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US Banks That Offer Transaction History?

Posted by timothy on from the cron-job-perhaps? dept.

wirelessdreamer writes "I use a bank in the US that will only allow me to download transaction history in CSV for the previous three months. I have a hard time remembering to pull my transaction history down every three months, and would gladly jump ship to another bank if there is one that lets me download, say three years' worth of transaction history as one of the standard services. Then I can import my data into MySQL and run some reports on it, which is all I'm looking for." What banks out there do the best job at providing users with simple, downloadable data?

46 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Bank of America by Eleed · · Score: 3, Informative

    offers what seems to be unlimited download of transaction history. I pulled 2 years worth a few months ago.

    1. Re:Bank of America by dziban303 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think submitter should discover something called a "calendar" and write "download bank data" every three months.

      He could even use an electronic, automated, free calendar like the one Google offers, and have reminders sent to his email/phone.

    2. Re:Bank of America by jonwil · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Depends on how the bank does authentication.
      But yes, if the bank is insecure enough that you can have a script log in for you with no human actions, its insecure enough that its vulnerable to phishing attempts.

    3. Re:Bank of America by Albanach · · Score: 3, Informative

      Having had multiple accounts with them for over five years, I don't recall being charged a fee once.

      Either you heard wrong, or are doing something wrong.

    4. Re:Bank of America by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But yes, if the bank is insecure enough that you can have a script log in for you with no human actions, its insecure enough that its vulnerable to phishing attempts.

      Um... not at all. Phishing is not an attempt to crack the bank's security. Phishing is an attempt to lure the user into divulging the credentials by imitating the bank. First of all, a script will have the bank's true URL hard coded into it, so it can never be distracted by fakes. Second, a script initiates the conversation whereas a phishing attack is initiated by the phisher, so the script will never even see a phishing attempt. Third, a script will verify that it has a secure connection each and every time, whereas a person won't.

      All in all, using a script will be more secure than logging in manually.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. DCU by susehat · · Score: 4, Informative

    Digital Federal Credit Union seems to let one pull for as long as they have been a member. And they have multiple formats!

    1. Re:DCU by bastion_xx · · Score: 2, Informative

      Good thing about a credit union that services techies (the old DEC crowd). It's funny to see HP kit in the offices, I'd still love to see VT300-VT400's from days past. Now DFCU, 'splain to me again why you closed down the Alpharetta branch??!!! Personally, I use mint.com to manage historical transactions.

    2. Re:DCU by AaronW · · Score: 2, Informative

      I use Keypoint Credit Union and have no problem viewing transactions going back years. (Formerly AEA - American Electronics Association credit union).

      --
      This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
  3. You might have to pay to get the records by failedlogic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think the rule of thumb is most banks offer a few months' worth of records. My Canadian bank offers 3 months worth of records on line as well. I don't know what the practice is with other banks. But mine offers further records if I go to the branch and pay for the records. You may find that you will also need to pay for transaction records. These records may or may not be available on-line and you may only be able to get them at a branch.

    Now, if you have enough money in your account (you're of sufficient high net worth) they may be able to give you better service. Then again, you wouldn't be posting the question on /. you'd already have a banking officer doing it for you!

    1. Re:You might have to pay to get the records by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Now, if you have enough money in your account (you're of sufficient high net worth) they may be able to give you better service.

      You wouldn't need to ask your bank for records, your personal accountant would already have collected all that information, prepared whichever reports you had wanted and uploaded everything to your private server.

    2. Re:You might have to pay to get the records by TheSpoom · · Score: 2, Informative

      My Canadian bank offers 3 months worth of records on line as well.

      If you want a Canadian bank that offers full history records for free, PC Financial will serve your needs (and almost never charge you a service fee, to boot!)

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    3. Re:You might have to pay to get the records by causality · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Given that overdraft and other such fees are a substantial part of a bank's income, you'd think they would consider such accounts to be "high net worth" ... for the bank's own net worth that is, and provide them good service for things like transaction reports.

      Oh wait ... if they provided transaction reports, many of these account holders would not be overdrawing. N/M

      I don't like banks either (particularly because of the fractional reserve system) but I don't understand your viewpoint here. I'll provide background information to explain.

      I keep my own transaction records. Banks are run by humans who can and do make mistakes despite the best of intentions; with no records of my own I'd have a really hard time disputing such a mistake. That's one reason. Another reason is that no one cares about managing my money as much as I do, nor would it be reasonable to expect otherwise. A third reason is that I don't like to needlessly be dependent on someone else to provide important information that can directly impact my life when it's something I can easily take care of myself.

      Incidentally, I refuse to carry a debit card and instead I use credit cards as charge cards. They are a bad way to get a loan but they are a wonderful form of payment. The bottom line is that this greatly simplifies my checking account statements from my bank, making my record-keeping trivial.

      Now to the main point. There is one and only one event that can possibly cause an overdraft: spending more money than you have placed in your account. How is that the fault of the bank? Why is it their job to make sure you are responsible and do not financially overextend yourself? Is it a problem for you that a fee is attached to an event that shouldn't happen in the first place?

      I would not be shocked or amazed in the slightest, no not even a bit, to learn that the people who can't be bothered to keep their own records are the same people who create most overdrafts. They clearly think managing their money is someone else's job. That might leave them open to problems that more responsible adults would have foreseen and been able to prevent or at least mitigate. To me that is simple cause-and-effect and nothing more.

      To reiterate, I don't like banks. It'd be petty to let that bias my reasoning, though in this case that isn't even a temptation. Do you know why? Because there's something I like even less than banks, and that's the decline of personal responsibility and the whole victim mentality that is rooted in it.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    4. Re:You might have to pay to get the records by flappinbooger · · Score: 4, Informative

      One of them gave me a stack of post-dated checks on which I highlighted the date to avoid confusion and even went so far as to confirm the teller knew they were post-dated

      I would love to hear your thoughts on how this could have been prevented from our end.

      Not giving post dated checks to the bank?

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
  4. That's the wrong question by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The right question is, "What can I do to remember to download it every month?"

    What if you find a bank that has a current policy of letting you download 5 years' of history, you forget for 4 years, and they change policy to three months?

    Or what if you do nothing for four years, decide to switch banks for some other equally trivial reason, forget to download even then, and then a year later need it?

    You need some idiotic little reminder, a cron job if nothing else, to do it once a month. That's the real solution.

    Or maybe you need to decide the data isn't really very important after all, if you can't oblige yourself by downloading once a month and don't actually use it.

    --
    Infuriate left and right
    1. Re:That's the wrong question by clarkkent09 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That information is about you but you have no right to have someone else store it for you indefinitely. Download it periodically and store it yourself if it's so important to you. By the way, as far as I know all banks will provide you with sufficient account history information for every normal purpose, such as when buying a house etc.

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  5. happy to provide history to the Feds by Phantom+Gremlin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All US banks are very happy to offer many years worth of transaction history to any Federal agency that desires this information. Too bad they won't do the same for their putative "customers".

    1. Re:happy to provide history to the Feds by line-bundle · · Score: 2, Funny

      All US banks are very happy to offer many years worth of transaction history to any Federal agency that desires this information. Too bad they won't do the same for their putative "customers".

      It is Uncle Sam after all. Look how much he gave to the banks recently. How much did you give?

    2. Re:happy to provide history to the Feds by ModernGeek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, and they'll charge the customer about $100.00 every time the Feds or State requests that information. Then they'll freeze your bank accounts. Then when you ask the Feds or State WTH is up they say, "We didn't tell them to do that, they may have their own policies regarding how they handle such events." You ask the bank and the bank says, "We need a letter from them to allow us to release the funds." Then you finally create a three way call between all the offending parties and they just tell you whatever the hell you want to hear to get you off the telephone. When you ask the State what is going on, they claim that they do not know. If you ask them if there is a problem of if they want money, they say no.

      I have a new bank now. Now I know why most business persons are paranoid about the government and banks.

      --
      Sig: I stole this sig.
  6. ING Direct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I just tested it, and their download form let me put in my own start/ending ranges (tried three year's worth) and it worked. It's also just a great bank in general.

  7. Wells Fargo by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you are stupid enough to bank with Wells Fargo, they offer up to 18 months of history in 2 Quicken formats, 3 Microsoft Money formats, and CSV.

    My credit union offers indefinite date range in those 3 formats as well.

    1. Re:Wells Fargo by failedlogic · · Score: 3, Funny

      "If you are stupid enough to bank with Wells Fargo"

      LOL! Thanks made my day.

    2. Re:Wells Fargo by Binary+Boy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Care to expand on that? I've been with Wells Fargo for 14 years and, having also had accounts (along with my wife) at several other national banks, and a credit union, it's the one I've been consistently happiest with. Just curious what makes Wells Fargo the idiot's choice.

    3. Re:Wells Fargo by Myopic · · Score: 3, Informative

      The notion of ATM fees angers me. Banks built and instituted these machines in order to save themselves money because now they don't have to pay a human to hand out cash. For us to pay, in order for them to save money, as asinine.

      That is why I bank with USAA, which refunds all ATM fees for any ATM I use, no matter what. As a bonus, they also refund all debit card fees, which is gravy because the stores pay that fee, not me.

  8. Credit Union by DogDude · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's no reason for *anybody* except for the absolute wealthiest to use banks. Use a credit union. Most credit unions provide much better service (including more than 3 months' transaction history).

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Credit Union by siddesu · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yes, you just need to make sure your credit union is federally insured against a default. Reading the FAQ on federal insurance of credit unions, it would seem not all of them are.

      http://www.ncua.gov/Resources/ShareInsurance/NCUAInsuranceFundFAQs.htm

    2. Re:Credit Union by Stiletto · · Score: 3, Informative

      Bank industry FUD. Lots of credit unions offer free ATM services to members of other credit unions. So during the time it takes to join a different credit union after you move, you can almost always find local ATMs that will accept transactions.

    3. Re:Credit Union by kidgenius · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's called shared branching. Pretty much every credit union lets you use ATMs of other credit unions across the country. If you look on an ATM and it has the co-op logo, you're good http://www.co-opfs.org/public/locators/atmlocator/index.cfm

    4. Re:Credit Union by BobGregg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      All *federal* credit unions are insured by NCUA's share insurance fund. Not all states required state-chartered credit unions to be insured in the same way, though many are, and most are insured in at least some way. It's pretty easy to tell if it's a federal credit union - it usually has the words "federal credit union" (or initials FCU) in the title.

  9. Another service by Georules · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mint.com is pretty great for connecting to whatever bank you have and it'll download your reports and also automatic categorization. I have almost 2 years of data in it, and they let you download it all CSV. It also has me in the habit of checking all of my accounts once a week, by just logging onto one website. Nice way to be on top of anything that might be fraudulent.

    1. Re:Another service by gonz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Mint.com is pretty great for connecting to whatever bank you have and it'll download your reports and also automatic categorization. I have almost 2 years of data in it, and they let you download it all CSV. It also has me in the habit of checking all of my accounts once a week, by just logging onto one website. Nice way to be on top of anything that might be fraudulent.

      What about the privacy issues of a public web site that tracks a household's entire financial profile? Intuit's claim:

      "We make money only when you do - We give you personalized ideas on how to save money by presenting the greatest savings from among thousands of financial products. If you decide to make a change that saves you some cash, we sometimes earn a small fee from the bank or company you switch to. You save a lot; we make a little."

      And in the Privacy and Security Policy: "Simply put, we do not and will not sell or rent your personal information to anyone, for any reason, at any time."

      But they DO seem to sell your information, as long as the data format can be construed as "anonymous" (before being combined with whatever other datasets the buyer might have):

      "Intuit may make anonymous or aggregate personal information and disclose such data only in a non-personally identifiable manner to:

      • Advertisers and other third parties for their marketing and promotional purposes, such as the number of users who applied for a credit card or how many users clicked on a particular Intuit Offer;
      • Organizations approved by Intuit that conduct research into consumer spending; [...]

      I'd be willing to bet they make a lot from these sales. "You save a lot; we make a little" indeed. Even if Intuit's current intentions are 100% honorable, let's not overlook the ubiquitous "we can change what you agreed to without your consent" clause in the Terms Of Service:

      "Intuit may modify this Agreement from time to time. Any and all changes to this Agreement will be posted on the Mint.com site. In addition, the Agreement will always indicate the date it was last revised. You are deemed to accept and agree to be bound by any changes to the Agreement when you use the Service after those changes are posted."

      This practice is where all the privacy trouble started with FaceBook. I have no idea how it's legally enforceable, but somehow it is, and in fact it's standard boilerplate for TOS contracts everywhere. :-)

  10. Hmmm... by pedantic+bore · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have a hard time remembering to pull my transaction history down every three months

    A suggestion:

    1. Find a calendar program that will remind you when it's time to do things. For example, the google calendar.
    2. Program it to nag you every few weeks to download the transaction info from your bank. Make the interval short enough so that you can afford to miss one or two if you're on vacation or utterly absent-minded.
    3. When it nags you to do so, download the transaction info... and back it up, of course.

    Problem solved, without changing banks, or breaking a sweat.

    --
    Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
  11. You clearly are willing to pay... by notthepainter · · Score: 3, Funny

    You are clearly willing to pay a little bit for this, since you don't mention any extra fees. So this sounds like a service opportunity to me.

    For only $3.99/month I'll deliver your csv records to you. Just send me you account and password information. Might as well give me your social, mother's maiden name, and favorite color.

    No problemo...

  12. Have Mint.com do the work for you by g-doo · · Score: 2, Informative

    You could also import your transaction history into Mint.com. Once you have it linked to your bank's account, Mint will automatically grab the latest transactions any time you log in.

  13. USAA by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I haven't had an account for long enough to test how far back they will let you download but there is no obvious limit.

    USAA is pretty awesome in general so I'd recommend it anyway.

  14. OK, so this isn't an answer, but by mschuyler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can't imagine ever being put into this situation of having to download transaction data FROM a bank. I was taught to write down transactions as they happen and check the bank every month. Over the years I have caught them in several minor errors. I've had several hundred dollars of transactions that never posted, and even a deposit erroneously posted to my account. I rarely attempt to correct these errors on the theory that it would cost us both more to reconcile them than I got in "free" services. (What was with that Las Vegas trip, anyway?) But I did pursue that bad $300 deposit. I did a little invasion of privacy thing, found out who it was, google-earthed his address seeing it was no mansion and thought he might need that $300. It took forever to get through to a real person, but she bird-dogged it thru and got the guy's money back to him.

    Today I have several years worth of transactions stored locally and backed up five ways against Sunday all reconciled against the bank records to no more than a month behind.

    --
    How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
  15. Bank of America by FadedTimes · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bank of America has 1 year of transactions available online. You can download in various formats.

    WEB Connect for Quicken 2007 and above, Statement Download for Money 2007 and above, Managing Your Money - QIF file (2 digit)
    , Quicken and Microsoft Money - QIF file (4 digit), Microsoft Excel Format, Printable Text Format.

    In addition, some local banks may also offer up to 1 year worth of items online and various download formats. Just call them and ask for a demo or specifically ask about amount of months and what formats are available.

  16. Uh, root cause? by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, let me get this straight. You would consider changing banks, and going through all the pain associated with changing direct deposits, ordering new checks or a debit card, going online to change any websites you had your bills tied to your old account, all because you can't seem to manage to put a reminder in one of your 17 electronic devices to remind you to do something once every three months?

    Seriously?

  17. Bank of America's 'my portfolio' or Mint.com by MarcQuadra · · Score: 2, Informative

    I use both Bank of America's online 'my portfolio' and Mint.com to track my long-term finances. Both allow you to connect to different accounts, there are built-in reports, budgeting, cool charts and graphs, and 'net worth' features.

    I think BoA's service doesn't seem to reach back in time as far as Mint.

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  18. Make your life a LOT simpler...use QuickBooks by CAOgdin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Quickbooks now allows you to download transactions, semi-automatically (you have to go through them and edit them, in some cases, so you know what was the transaction was for. Then, export the data from Quickbooks for further analysis. Ever since Quickbooks added the "download transactions" functionality, my bank accounts are NEVER out of balance in my records, monthly reconciliation typically takes me 3-5 minutes/month/account, and (because I use "Memo" fields extensively), I can always search for a particular transaction.

  19. American Express & PayPal by slashkitty · · Score: 2, Informative
    I'm not sure about banks, but I like the way that AMEX and paypal do it. Amex offers an end of year update, in csv or excel formats, along with a paper format. So, that's once a year, with a nice reminder. Paypal lets you run a report for an entire year, in csv form, and also allows filters for different types of transactions.

    Yes, this is how banks should do it... It would be a nice feature for one that would offer it.

    --
    -- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
  20. Re:Try your Credit Union by perbert · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I second this idea. Not only are you supporting a locally owned business, but they're also supporting other locally owned businesses. And as a member, you can often get good rates for loans. Also, they're not responsible for all the financial woes in the USA. Well, OK, that last part is speculation, but it does sound good...

  21. PNC is good, Schwab isn't bad, USBank sucks by gjmcfarland · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those are the three banks I use, and all three are different. USBank is only 90 days, Schwab is two years, and PNC goes back to January 2006 (provided you get online statements, otherwise it's three months). PNC also seems to have the most versatile export utility - it can export data in Quicken, Quickbooks, MS Money, or CSV formats, though I've never used any but CSV. Schwab only uses CSV.

  22. Re:Try your Credit Union by log0n · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'll give a big Fuck You to my former credit union (Educational Systems Employees FCU in DC/MD - http://www.esfcu.org/). I was a member for over 20 years (going back to childhood - my first savings account) but was just given the boot last month after not enrolling in the government re-regulated courtesy pay program.

    My parents - members for over 35 years iirc (both teachers for whom the whole CU was built to serve) - also got notices of intent to boot for not enrolling in the courtesy pay program. I've long been dissatisfied with the CU service so I accepted the account closure, but while I have other accounts in other institutions, my parents bank solely with ESE so they ended up raising holy hell to contest the policy.

    Big corp, big banking, none of them need to care about us anymore.. and why should they? Just wait us out.. we all die sooner or later while industry keeps on chugging along.

  23. Re:DCU/Patelco by BLAG-blast · · Score: 2, Insightful
    +1 for Credit Unions

    I am very happy with Patelco CU (also a tech/comms credit union). Full transaction history and they doesn't try to rob me at every opportunity! It's almost like open source banks!.... almost. Maybe we could start a credit union for open source developers?

    I've been with them 14+years.

    --
    M0571y H@rml355.
  24. You're kidding right? by cavebison · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's hard to believe that here is Australia, we have superior online banking to that of the US.

    Our banks here offer years' worth of historical transaction downloads. I'm with the Commonwealth Bank, they don't even mail me paper statements anymore, I can download every quarterly statement as a PDF file, or CSV, for the past several years.

    I can also do searches on transactions, by combination of date, description, whether debit or credit and other things. All my bills can be paid on the bank's site, via our national "BPay" system.

    And you're saying that, in the US, banks won't even let you access your own financial data? That should be a legal requirement. But the US does have a fascination with deregulation, so there you go.

  25. Wells Fargo by Art3x · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wells Fargo lets you download up to 1.5 years as a CSV (also Quicken and Microsoft Money formats, for what they're worth).

    It lets you download PDFs of statements for the past 7 years.