TD Ameritrade default cash stopped working for 2021

[johnkirin]

I am having two issues that may be related. Both are occurring in my TD Ameritrade accounts for transactions after 12/31/20.

1. Sales, purchases and distributions are downloaded and recorded for the securities in question, but are not credited or debited to the default cash account. The net result is that my share quantities are correct but the amount of the default cash account has stopped changing. This happens in about ten accounts across three separate logins and two different Master Portfolios, and only for TD Ameritrade. (My Merrill Lynch accounts do not have this problem.) It was working fine for transactions on 12/31/20 and earlier.

2. One security received by spinoff (GXO spinning off from XPO) was not automatically created. That is to say, it simply never appeared by downloading transactions, though it does appear when connecting to the TD account for Reconciliation. (Another security that was purchased with cash was automatically created, though the cash for the cash-purchased security was not debited from the default cash account, as described in item #1 above). This may be a different problem, but I offer it here because I suppose it may be related in some way that would help to explain the persistent problem in #1. I am also, of course, curious as to why it might have happened.

[Mark]

Hi johnkirin,

1) Do you have a default cash account assigned? Check the properties of your sub-portfolio that you're retrieving. Are you leaving the option "Automatically Record Corresponding Entries in Default Cash Accounts" checked on the Preview screen?

2) Often with corporate actions you will end up manually recording, as the details are often lacking when retrieving from the broker. You might want to just use the spin-off wizard to record this in XPO, and delete the retrieved transactions.

[johnkirin]

1. Yes, and yes. I changed no settings, but in my TD Ameritrade accounts, and only my TD Ameritrade accounts, the default cash account stopped updating as of, so far as I can tell, 1/1/2021.

Actually, one retirement account has continued to update its default cash account; on 1/21, it reports a Transfer In of 27.660, shares -- basically $27.60 -- with a Memo of "Man Adjust" (balnaces not kept up)" (sic). Then, for each month, it posts a Purchase of about 25 cents (which I assume is interest on the cash in the account), with a memo of "FREE BALANCE INTEREST ADJUSTMENT". This account is the only one of my TD accounts that reports "FREE BALANCE INTEREST ADJUSTMENT"; it had been doing so since I started using Fund manager in 2017 (whereas most of the other investment accounts have both Cash and an MMDA account, and had been recording interest on cash sitting in the account as a dividend from the MMDA account (which, until after 12/31/20, had been dutifully credited to the Cash account as a "distributed dividend" from the MMDA account). But now the MMDA dividend shows up in the transaction register for the MMDA account, does not change the value of the MMDA account (it is always zero), and never shows up in the default cash account. (And, to restate, other sales and purchases do not show up in the default cash accounts for other investment accounts after 12/31/20).

2. OK, I'm not that troubled by this, as it may not be something systematic. I just thought there was a slight chance it could shed light on problem #1.

[Mark]

Hi johnkirin,

If you have both a default cash account assigned, and leave on that option, it will record buys/sells/dividends (things that generate/use cash) in the assigned default cash account. If that isn't happening, then double check these settings. There is nothing more to it than this.
You can also record a manual transaction, to verify the cash is getting recorded. Make sure you are retrieving at the account level sub-portfolio (usually the lowest level), and that your default cash is assigned at this same level. For example:

Code: Select all

- Master Portfolio
  - All My Accounts
    - Taxable
      - Acct 1
    - Retirement
      - Acct 2

Check the properties of Acct 1 and 2. Also, if the transactions are already recorded, re-retrieving won't add missing cash transactions. Please also watch our tutorial on tracking cash.

[johnkirin]

I checked all my accounts. They were all set up correctly.

I watched the video. It confirms what I thought I knew about the process.

If I manually create a transaction, it does post in the default cash account.

But there must be something more going on here. I changed nothing in my settings, but the default cash account "stopped working" for automatic downloads. It did so, it seems, when the new year began, And it only happened for TD Ameritrade (not Merrill Lynch) -- except for one TD account that had been operating somewhat differently (that is, most has a Cash and an "MMDA" account, but the one that operated properly had ONLY an Cash account for some reason).

I don't think the MMDA account is treated as a sweep account; I think it is treated as an investment, because the only transactions posted to it are small interest payments, but it is always at zero (both formerly, when its interest payments wound up in the default cash account, and since 12/32/20, when everything stopped posting in the default cash account).

[Mark]

Hi johnkirin,

Focus on just 1 problematic account. What is the name of the investment you have assigned to be the default cash account? Try deleting 1 transaction in the account that should generate a default cash account entry, like a buy/sell/distribution. Re-retrieve just this one account. Does it work when it replaces the 1 transaction you deleted?

[johnkirin]

When I deleted any transactions from 1/1/21 or later that would have changed the cash balance, and then retrieved transaction from 1/1/21 forward, they all re-imported and WERE reflected in the cash balance; all accounts reconcile to within a few cents of the total they should. Over the rest of the next week, I'll keep an eye onto whether they remain "unstuck". Thanks.