Last year Intuit announced that Bank Feeds with Tokens was coming. In fact, Insightful Accountant even give you a sneak-peak at this new process this past January.
During the year this new type of connections has been under active development. This overhaul provides a faster and more reliable method for connecting with your bank so that your account transactions stay up to date with fewer sync errors. Initially, three banks agreed to participate in the new connection type; Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
Since that time other banks and financial institutions including Capital One, Citi Bank and USSA along with American Express and PayPal have agreed to participate. Intuit hopes that ultimately the vast majority of banks will come on board for this more secure method of connection.
bank feeds with token banks
How this works
Instead of providing your user name and password bank credentials to Intuit so they can be stored for use each time you connect via QuickBooks, this process works differently. During the initial set-up you log-in with your credentials, but then you actually authorize your bank to exchange information with QuickBooks in much the same way you authorized QuickBooks to exchange information with an App you sign-up for.
As part of this process using the OAuth authentication standard, the bank transmits a token which is used to access your bank account information. Even if you change banking credentials, access is still permitted as long as the token remains valid. The tighter integration associated with this process results in greater security with typically fewer connection problems and significantly less data interruption related issues.
bank feeds with tokens authorization
Some banks will require the main Administrator on the bank accounts to give the bank permission directly to allow the QuickBooks connection. This means that the connection could require authorization from the credentialed Administrator in order to either connect or re-connect using the new methodology.
In other words, this new method may not accept the credentials of any 'delegated,’ 'secondary' or 'alternative' bank account access holder or account user. As such it may be necessary for the actual account holder/administrator to work with their bank in establishing the initial connect (or re-connection when transitioning from an existing connection) to the new method. Once the new method has been properly configured, other QuickBooks Online users should be able to use the Banking page as normal.
Current QuickBooks Bank Feeds Users
Be on the lookout, if you already have one or more accounts linked to QuickBooks you will start seeing messages telling you that you need to update your connection. These messages will appear on the bank dashboard of QuickBooks, and if you are linked to one of the participating banks for this new connection method, you will be prompted to re-connect using this new method.
bank feeds with tokens advisory messages
Depending on exactly when your bank begins using the new method, you may get an initial advisory message giving you a specific number of days to connect the new way. If you fail to connect by that time, your existing connection may continue to work for a short time and you will receive messages advising that your current connection will stop working on a specified date. And if your connection is interrupted (because you fail to connect the new way), then you will receive a message advising you how to proceed with re-connecting using the new method.
Because this new connection methodology is currently only affecting larger banks who have opted to participate with this more secure bank feeds process, you will only need to re-connect if you are using one of those banks. But, once a bank has decided to transition to this new method, users will generally be required to comply and re-connect the new way. This is because it simply does not make sense for a bank to offer more than one bank feeds mechanism.
As more banks come on-line with this new methodology Intuit will be advising existing QuickBooks customers with sufficient notice to help them re-connect prior to the expiration of their existing connections. In the long run, the vast majority of banks, large and small, should adopt the OAuth authentication connection standards so as to provide a more secure and reliable methodology of connection.
As Insightful Accountant becomes aware of more major banks coming on-board with this new methodology of Bank Feeds or changes develop we will do our best to keep you abreast of the situation.