iI have been using Money 2006 for several months now...recently I started
having problems downloading transactions from my washington mutual checking
account. I've never seen this before when using Money 2005, 04, etc.

When I go to download the transactions, it will attempt to download and load
and then Money will give me the error "The file you attempted to import
appears to be invalid or contains corrupt data. Please download the file
again. If this problem continues, contact your financial institution."

Of course attempting to download it again doesn't work. What is odd is that
it only seems to have a problem with transactions on a certain day. For
example, if I tell it to begin downloading transactions on 10/1/2005 and go
through 10/4/2005 it won't work, but if I tell it 10/2/2005 through 10/4/2005
it does work. Likewise, 9/26/2005 to 10/1/2005 doesn't work, but 9/26/2005
to 9/30/2005 does. Has anyone seen this before?

I am having a very simular problem, but for me 2006 transaction downloads
have nver worked. I sent a copy of the file that I was having problems with
to my bank, and they claim there is nothing wrong with it. So I uninstalled
2006, reinstalled 2004, and presto it works which leads me to believe that
contrary to the error message, it is a money problem, not the file.

Money 2006 is more strict in adherance to OFX specification where 2004 was a
little looser.
So, it is likely that there is some incorrect OFX formatting in the download
that is causing this.

-Mark

Thanks. I checked and it is on. Any other help is appreciated.

When I download I don't get my Memo information. Is this also the reason,
and can I fix it? I got it in 2004.

Be sure
Tools->Settings->OnlineServices->AddADescriptionToTheMemoField... is
selected.

I'm having the same problem as well.

I sent them an email with their online customer service portal and didn't
get a response.

Then waited a month to see if the problem happened again and it did, this
time with any downloads around the 10/24-26 date range errored out again.

I tried downloading with Firefox, which let me save the ofx file, then
opened it up and there are transactions in there, but I can't find any
differences between those files and downloads that do work. The best I can
figure is that there are some [hidden]special characters they are throwing
in, that render a file useless.

I just doinked Quicken, but I'm wondering if the same happens with a Quicken
download in the same date range. If that works, this would indicate a bad
file creation routine on their part.

Best I can figure is to keep emailing them with complaints and perhaps
they'll look into it.

--
Don O

I submitted this issue to Washington Mutual, and a day or so later got the
following work around and cause of the problem. No word about when the
problem will be resolved, but at least now we know it's not a Money issue.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing. We have researched
this issue and determined that an & symbol is present in the downloaded file.
We have provided two options for you below:

You can resolve this issue by following the instructions below:

1. Download from the Web site using the Microsoft Money format and save the
file to the desktop.
2. Check the file name for an & symbol and rename if there is one found. 3.
To rename a file, right click on the file name and select rename. 4. Place
the cursor next to the & symbol and remove it. 5. Press enter to update the
name.
6. Open the file in notepad and click on the edit menu and choose find. 7.
Search for all & symbols and remove them from the downloaded data.
8. Save the document and open it with your Microsoft Money software.


--
Don O

After digging, I may stand corrected here a bit.

I hit the situation again, and this time did as suggested. there were no
"&"'s in the file name, but inside the file there was one. It was to a payee
(AT&T) . This would explain the monthly issue around the same time every
month.

I saved the file, then edited "AT&T" to be AT T" and voila it worked. Just
to check, I put the "&" back in and the same error returns.

So now I'm not sure what the cause really is. It seems odd that every AT&T
customer does not have this problem from any other banks. Just this one.
unless AT&T only puts a & in their name just to Washington Mutual.
--
Don O

Dono wrote:
Cool.

In an OFX file, the & in a name should be represented by these five
characters: "&". You could make that substitution if you want to
maintain the ampersand.

Hi everyone,

New to the board and most likely this will be my only post. I too had an issue with MM working for awhile and then going on the fritz. I thought it was my software so I bought Quicken but ran into the same problem.

My bank was sure it was my issue and not theirs but then told me something that actually was helpful. Their IT person asked if I had purchased a cashiers check lately and if it was showing up in my online register. As a matter of fact I had on Nov. 5th the very day that MM started to go haywire. So, if I download all transactions before or after that date MM works like a charm. So does Quicken.

I have no idea why this would cause a problem but it does. :?:

Best of luck to all of you.

Carter

these are the problems that iam facing with Money2006
Money stops responding (hangs).
Money closes unexpectedly.
I get this error message:
Money has stopped working

what should i do? plzz help

vik

Should I also switch to Quicken. MS Money seems to get worse each year. For me it is doubling up transactions that were previously downloaded.
kindly answer
vik