Vanguard transaction retrieve

[quercus]

Starting this morning, transaction retrieve for Vanguard has been giving the following message: "General Error. An error occurred that prevented the login from succeeding."

I suspect this is related to a Vanguard upgrade, which they discuss at the following link:
https://personalp.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/quicken-users-092014

Quicken users are being instructed to follow a multi-step process that deactivates and reactivates each Vanguard account. Once connectivity is reestablished, Vanguard is advising that you check for duplicate and missing transactions. Wouldn't be surprised if Fund Manager is running into similar issues.

[red_puppy]

I am seeing the same error for Vanguard accounts with FM. But the direct login at the Vangaurd site seems to work fine.

[Mark]

Thanks for the information, we'll investigate and post the findings back here.

[aviator]

Hi Mark,

I'm sure you're on this, working diligently to find a solution, but I thought I'd add some commentary that might be helpful:

1) Vanguard instructs Quicken users to completely delete their One-Step-Update credentials for each account held at Vanguard. I don't believe FM allows users the option of completely deleting their signon credentials.

2) To re-activate downloads in Quicken, the user is required to link each Quicken account to what Vanguard is showing on their site. (Hint to others who are about to go through this: Jot down the last 4 digits of your Vanguard account numbers, either from within Quicken or from Vanguard's website, doing so makes the linking process much easier.)

3) I attempted to download from FM and, like others, encountered an error. I don't know how to *delete* Transaction Retrieve credentials from FM. At this point, all I can do is un-check the "Retrieve Transaction" box, but the User ID and Password remain within FM.

[Mark]

Hello,

This issue should be resolved with transaction module 195. You should not need to change anything in Fund Manager. There is no need to disable/re-enable anything. In our testing the Vanguard OFX server was returning incorrect signon invalid messages fairly often, so we've added an automatic re-try feature for this server. There are more details in the announcement here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3188

[quercus]

The new transaction module did the trick for me.

Thanks Mark, appreciate the fast turnaround!

[aviator]

Hi Mark,

I downloaded the latest transaction module but received the error message below. A couple of questions about the Vanguard download process, going forward:

1) I have several accounts at Vanguard. Given the number of re-tries the new module performs, will this lengthen download times?

2) Is this a one-time issue with Vanguard, or do you expect FM (with the latest transaction module) to repeatedly try up to three times each time I wish to download?

3) What do you recommend I do to fix the problem below?

[Mark]

Hi Aviator,

It may slow down slightly when it has to make multiple requests. If Vanguard fixes their OFX server, it will automatically go back to being faster, as it only makes additional requests if the last one returned a signon invalid error code. It does not always make 3 requests. It makes a request, and if that succeeds, that is all that is done for that account. Only if a request returns the signon invalid error message would it re-try. Once you fix that other error you can see for yourself if you think it is any different in speed.

That 12029 error message is probably coming from your firewall software on your PC. When you update Fund Manager, it is downloading a new DLL which is making the requests. Some firewall software programs block new programs by default, so you may need to inform your software firewall again that it is okay for Fund Manager to access the internet.

[red_puppy]

Transaction module 195 did the trick - Vanguard retrieval is working again without errors. Thanks!

[aviator]

I attempted another download this morning and it worked! No error message and no failed portfolio retrievals. Thanks for your responsiveness, Mark.

[aviator]

Hi Mark,

I received an email today from Vanguard. Based on the contents, I'm not sure the fix in the Transaction Retrieve module 195 will work long term. Of course only you can decide that, so here is the gist of the email (copied verbatim from their email; I've bolded the text that concerns me most.):

To serve you better, we're currently in the process of upgrading our transaction download service.

If you use Quicken to access your account data from vanguard.com, you'll need to disconnect from our old download service and connect to the new service, then link your accounts. If you're a Windows user, you'll likely receive a similar message the next time you use Quicken. Note that the manner in which you connect to vanguard.com will remain the same.

Using another service for online personal finance?
If you get your Vanguard account data through an aggregation service such as Mint or Yodlee and experience any issues, please contact that provider for assistance.

Call us if you need help
If you need further technical assistance, please call us at 888-353-0547. Our specialists are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Eastern time. Thank you for investing with Vanguard.

[Mark]

Hi aviator,

I've seen the same email. Thanks for sharing. Those instructions apply to Quicken. It is not necessary to do anything in Fund Manager, other than update the transaction module to 195 or later. This will work fine long term, unless Vanguard changes something else again, at which time we would need to provide another update.

[aviator]

As usual, you're on top of it Mark. Thanks.

[katlizjen]

I ran into the Vanguard transaction retrieve problem today. Upon investigation on the board, it looks like my software it now permanently broke. I need the install module 195, but the version of Fund Manager I just bought a couple years ago 11.9 won't install any new module updates past 147. Is there any way I can fix my broken software without having to spend more money? Or will I be forced to start entering Vanguard transactions manually?

[Mark]

Hi katlizjen,

You will need to purchase an upgrade ($35) to continue receiving free quote and transaction module updates if you're using 11.x. As data providers change formats/etc we provide free updates for the last 2 major versions. This is currently the 12.x and 2014 versions. These updates require maintenance on our part, so if you'd like to receive these, you need to keep a license current to within the last 2 major versions. Major updates are averaging every 1.5 years, so you can roughly plan on having to upgrade every 3 years to get these updates.

Please note, we are not disabling or "breaking" old versions, it is simply that sometimes the data providers change things, and we have to provide updates for continued operation. It may very well be that your old version continues to operate fine well past this 3 year period, but in this case Vanguard made a change, so we were required to provide an update.