Using Quicken For Internet Banking - article by MOREinfo-About.com

Using Quicken for Internet Banking

Quicken is a software program for managing money. Other examples of such programs are Microsoft Money and Quick Books. Quicken and these other programs make your record-keeping more detailed and accurate. They can also be used in conjunction with internet banking.

The first thing you can do before doing internet banking is to set up an electronic check register. This is similar to the traditional check register, with a few distinctions. For one thing, the information you put into the electronic check register can be more detailed than you can put on a line or two of a paper register.

You can put the check number or transaction type, the date, the payee, and the amount. These are essentially the data you would put into a paper register. On Quicken, however, you can categorize the entries. You can use preset categories or make up your own. Your internet banking transactions may have special categories.

For example, transfer of funds from one account to another through internet banking would be in a different category than other deposits in most cases. You can also get creative with your categories. If you are a musician, you might have a category for guitar equipment, for example.

There are two ways to get the information from your internet banking website into Quicken. One way is to set up your account on Quicken. You will need to type in all your personal information that needs to be provided to access your account. This includes name, account number, username, and even password.

This information will be stored on your computer in the Quicken program until you tell Quicken to download the latest transactions from your internet banking account. It will do this automatically. It will log on, download the transactions and log off of your internet banking website.

This is not a very secure method, since all your information is easily accessible to anyone who gets their hands on your computer. There is a different means to do this. This takes a little more effort, but it pays off in tighter security.

You go to the internet banking website and view your statement online. The internet banking set-up will give you the option of downloading transaction data to your computer. Use the drop down menu to select the program to put it in, such as Quicken.

Once your internet banking transactions are successfully loaded into Quicken, you can reconcile your account. Quicken will check your electronic register against the information from your internet banking account. If they do not match, you will be alerted. You will then be given the option to correct individual transactions or to correct all discrepancies.

This way you can keep up with your internet banking account regularly and with precision. You will know when you make mistakes or fraud has occurred. Using Quicken with internet banking is a good way to understand and manage your finances.

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