[moneydance] Do online transactions expire if not downloaded?

[Jill Lundquist]

On 4/23/07, Eldar Yuzbashev <eldarx at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I haven't downloaded the online transactions from my checking account
> for approximately 2 months. If I download them now will there be any
> missed transactions? Does it depend on the bank or on Moneydance or on
> the combination of both? The account is active, about 5 transactions a
> day (debit cards, checks, electronic payments, cash withdrawals).

In my experience, it depends entirely on the institution (bank or
credit card or whatever), and stupid limits on transaction downloading
is in my opinion very bad customer service.  I don't expect to be able
to download everything I've done for the last ten years, but I do
expect it to be no big deal for several months.

This paragraph is a mini-rant: One of the biggest reasons I hate HSBC
in the UK is that they bizarrely only allow me to download
transactions since the last statement, which means that if I miss a
month I have to enter a lot of nonsense by hand.  I have another UK
bank that doesn't do this, so I don't think it's a legal requirement,
especially since HSBC has a horrible UI on their web interface.  But I
could be wrong.

> I
> normally do not enter the transactions manually into Moneydance but
> rely instead on the downloads. It seems to me that some on this list do
> not think it's a prudent way of tracking the money. I'd like to hear
> the arguments both for and against this method.

I download the transactions but then reconcile the account (by looking
the downloads over and checking the Moneydance balance against what
the bank says).  I think the bank is more likely to get it right than
my fingers, but I wouldn't rely on their data blindly.  This way I
catch errors, either in the dates I tell the bank to download, the
data the bank sends me, or in Moneydance.  None of those errors
happens often.

             Jill