Actually, I figured it out! The card I wanted to be the sub account of the parent card was set up as a bank account by whomever configured these and not a credit card. As soon as I corrected that, the proper accounts showed as options. Thanks so much for your help!

Thanks for getting back with the Community, ShannonOE. I appreciate you performing our recommended troubleshooting steps.

I'm happy to hear you were able to figure it out and get your subaccount set up properly for what you're looking to do.

When working with parent and subaccounts, you'll want to be aware that only five subaccounts can be created under one parent account. If you already have five subaccounts assigned to a parent account, you'd have to remove one of the subaccounts to be able to create another under the parent.

If you need to change an existing account into a subaccount, you can do so from your Chart of Accounts.

Here's how:
 

1. In the left navigation bar, go to Transactions, then Chart of accounts.
2. Find an account you want to edit.
3. Under its Action column, click your Drop-down arrow (▼) icon, then choose Edit.
4. Tick the Make this a subaccount option, then specify which Parent account it should be under.
5. Select Save.

You can learn more about working with parent and subaccounts in our Create subaccounts in your chart of accounts article.

Please feel welcome to send a reply here or create a new thread if there's ever any questions. The Community's always here to help. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hello, I have had an enormous amount of trouble with this. For background, I had a Chase card connected to online banking, as well as its sub card. The two showed separately and loaded transactions separately. I attempted to make the main card the parent but it wouldn't allow me to do that. I came here and saw in the community to unlink the cards from the bank, create the parent/child relationship, and then re-link the cards from the bank. I took all of those steps. We unlinked the cards from Chase Bank and then in QBO I was able to make Card #2 the sub account of Card #1; creating the parent/child relationship.

However, when we attempted to link the cards back to QBO, we were not allowed. It said the Card #2 "has a parent account that is already connected to an account at one of your banks". Neither card would load back in to QBO until I unchecked the sub-account box on Card #2 and severed the relationship. Then, magically, the cards loaded back into QBO on our next attempt. I tried again to make Card #2 a sub-account of Card #1 at this time and the error message now is "You can't change the parent of this account to Card #1 because it or its parent is already set up for Online Banking or Web Connect".

So, my hands are completely tied. I can only create the relationship while disconnected, but then once the relationship is created, QBO creates a barrier to reconnecting them. 

Hi there, @ShannonOE. I'd be glad to provide information about making your main account the parent in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 
 

In QBO, it is not advisable to connect both parent and subaccounts; as a result, you'll encounter an error message stating that they're already connected. I highly suggest contacting our customer care team so they can help you with the process and ensure your second bank will be connected to your account. I'll input the steps on how to reach out to the support team below:

1. Click Help on the upper right corner.

2. Select Search tab.
3. Under the search tab click Contact Us.
 

For more detailed information, you can check this article: Contact QBO Support.
 

For future reference, you can check this article to learn how to set up a bank or credit card account with multiple subaccounts to easily connect it to your bank and reconcile downloaded transactions: About bank or credit card account subaccount setup.
 

If you need help in the future don't hesitate to hit the Reply button. We're here to assist you. 

Thank you. You are the first person that has said you cannot connect both. 

It sounds like I should unlink the intended child card (card #2) from the online banking, but leave the intended parent card (card #1) connected and then create the parent/child relationship. Then the online transactions for both cards will post to just the parent account?  Would that work? I realize you are saying to also contact QB support, but if it is that simple, I think I could go ahead and try. 

Steps would be:

1. Unlink card #2 (child card) from online banking.

2. Go to card #2 in Chart of Accounts, select edit and check box for 'this is a sub-account' and choose card #1 (which is still connected to online banking)

3. Then all is good? Or will I also need to unlink the parent card again, then create relationship, and then just relink parent card?

Thank you.

Thank you for providing such a detailed overview of the process. I'd like to delve a bit deeper into this and explain further.

You have the option to unlink and relink a parent card, and you can choose to keep the parent connected. It depends on where you are comfortable as long as you connect it to where the transactions flow or are downloaded.

For detailed guidance on creating sub-accounts within your chart of accounts, I recommend reading this article: Create subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

To learn how to change the parent account type, please refer to the information provided in this link: Change the account type of an existing parent account or subaccount in QuickBooks Online.

Please be assured that both myself and my team are always on hand and dependable when it comes to addressing any of your QuickBooks-related inquiries.