Why does QuickBooks say it is unable to verify the financial institution?

QuickBooks Desktop reads INTU.BID from the file and looks it up in Intuit's directory of banks. A missing id, a placeholder such as 00000, or a number that belongs to no bank stops the import before any transaction is read. Writing an id the directory knows, in both places a bank's own download puts it, is the fix.

Is it all right to use Wells Fargo's id for a statement from another bank?

It is what conversion tools do, Bankflow's own QBO export included, because 3000 is in the directory and always verifies. The id decides which bank the account is listed under in Bank Feeds, and nothing else: the transactions, the account you link them to, and your books are unaffected. If you would rather see your own bank's name, choose “My own bank's id” and enter its number.

How do I find my own bank's INTU.BID?

Download a QuickBooks Web Connect (.qbo) file from your bank's website, for any account and any date range, and open it in a text editor. The number after INTU.BID near the top is the bank's id. If your bank offers no QuickBooks download, use 3000.

Will a new account number create a second account in QuickBooks?

QuickBooks remembers which of its accounts an account number was linked to. The first time a fixed file is imported, it asks which account to use; after that, files with the same number go there on their own. The fixer derives the same number from the same file every time, so later fixes of that account's files keep landing in the same place.

The fixed file is still refused. What now?

Run it through the QBO File Checker to see the full report. If every check passes, the cause is outside the file: QuickBooks Desktop needs you signed in to an Intuit account for Web Connect imports, the file must keep the .qbo extension, and older releases refuse files that current ones accept.

No. The file is read and rewritten in your browser, and the download is built there too. Nothing is sent to Bankflow or anyone else.

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The four fields it rewrites

These are the parts of a Web Connect file QuickBooks Desktop validates before it reads a single transaction.

INTU.BID in the header

The institution id QuickBooks Desktop looks up in Intuit's directory. A converter that writes 00000 or leaves it out gets the file refused at the first step, with “unable to verify the financial institution information for this download”.

The sign-on bank block

A bank's own download repeats the id inside the sign-on, in an <FI> block with the bank's name and FID, followed by INTU.BID. Some Desktop releases refuse a file without it even when the header id is valid, so the fix writes both.

The routing number

On a bank account, BANKID has to be nine digits that pass the ABA check digit. Placeholders such as 000000000 fail it, and QuickBooks answers with “information that is not supported by QuickBooks”. A card account has no routing number, so nothing is written.

The account number

ACCTID has to be digits. When it is not, the fix keeps the digits already in it if there are at least four, which is usually the last four of the account, and otherwise derives a stable number from the original text.

What it leaves alone

Every transaction block is copied through unchanged: dates, amounts, payees, memos, and the FITIDs QuickBooks uses to skip rows it has already imported. Re-importing a fixed file does not duplicate anything the original would not have.

Checked again afterwards

The fixed file is run through the same checks as the QBO File Checker before you download it, so you see whether anything is still wrong, such as mismatched amount signs, which no header change can fix.

Questions

Why does QuickBooks say it is unable to verify the financial institution?: QuickBooks Desktop reads INTU.BID from the file and looks it up in Intuit's directory of banks. A missing id, a placeholder such as 00000, or a number that belongs to no bank stops the import before any transaction is read. Writing an id the directory knows, in both places a bank's own download puts it, is the fix.
Is it all right to use Wells Fargo's id for a statement from another bank?: It is what conversion tools do, Bankflow's own QBO export included, because 3000 is in the directory and always verifies. The id decides which bank the account is listed under in Bank Feeds, and nothing else: the transactions, the account you link them to, and your books are unaffected. If you would rather see your own bank's name, choose “My own bank's id” and enter its number.
How do I find my own bank's INTU.BID?: Download a QuickBooks Web Connect (.qbo) file from your bank's website, for any account and any date range, and open it in a text editor. The number after INTU.BID near the top is the bank's id. If your bank offers no QuickBooks download, use 3000.
Will a new account number create a second account in QuickBooks?: QuickBooks remembers which of its accounts an account number was linked to. The first time a fixed file is imported, it asks which account to use; after that, files with the same number go there on their own. The fixer derives the same number from the same file every time, so later fixes of that account's files keep landing in the same place.
The fixed file is still refused. What now?: Run it through the QBO File Checker to see the full report. If every check passes, the cause is outside the file: QuickBooks Desktop needs you signed in to an Intuit account for Web Connect imports, the file must keep the .qbo extension, and older releases refuse files that current ones accept.
Is my file uploaded?: No. The file is read and rewritten in your browser, and the download is built there too. Nothing is sent to Bankflow or anyone else.

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