A bank statement downloads into the wrong account

It is possible to download OFX statments from your financial institution into incorrect accounts, and then it is difficult to undo this 'match'. Once an OFX statement account match is set, Money remembers it.

To get around the issue, first you will need to delete the statement you downloaded (Article 263). Then you'll need to remove the association of OFX statements to that account, and this is a non-intuitive process. In the account settings, remove (blank out) the institution name listed for the account that incorrectly gets the OFX statement, and then re-import the statement. Money should then ask which account should get the OFX statement.

To get to account settings, right-click the account from the account list.

Deleting the wrong account also works - this is slightly more time consuming. The method here is to create a new account, but do not associate it with a bank. Move the transactions from the old account to the newly created one and then delete the old account. This can be a very time consuming task.

Duncan Jackson, in the UK, sent me this solution which worked for him:

The OFX statement was downloaded and stored on the desktop. To break the import-account link, the OFX file was edited using WordPad and the account number was changed so that it was different to the downloaded one (e.g. swap the last two digits). The file is saved and then re-imported.

Microsoft Money asks to map the account to the statement, and this was pointed to the incorrect account - this has the effect of overwriting the incorrect association. Next, the statement was deleted (see FAQ link above) and the OFX file was re-edited. The account number was restored to its original value, and then re-imported.

Money then asks to re-map this imported account and the correct account can be associated.

If these solutions doesn't help, see also the procedures at:

• Microsoft KB Article 327241 (Money 2001)
• Microsoft KB Article 822390 (Money 2002)

Thanks to Cal Learner, MVP for some of this article. Also, thanks to Duncan Jackson for the "editing the OFX file" solution.