly 27 QBO companies and they each have a linked accounts, that I set up manually. That process works flawlessly unless you are forced to change your online banking password and fail to immediately update all 27 companies with your new online banking login. The failed connection happens because QBO will attempt to reauthenticate using your incorrect banking credentials after you change your banking credentials, and if you have 27 companies with their own bank accounts, that is 27 failed login attempts, your online banking profile gets locked and you have to reset your password. this has happened to me, literally every other day since 5.31.24.

^no one from QBO has yet to confirm my reauthentication theory, but I am asking QBO to confirm the frequency that QBO will attempt to login/authenticate. if it doesn't continually re-authenticate, how would QBO know if your credentials changed?

The continuous reauthentication will cause you to get locked out of your online banking, atleast per our banking team, it appears to the bank as if there were 27 failed login attempts...

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Bank lockout after too many attempts at login