Bank transaction Detail text changed / obfuscated by QBO

Hi there, @Dave226.

We'd love to help you fix your issue, but I need more information to help me get on the same page. Could you tell me more about it? Are you referring to the bank details or the bank description that X characters have replaced?  

Also, what is your specific bank institution? This way, we can verify if there's a reported issue about this matter.

I appreciate any details you can provide. I'm looking forward to your reply.

I don't know exactly how you differentiate between bank details, and bank description.  To be clear, the text received directly from the bank is shown in my original message.  What is displayed in QBO as bank details is changed by the time QBO displays it.  This is also shown in my original message.  I hope this clarifies.  If it is not clear to you, please clarify exactly what is meant by "bank details" as distinct from "bank description".  I thought I laid this out pretty clearly in my message.

  The text as delivered by the bank (partially redacted, only showing the last 4 digits of the pertinent account) is changed when QBO displays the text.  This text is the same, whether listed as "Description" or "Memo" in the Banking "Review Transaction" dialog.

  I wish for the QBO redactions to stop, and I can find no setting that allows me to stop it.  I think the redaction ALREADY provided by the bank is sufficient to protect customer data from casual inspection.  And still allows me to efficiently perform MY task, which is to classify and record the transactions in the proper accounts.

(Edited to add the specific bank involved): The bank is Chase Bank, and it affects all my Chase bank clients.  For more details, (obviously), you can initiate a tech support session.

Thanks for bringing this information to the Community page, @Dave226. I'll share tips on to import the complete description of your banking transactions in QuickBooks Online.

I wonder why how it goes like this. If your banking transaction is based on your bank description, this should flow the same information on the banking section. 

On the other hand, I want to make sure the columns are added on your banking screen to show all the bank details. Let's see if you added it by ticking the box from the Gear icon under the Banking section.

Here's how:

1. From the Banking screen, navigate to the Gear icon.
2. Looking at the column section, tick the Show Bank Details box.

If the banking details still aren't showing, I recommend uploading the transactions manually through a CSV file. Then update the banking descriptions or memo before uploading the file in QuickBooks Online.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Banking tab on the left pane.
2. Select Upload transactions.
3. Select Drag and drop or select files and select the file you downloaded from your bank. Then select Continue.
4. In the QuickBooks account dropdown, select the account you want to upload the transactions into Then select Continue.
5. Follow the onscreen steps to match the columns on the file with the correct fields in QuickBooks. Then select Continue.
6. Select the transactions you would like to import. Then select Continue.
7. Select Yes.
8. When you accept your transactions, click Done.

You can also refer to this page for the complete instructions on uploading your banking transactions: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online.

Then again, we can exclude the banking transaction and upload the specific transaction manually to your QuickBooks Online account. 

There you have it, @Dave226. I'm glad to have you today.

I have "Show Bank Details" and "Copy Bank Details to Memo" enabled on all my accounts.  As far as your recommendation of manually uploading and manually entering trnasactions because QBO has decided to redact the information that is PROVIDED by the bank, this is worse than not providing any recommendation at all.  I already know how to manually enter the transactions.  My original question is WHY do I have to do this?  This functionality worked perfectly until about a month ago, when INTUIT or CHASE made some sort of change to the process.

  The information delivered by Chase has not changed, as I can plainly see by manually inspecting the QBO or CSV files delivered by the bank.  Why is INTUIT taking it upon themselves to limit my access to this information?  It cripples the functionality provided by automatic download and connecting bank accounts to QBO.

  I want an explanation of what has changed, and I want to know HOW to disable this unnecessary and stupid redaction of already redacted information.  I am fully aware of how to do these "work-arounds" that you have kindly provided.  What I want to do is eliminate the need to do any such thing.  I have too many clients to be manually fiddling around hand editing csv files, or worse, manually making entries for information that is made available electronically.  I have 21 clients, and some of them have hundreds of transactions per month.  Intuit has broken this process.  I think Intuit owes me an explanation, at minimum.  And ideally, provide me a solution that allows me to regain previously available functionality.

Thanks for bringing this up, @Dave226. I appreciate your patience and effort in performing the suggested solutions above. Let me provide the steps for contacting our support team in QuickBooks Online.

Before that, we understand the frustration of not having this process as anticipated and the significance of getting this fixed as quickly as possible.

Let me inform you that there's an ongoing investigation into the issue you mentioned about the error banking details showing in the Description section. Please know that this has been raised to the banking engineers to understand why this unexpected behavior is happening, and out team is rolling out a potential remedies for his issue encountered.

In this case, I encourage you to call our support team so they can add you to the affected users.

Please see the steps below:

1. Log in to your account.
2. Click the? Help button at the top right corner.
3. Go to the Search tab, then select Contact Us.
4. Enter a brief discussion with your concern, then click Continue.
5. Choose to Have us call you to connect with us.

After reconciling your account, you can review or generate a reconciliation report to ensure it is balanced. Do you want to have one? The steps are provided by QuickBooks here: How do I view, print, or export a reconciliation report?

I'm adding this page if you need other resources that help you manage your profit and loss: Financial reports.

The Community is here for you 24/7 on the clock. If you need to drop your additional comments, notify us below. Keep safe.

Thank you for your input, Wayne.
Before I access the Tech Support chat AGAIN for help on this issue, I would just like to point out, for your edification and to improve the perception of Intuit as an organization that takes customer requests seriously, that my initial post here plainly pointed out that I have already done this once.

  It appears, from where I am sitting that you either did not read my original post, or you are just refusing to acknowledge that I have already done this.  This does not speak well of the clarity and completeness of Intuit Customer Service responsiveness.  A simple acknowledgement that the previous Tech Support response to my concern was either incomplete or incorrect before inviting me to try again would be much more courteous and add a lot of needed credibility to any additional response  Intuit may have in store for me.  Additionally, the Tech Support call is clearly on file with Intuit, and an acknowledgement of THIS fact would also be appreciated, since you are inviting me to try again.  Simple courtesies like this would do a lot to improve Intuit's reputation

For your convenience and as an aid to assist in improving the training regarding appropriate Customer Service responses, please find below a copy of the relevant information contained in my very first posting about this issue (copied from my initial post above)  These things are not irrelevant when answering a Customer concern, and ought to be acknowledged:

[I contacted QBO Tech Support and was told: 
"Thank you for the clarification of your concern. I understand that there are information on the uploaded information from the bank that's been covered/replaced by X. This is a design on the system that we cannot change to protect bank owners information. We understand that this is quite a hustle specially if you are the only user on the account."  I'm not kidding.  I wish I was.

This information is not being obscured by the bank.  The partially redacted account numbers appear on the bank site perfectly clearly.  I downloaded a batch of transactions from the bank and inspected the resulting files, and the details are included exactly as shown on the bank web page.]

Thanks also for your input, ChristineJoieR.

I will repeat for your benefit what I told Wayne above, as it seems you also require the same message.

Please read below:

Before I access the Tech Support chat AGAIN for help on this issue, I would just like to point out, for your edification and to improve the perception of Intuit as an organization that takes customer requests seriously, that my initial post here plainly pointed out that I have already done this once.

  It appears, from where I am sitting that you either did not read my original post, or you are just refusing to acknowledge that I have already done this.  This does not speak well of the clarity and completeness of Intuit Customer Service responsiveness.  A simple acknowledgement that the previous Tech Support response to my concern was either incomplete or incorrect before inviting me to try again would be much more courteous and add a lot of needed credibility to any additional response  Intuit may have in store for me.  Additionally, the Tech Support call is clearly on file with Intuit, and an acknowledgement of THIS fact would also be appreciated, since you are inviting me to try again.  Simple courtesies like this would do a lot to improve Intuit's reputation

For your convenience and as an aid to assist in improving the training regarding appropriate Customer Service responses, please find below a copy of the relevant information contained in my very first posting about this issue (copied from my initial post above)  These things are not irrelevant when answering a Customer concern, and ought to be acknowledged:

[I contacted QBO Tech Support and was told: 
"Thank you for the clarification of your concern. I understand that there are information on the uploaded information from the bank that's been covered/replaced by X. This is a design on the system that we cannot change to protect bank owners information. We understand that this is quite a hustle specially if you are the only user on the account."  I'm not kidding.  I wish I was.

This information is not being obscured by the bank.  The partially redacted account numbers appear on the bank site perfectly clearly.  I downloaded a batch of transactions from the bank and inspected the resulting files, and the details are included exactly as shown on the bank web page.]

Post deleted.

Hello, ChristineJoieR,

I must apologize, as I did not read your post carefully.  So I am guilty of the very thing I am complaining about.  Thank you for your reply, and I will raise the issue again with Tech Support.

I assume this means my original response from Tech Support was erroneous or outdated, as you have indicated that this issue is being investigated.  

I'm sorry for my thoughtless response to you above.  But my comment to Wayne stands.

Additionally, I would suggest that, since I have already logged a complaint, and given a "Gear Icon" feedback regarding this issue, that you could take it upon yourself, as a respectful gesture, to go ahead and add me to the list of customers / clients affected by this situation, and also add me to the email list for feedback on the status of the issue.  I have many things to attend to, and if this can be resolved without having to initiate another Tech Support chat, I will be grateful. 

Thank you again for your attention.

Thanks for getting back to this thread, @Dave226.

I want to assure you that your feedback is valuable to us, and we take it seriously. We strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information to our customers.

I appreciate your understanding and willingness to raise the issue again with our Technical Support team. They will be able to provide you with the most accurate and relevant assistance based on your specific situation. Your feedback is crucial in helping us improve our services and ensure that we meet your expectations.

Our product team does read and implement a lot of the feedback you provide through the gear icon to continually improve our products and services. They will follow up directly via email if they have any further questions regarding a feature request. I suggest keeping an eye on your email for product updates.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are here to assist you and address any remaining issues you may have.

But what about my request that I be added to the list of customers affected by this issue?

You already have my information, as well as TWO incident reports related to this issue.

Is it too much to ask to be added to the list BEFORE I have to make time to do ANOTHER Tech Support call / chat?  Is this really a lot to ask?  Is your system not set up to allow this?  If not, why not?  This seems like a very basic requirement for a Customer Service database functionality.

Please respond as to whether my incidents can be linked to the issue, and my name added to the email notification system related to this issue.

I am willing to be cooperative, but I am VERY busy.  Even MORE so now that your system has broken previously working functions.  If I have to make time for ANOTHER Tech support chat, it will likely be sometime next week.  I'd like to be notified.  Thank you.

I will add that this entire line of communication has been VERY unsatisfying, starting with my first contact with Tech Support, and someone from Customer Service needs to review these kinds of things and FIX the system that keeps things going in circles while nothing of note gets accomplished for the client / customer. 

How is it that everyone is very polite and deferential, and yet I receive answers that are just wrong, answers

that are meaningless, answers that are clearly irrelevant to my issue, and answers that lack the most basic understanding of the issue beyond deciding which pre-scripted response is CLOSEST to my problem, likely based on the existence of a keyword that I happened to use.  Very unsatisfying, and results in a even greater waste of my time.  It is a disrespectful and de-humanizing experience.

Hello Dave226,

I see the importance of timely support and understand the frustration you have experienced through. We understand your request to be added to the list of affected users. However, QuickBooks Community operates as an open forum. Thus, we do not have a system that directly initiates product investigations and add users to the list. This process is handled by our support team.

Rest assured you will receive timely updates and notifications as we work towards a resolution. 

If there is anything else we can do to assist you or have any further concerns, please let us know, and we will make every effort to address them promptly and appropriately.

I have the same issue, how did you fix that?

I appreciate you for chiming in, Shneor770.

The investigation regarding the bank description shows X characters is still ongoing. With that, I'd suggest contacting our phone support team so we can add you as one of the affected users.

Here's how to reach out to our support:

1. Click the ? Help icon.
2. On the Assistant tab, you can enter Bank description issue as your keywords.
3. Select No.
4. You can choose how you'll want to get in touch with the expert.

Once everything's good, you can check this article as your guide in ensuring the transactions match your bank and credit card statements: Reconcile an account.

We appreciate your patience while we are working to resolve the investigation.

So far, it is not fixed.  Very frustrating.  It is spreading, too. It was only Chase Bank at first, and is now spreading to Bank of America.  It is difficult to even do a manual reconciliation for some of my clients, as the obfuscation is not only simple character replacement, but an actual re-arrangement of the banking details so the characters don't even appear in the same place in the text.  It's getting worse, not better.

And it is definitely Intuit that is rearranging and obfuscating the text.  I downloaded the bank information directly in all the available file formats, and the information is presented exactly as the website window and the statements show it.  The downloaded text is truncated in some instances, but it is not obfuscated.

It is possible that the banks are delivering obfuscated information to Intuit, but not to their customers, but that, if true, raises a bunch more questions, like "Why?".  Did Intuit fail a security audit?  It would suck to go back to manually downloading and uploading csv files like we had to do for QB Desktop lo so many moons ago, but if Intuit is going to make reconciliation (my most common and time-consuming task) more difficult, then that's what I will have to do, until I can switch all my clients back to a local solution.

The present situation is unacceptable.  If this is a legal liability issue, they need to fire their lawyers and get a new legal team, because this one will destroy Intuit.

Allow me to join you here and share details to help with your online banking concerns, Dave226.

I checked our list of open alerts and I can't find any investigation for encrypted bank details for Bank of America. 

Please know that the QuickBooks Online Banking feature always show the exact information that's shared by your bank when syncing transactions. This means that QBO only downloads the details that are given to us by your financial institution.

With regards to the issue with Chase, our engineers are already working them to determine why the bank details are encrypted. Hence, the investigation is still open. 

There are also times that display issues in QBO is caused by a browser issue. In such cases, we recommend to use other browser or switch to an incognito private browsing session to check if the transactions are showing the full description. Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, and Microsoft Edge are all compatible with QuickBooks. 

I understand from your previous responses that you already reached out to our support team about the banking issue with Chase. However, I would still recommend reaching out to them again in case the details are still encrypted even in other browsers. 

Just in case you need more guidance managing banking transactions, I'll share these articles with you:

• Unmatch Downloaded Bank Transactions or Move Them to Another Account
• Undo or Remove Transactions From Reconciliations in QuickBooks Online

Don't hesitate to reply back to us if you have other concerns. We're always here to offer our help anytime you need it. 

This:

"Please know that the QuickBooks Online Banking feature always show the exact information that's shared by your bank when syncing transactions. This means that QBO only downloads the details that are given to us by your financial institution."

is certainly the expectation.  But the question at issue is why this is not happening.  It is not "encryption", either.  It is obfuscation by character substitution.  And as the only character substituted for the redacted characters is "X", this is not encryption.  In encrypted messages, the original information is recoverable by running the appropriate decryption algorithm using appropriate keys, etc.  This is not encryption.  It is data destruction, as the original information is NOT recoverable by any technical means.  Additionally, many characters in the Bank Details are unaffected.  This is also not characteristic of encryption.  This is redaction, and again, it is unrecoverable data destruction.

   It is also, to repeat my original complaint, NOT NECESSARY or helpful, as the customer's data is already sufficiently obfuscated by the bank, in cases where real account numbers are used, the BANK transmits only the last four digits in the clear, to allow account identification without revealing the actual complete account number.  There is now no way to distinguish internal transfers of the same amount on the same date.  All details, including confirmation numbers, account numbers, and other numbers whose purpose I don't even know, are affected by this. 

  This is clearly a case of either:

1) QBO (Intuit) is redacting the received information (intentionally or otherwise)

    -  If they are doing it intentionally, they are at minimum, not being transparent and admitting such.  If it is intentional, then they should admit it, and state their reasons for doing it, and allow opting out. 

    -  It they are doing it intentionally, and NOT admitting it, then this is basically dishonest, and there needs to be some investigation as to why, as this amounts to data destruction, and it actively interferes with doing the bookkeeping task.  If there is some sort of coercion involved, then someone needs to appeal to Congress or something.

    -  If they are not doing it intentionally, their development team has some real problems.

2) Banks are delivering a different version of Bank Details to Intuit from what they make available to their customers directly.

    -  If the banks are doing this, then it should be a simple matter for them to disclose this practice and state their reasons for doing so.  Additionally, there should be a way opt out of this practice.

    -  If the banks are not doing this, then see item #1) above.

Unless Intuit is going to claim that the BANKs are delivering the information corrupted like this, they are responsible.  And no disrespect intended to you personally, jenop2, but please refrain from posting any more replies that use inaccurate and misleading terminology to misrepresent the problem, or that fail to acknowledge that Intuit is doing this.  If you must reply, please acknowledge which of the following alternatives is true:

Intuit is doing this, but we are not going to tell you why

Intuit is doing this, but we don't know why it is happening

Intuit is not responsible, as the banks are delivering corrupt information to us

Nobody knows why this is happening, and we can't even agree on WHAT is happening

Thank you.

I'm having the exact same issue and when I called QBO support was told this was a bank issue.  Clearly this is not.

Looking forward to a resolution as I am in the same position as the original poster, this data is important in how we manage transaction in QBO.

Cheers,

Dave

My latest update from Intuit:

"

As time goes on, I am reaching the conclusion that this is a Chase thing.  They have changed (updated) the way they transmit data to "Third Parties".  This apparently can be ANY one other than their direct client.  So Intuit is likely a "Third Party" under their new Data Sharing scheme.  So now they get a "Substitute Account Number" instead of the real account numbers.  Read the following (directly from the Chase FAQs:

" 

(emphasis added in BOLD by me)

This is more security theater, which puts accountants and bookkeepers on the same level as someone selling Pokemon food.  No details of what this means, and no ability to send ACTUAL account numbers even when the prompt asks if the client is OK with sharing actual account numbers.  Deceptive language, leading to a the banking client being unaware of thie problem, as when inquiry is made by the accounting team, they will say "But I selected to share my account numbers with you guys!".  Not knowing that this is what REALLY happens.  This is all on CHASE at this point.

There is no granular data sharing options, with partially redacted data available to financial professionals.  There is ONE setting.  ON or OFF.  I don't know exactly what these "Substitute Account numbers look like, but my complaint remains.  I have many clients with personal and multiple separate business accounts at the same bank, so when there is a transfer, I NEED to see the {Partially redacted  = last four digits of the destination account} Account number in order to know if this is a transfer to a personal account or one of their several other business accounts.

  So now, in order to accurately record the transactions, I must log into the Bank while I am accepting transactions.  I am copying and pasting the accurate bank details from the login window so there is at least some possibility of re-tracing any possible error if something goes wrong.

   This is idiotic for a bookkeeper to have to do this.  It's almost enough to go back to manually downloading the csv files and manually uploading them again, if this is what "Bank Connections" are going to look like going forward. 

Bottom line, looks like the bad guy here is Chase Bank.  They are providing (deliberately) distorted data to all "Third parties".  This doesn't complete absolve Intuit.  They have not been forthcoming about this situation AT ALL, if they even know what is happening (not even knowing is probably worse).  I don't know exactly how much (if any) redaction they are doing on the back end, but this is NOT ENCRYPTION, as they have so disingenuously claimed in previous episodes.  So their credibility has taken a massive hit with me.

Do they expect us to believe Intuit couldn't arrange a better connection than THIS for financial purposes?   Intuit is not a small player in the Financial Services world.  Anyway, they are dealing with Chase and Jamie Dimon, so I'm going to cut them SOME slack, but why can they not explain this situation when asked?  This is not a very satisfying answer, but I just wanted to drop in and update anyone who is dealing with this, too.

(Personal opinion follows - please stop reading if  hard truths offend you):

This just one more brick in building the competency crisis that is drowning our country in stupidity right now.  Instead of preventing wrong-doing by punishing lawbreakers, we put stupid useless plastic covers on everything so everyone's job is harder, and say "Well, it's the best we can do.  Deal with it."  This is a half-assed solution to something that would be a non-problem if law enforcement was allowed to do their jobs and arrest and prosecute criminals.

I would like to thank Dave226 for all the time and effort he has invested in this stupidity cause by two very large well know companies both of which should be better than this. His efforts will likely save me a lot of frustration. I have been "working with" Intuit for a couple of months with the same lack of success Dave226 has had.

The good news is, I sleep very well at night knowing that I am well protected by Chase and Intuit because they see fit to block out Southwest Airline's 800 number on a transaction when a Southwest ticket is purchased thru my Chase bank account. It would do irreparable damage if someone somehow got my Intuit data and called Southwest using the 800 number in my Intuit data. This person might end up ahead of me in line to get on the next Southwest flight - big brother is alive and well - thanks to Intuit and Chase Bank I get moved up one spot in lined at the airport.

I am currently dealing with the same issue for AMEX. It all of a sudden switched to just XXX-XXXX-XXX in the memo field instead of the bank detail. Absolutely useless information when scrolling through reports especially when the memo seems to take priority over the description.

I know how important accurate and relevant details are for your financial reporting, Cboom8.

Currently, many banks, including AMEX, have started adopting a new connection service called Open Authorization to ensure the confidentiality and protection of sensitive info shared with third parties.

OAuth is an industry-standard protocol that enhances security by providing a more controlled method for transmitting data. As part of their commitment to safeguarding your account, they often update the security measures in place to align with the latest industry standards and best practices. It can include masking certain details during the synchronization, which could be the reason behind the obscured memo you've noticed.

That said, I recommend reaching out to AMEX directly. Their representative can provide you with additional context about the changes and how they might impact the way transactions are displayed in external applications like QBO.

In the meantime, you'll want to consider manually importing the entries into the program. This will allow you to input the appropriate memo, maintaining the accuracy of your reports. Once done, refer to these articles for guidance on the categorization and reconciliation process:

• Review and match bank transactions
• Reconcile an account

If you have further questions about bank feeds or need assistance with other areas, please feel free to let me know by replying below. The Community is open 24/7 and always ready to help you with your bookkeeping needs.