When QBO Online Banking Fails to Connect

• Posted on Apr 22, 2019

A new client came aboard recently and needed assistance troubleshooting their American Express card that would not connect for months in their QuickBooks Online (QBO). They got no where with Intuit or Amex support and were frustrated over the time it was taking with no solution as this was holding up the bookkeeping.

Try updating again in a few hours or tomorrow.(102)

A Common QBO Error Message

We see this happen across all banks, not just Amex and you usually can’t fix the issue by calling support. The issue may go on for days and it’s sometimes a site-wide issue that will be resolved in the future. Instead, use a workaround that I will touch on. But first, let’s discuss the two types of connections you can establish for QuickBooks online banking; Direct Connect and Web Connect.

• Direct Connect – This function is the most convenient. You directly connect to the bank from within your QuickBooks Platform. In QuickBooks Online, it automatically connects and updates behind the scenes and your transactions magically appear. You can also force it to connect. In QuickBooks Desktop it is a two-step process usually to enter your password and connect.
• Web Connect (.qbo files) – This is a manual fix/process and requires you to login to your bank. Export a file for the time period you need and import it into QuickBooks.

You may be asking, why not manually enter everything? Over 10 pages and hundreds of transactions, nooo thanks! Of course if your activity is little, go for it.

So if you ever have an issue where your online banking won’t connect via the Direct Connect, defer to Web Connect and don’t let it hold up the bookkeeping! You can also read more about errors codes that occur with online banking issues at QuickBooks.