It Shouldn’t Be This Hard.

I’ve never been the best or smartest person when it comes to managing money.  But we have a household budget and we stick to it.  I don’t track every penny spent, but there are some things I do track so that we can plan accordingly, most notably groceries.

I have been a Key Bank customer for about 30 years.  Recent events have me evaluating that relationship.  Earlier this year, Key overhauled their online portal–the web site customers use to view their accounts, pay bills, transfer money, etc.  As part of that project, they deleted all of the budgeting and reporting tools that used to be a part of the portal.  I had spent hours defining budget categories and applying those categories to transactions so I could run reports, e.g., “How much did we spend on Groceries each month last year?”  All that hard work, gone.

I complain to @KeyBank_Help on Twitter and receive an “apology” and am urged to use another service called “Hello Wallet.”  So I go and sign up with them.  My Key accounts link up easily enough, but Hello Wallet can only show me the previous three months of transactions, which is useless if you’re in need of reviewing a year’s worth of personal finance data. (This was confirmed by their tech support.)

So I suck it up and decide to buy Quicken.  (The Windows version, as Intuit has done a pretty thorough job of screwing with Mac users on and off for decades.)  When I get to the Payment Information screen, I am informed: “The Quicken special discount offer you’re trying to access has already been redeemed or is experiencing an error. Please contact Quicken customer support specialist at 650-250-1900 Mon – Fri 5am to 5pm Pacific if you need more assistance.”  *sigh*  So I call that number.  It rings 3 times, and then punts me to some kind of error tone/beep I’ve never heard before.

The universe is conspiring against me.  I should just keep my money in a shoe box, I guess.  If I ever do manage to acquire Quicken, I should probably send the receipt to Key Bank and ask for reimbursement.

#KeyBank #Quicken #Intuit

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