New bank: Online banking policy has me edgy

[KatMac]

This falls under privacy/security, but mods if it doesn't fit in this forum, I'll understand if you move it.

For years I've banked with a small local bank. I signed up for online banking a little over a year ago. I have a checking and two savings there, and initially was told that all accounts would be activated online (I couldn't pick and choose). I figured they had a way around that, talked to their tech guru, and indeed got it set up so only my checking is online, not savings (made me feel more secure). I use Qkn Premiere Home & Bus 2003, suits my needs, have no reason to upgrade. The way online banking worked was I downloaded my transactions/statements with a .QIF extension to a folder on my HD. I then manually imported those .QIF files into Qkn and all was smooth sailing. (I never wanted a direct internet connection between Qkn and my bank.)

Well, my little local bank has been swallowed up by a huge bank. I tried to export my transactions the other day and couldn't do it because a) Intuit no longer supports Qkn 2003 (which I knew, but it didn't bother me) so therefore b) giant new bank's online banking only works in conjunction with newer versions of Qkn. I've never appreciated Intuit's attempts to get users to constantly upgrade because frankly, I didn't need it. What I have is sufficient for my personal and business financial use, and when I feel I'd benefit from an upgrade, that's when I do it. But annually upgrading is completely unnecessary to me. Now I feel the bank is pressing for the same thing. I talked to the bank's tech support, and was told the only way to do online banking with new bank is to upgrade Qkn. But the problem is even if I do upgrade, I can't do manual exports and imports anymore. There will be direct communication between my online account and the Qkn software on my PC. (At this point some of you are thinking 'yeah, so what's the big deal' ? ) Well, when it comes to security, I always err on the side of caution, and think of you all here and especially jerryCTX since he's been deeply involved in security. (Several years ago a different bank that handles my business account, and has large sums at any given time, was about to issue me a debit card with a PIN that they designated and kept stored 'safely in their central database out of state'. Sitting across from the bank manager's desk, I thought of jerry right at that point. It didn't feel right, I told them 'No Way' and did not pursue activating the debit card. After the fact, jerry said it was a good thing, because that PIN would have been pretty vulnerable and accessible by employees.

What I'm leading up to: do most banks operate this way today, where there's the direct link between Qkn or Money and the online account? I feel so strongly about wanting to circumvent this line of communication between financial software on my PC and my bank that I'm willing to change banks. I just don't trust it. But I don't know if I'm being realistic, either, since maybe the manual route I took up to this point was simply because I was dealing with a small bank with a less sophisticated system by today's standards?

I value your opinions, what do you think?

[Doc]

Quicken and MS Money both now have direct connections to banks and credit card companies. Some of them still allow allow you to download your transactions and then insert into the accounting program you want.

I would check again with the Bank IT people to see if you can download OFX, QFX, or QIF files. If you can you might want to consider MS Money or even Moneydance, which will probably save you money and do all that you need.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Doc

[jerryctx]

I second Doc's suggestions.

Since I retired I've lost touch with current banking practice so I don't know if the service you want is available. Its worth checking though. The more features in software, the greater the chance of security holes. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is still one of the best design principles.

Not updating your software carries some risk. New releases often include fixes for vulnerabilities in your PC software. Older versions of the PC app are less likely to be tested when your bank updates their server software. Worse, the old PC app may not support new security features on the server.And the server is the more likely target for attacks... that's where the money is.

[KatMac]

Thanks to you both for the suggestions. MoneyDance looks intriguing. Functions I need without all that fluff garbage and ads from Qkn. And I see MD can handle multiple accounts (the reason I never switched over to M$ Money several years ago, there was no way to separate accounts at that time with separate passwords. I handle a business account that has other people's money it in and no way can I lump that in with my own finances.)

You make valid points I did not think about jerry, and appreciate the well-rounded view. Older software and security leaks is definately worth considering. If I can get the work done, without all the fluff of Qkn (80% of which I don't use) then that's all I need. Yes, Qkn has so much fluff they've lost the meaning of KISS

I'll check around, give MDance a trial, see how that works out, check with more IT people (big bank=less interested help. Learned that the hardway when they botched my first mortgage payment after the takeover and it took 3 weeks of calls/faxes to get them to straighten it out.) I'll let you know how it goes, Doc. (Good to see you both, btw, it's been awhile since I've been here. Hope all is well? )