Duplicate transactions: a discussion

Unfortunately Cheqbook will sometimes get duplicate transactions from your linked bank accounts.

They are usually sporadic in nature and often fit certain patterns: for example bank transfers are duplicated but not other transactions.  Sometimes however they are widespread and quite troublesome.  The appropriate response to this problem varies.

What causes them?

Connecting to your bank and obtaining transactions is such a challenging task that that we don't do it ourselves.  Instead we're currently partnered with MX who has the size to maintain a team and software that connects to some 10,000 banks worldwide.  In general the task bank by bank isn't hard, but when one of those banks changes their website even a little, it causes errors in the data we get.  When there's 10,000, well, it becomes quite challenging.  We work with MX because we think they're the best at it.

I thought you got perfect data?

Don't we wish, but it's not the reality.  Instead we have the world's fastest reconciliation process to find and fix your transactions, whether they're downloaded duplicates or human errors.  Learn more about reconciliation here:  https://help.cheqbook.com/hc/en-us/articles/223332687-How-to-do-a-Bank-Reconciliation-the-Cheqbook-Way

How should I resolve duplicates?

You have to manually delete any duplicates using the guidance in the link below.  Sorry, but we don't do this for you.  Keep in mind we all also have our own Cheqbook accounts (in fact Cheqbook LLC keeps its own books using its own software!) and find dealing with them is not that time consuming once you know how.  The advantages of automatic downloading and categorization far outweigh these minor annoyances.  However if you have a LOT of them, see below.

http://help.cheqbook.com/entries/22125488-Can-I-delete-a-transaction-

Anything else I can do?

For each linked account there's a switch in the settings for that account that turns a more aggressive duplicate filter on or off.  This is our attempt to identify dupes and remove them for you. If you're getting a lot of them, please make sure it's turned on.  If, on the other hand, you pay a lot of bills for exactly the same amount on the same day (like two separate $25 baggage fees) it will think they're dupes and remove one of them when it shouldn't, so use accordingly.

You can also consider changing banks.  Although they can be better in other ways some banks just seem to have more problems than others.

What about a LOT of duplicates?

If your duplicates are not sporadic, like if they're every single transaction or something similar, please submit a ticket to our dev team in this support forum.  We will reach out to our data partner and let them know that your bank is currently not working correctly. 

Thanks for using Cheqbook, this is amazing time saving technology, but it's not perfected, yet!  Your patience is appreciated!