Direct Connect is the new industry standard for electronic transfer of financial data between financial institutions (FIs), businesses, and consumers via the Internet. Direct Connect streamlines how financial information is delivered from a financial institution directly to the customer at their computer.

[+] Close

• I-Bank Internet Banking Account
• Quicken 2007 for Windows or Macintosh or QuickBooks 2007.
• An Internet connection.

[+] Close

Please refer to the Quicken and QuickBooks Customer Getting Started Guides.

Note: Once you choose your software and install it, you will have access to multimedia product tours and tutorials. Easy step-by-step instructions and extensive help options will start you on your way to reaching your financial goals faster than you ever imagined.

[+] Close

You are required to use your existing First Interstate Bank I-Bank Access ID and Password.

HOWEVER, with QuickBooks for Windows, there are certain special characters that cannot be used in the ID – if your First Interstate Bank I-Bank Internet Banking Access ID has any of the following special characters listed below – QuickBooks for Windows will display an error when you are attempting to connect to your bank.

You will need to change your online banking ID (by contacting your bank) and removing any special characters from your Access ID and/or password. First Interstate Bank Internet Banking Support: 1-888752-3332.

QuickBooks for Windows will not allow the use of the following special characters as part of a User ID:

! @ # $ % ^ * ( ) _ = ? , . ; { } [ ] | ~ ` & + : /\ < >

QuickBooks Windows will allow any combination of lower/upper case alphanumeric (a-z), numbers (0-9) and the special character '-' for a User ID.

Quicken Windows allows special characters in User ID and password.

[+] Close

For the latest system requirements for Direct Connect view our online system requirements.

[+] Close

Used together, Quicken or QuickBooks and Direct Connect can help you conveniently track your expenses, budget your money, and keep your finances updated. Using Quicken or QuickBooks, you can download transactions, update account balances, and otherwise manage your bank accounts directly from First Interstate Bank. Direct Connect also allows you to exchange mail messages with First Interstate Bank through Quicken or QuickBooks. You can also transfer funds between your accounts with First Interstate Bank.

[+] Close

You may need to update your Quicken program.

If you are using Quicken 2007+ for Windows, follow the below instructions:

1. From the Quicken/QuickBooks Online menu, choose One Step Update.
2. Clear all of the checkboxes in the One Step Update window, and then click Update Now.
3. Click Done in the Online Update Summary window.
4. Create the account.
5. The financial institution should now appear in the list.

If you are using Quicken 2007 for Macintosh, follow the instruction below:

1. From the Quicken Online Menu, choose Financial Institutions.
2. Click the Update List button.

You may need to exit and then restart Quicken for the changes to take effect.

[+] Close

Currently, you will see transaction dates, payee names/descriptions, check numbers (where applicable), payee amounts and deposit amounts.

[+] Close

If you are using the recommended version of Quicken or QuickBooks, you will be prompted before the program will duplicate a transaction entry. A good rule of thumb when downloading is to use the date range to control the amount of data you download and minimize the possibility of duplicating transaction history.

[+] Close

If you are using the All new transactions option when downloading, this message means that there are no new transactions to be downloaded. If you would like to download certain transactions a second time, use the Transactions between option instead and specify the date range for the data you would like to download.

[+] Close

Up to two statement cycles.

[+] Close

This and other similar “time-out” or “server busy” error messages commonly occur when First Interstate Bank’s web server is experiencing a higher than normal call volume. Try waiting 5-30 minutes and then try your account again.

If you continue to experience this error, try connecting at a different time of day. If you have not recently installed new software or hardware, but continue to experience this error, please contact First Interstate Bank’s Internet Banking Support at 1-888-752-3332 to see if they are aware of any known problems on the server.

If there is no problem on bank’s side or you have recently installed new software or a new modem, you many need to contact your Internet service provider for troubleshooting steps.

[+] Close

This behavior can occur if any one of the following is true:

• First Interstate Bank’s web server may be experiencing a higher than normal internet call volume causing the download of transactions to occur very slowly or not at all.
• Your account no longer exists on the online server for some reason.
• The server sends First Interstate Bank statement data that is incorrectly formatted, such as a payment with a positive amount.
• Transactions have already been reconciled.
• Screen resolution is less than 800 x 600.

To resolve this issue, follow the below steps:

1. Click Back to Statement Summary at the top of the Statement Summary: [Account] window.
2. Correct the New Statement Ending Date if necessary, and then click OK.
3. If the issue persists, click Finish Later or Cancel to close the window.
4. From the Tools menu, choose Account List, and then double-click the account to open its register.
5. All transactions with the letter R in the Clr column have already been reconciled. If you want to change a transaction's reconciled status:
   1. Click the R, and then click No to the message "Would you like to use Quicken's Reconcile feature to match this account up to your bank statement?" This will remove the R from the Clr column.
   2. Click Enter, and then click Yes to the message "Are you sure you want to change a reconciled (R) transaction?"
   3. If the message "Are you sure you want to manually reconcile (R) this transaction?" appears, click Yes.
   4. Repeat Steps 5.a through 5.c for each transaction you want to change, and then reconcile the account again.
6. If any missing transactions have not been reconciled or the issue persists, check your screen resolution:
   1. Exit Quicken, and then right-click a blank area on the Microsoft® Windows® desktop and choose Properties.
   2. Click the Settings tab.
   3. Move the Screen area or Desktop area slider to 800 by 600 pixels (or a higher setting) and then click OK twice. Your screen will flicker for a few seconds.
   4. Click OK or Yes if a message similar to "Do you want to keep these settings?" appears.
   5. Wait a few seconds for the new resolution setting to take effect, restart Quicken/QuickBooks, and then reconcile the account again.
7. If the issue persists or the screen resolution is correct, reenter the missing transactions into the account register.

Note: If above steps didn’t resolve the issue, please contact First Interstate Bank’s Internet Banking Support at 1-888-752-3332 to check your account status or to see if their download meets the formatting requirements.

[+] Close

With regard to bill payment -- the Payee data in First Interstate Bank’s I-Pay Online Bill Payment site contains a ‘nickname’ as well as the payee’s full name. And the nicknames are used to visually identify your online banking website when displaying bill payments.

However, Quicken/QuickBooks does not support the nickname field – so it will use the “Payee Full Name” when displaying the payee for a payment in Quicken/QuickBooks’s account register.

[+] Close

• Error Message: OL-202, 248, 248-A, 249, 249-A or 297 A certificate file within your software may have expired. Updating your software should re-establish your service.
• Error message: Your last online connection was not completed... This is generally a "time-out" problem. Trying again at a later time will often resolve this problem.
• Error message: Invalid PIN: (OL-59, OL-61) /You must change PIN: (OL-9, OL-57, OL-67) This problem may be caused by either entering an incorrect User ID/PIN. Also, please make sure that Caps Lock is not activated on your keyboard.

[+] Close

The Bill Payment option within Quicken/QuickBooks is an Intuit product, not a First Interstate Bank product. Fees will be incurred by utilizing the Intuit Bill Payment feature. To avoid being charged a fee, use I-Pay with I-Bank to pay your bills online.

[+] Close

For more in-depth support help with Quicken go to http://www.intuit.com/support/quicken or for QuickBooks go to http://quickbooks.com/support.

[+] Close

Only existing Quicken users will see this problem. The reason behind this is because Intuit (QuickenWin, QuickenMac, QB) only updates their profile every 48 hours. As a result Direct Connect will not send a MFA request (v1.03) to the server until it updates its profile. There are a few workarounds:

• Give time frame for existing users to connect (after MFA is enabled) before enabling “MFA Clients Only”
• Ask clients to wait 48 hours for their Direct Connect to automatically update its profile.

[+] Close

QuickBooks behavior regarding sync history and adding online transactions into the register differs from Quicken due to the fact that QuickBooks functions as a double-entry booking small business accounting software and Quicken does not. Due to this difference, QuickBooks requires all transactions be associated with a vendor, employee, customer, etc., and each transaction is properly categorized.

This way QuickBooks can track all the info necessary for the small business owner to keep close track of where his/her money is going.

The sync history returned in Direct Connect will be displayed in the "Items Received from your FI" list in QB, but will not be automatically added to the register. The expectation is the small business customer is either sending all online payments from within QuickBooks, or they are manually adding the transactions as they go along (hence the message "this transaction was not found in your data file. Please make sure your records are up to date.") Some customers may wait until the transaction is posted in the statement download before adding it to the register.

In this case, the information in the "Items Received from your FI" screen can be considered a reminder that this transaction will post to the account shortly.

To resolve this issue – review the list of payments in the Online Banking Center window. Add [manually] any payments that are not already in your banking account register.

[+] Close

This feature is not supported by First Interstate Bank’s Direct Connect.

[+] Close

Quicken 2007 should be updated to the most current release.

To resolve the issue of Quicken not responding:

1. Close Quicken.
2. On the Windows Desktop, right-click the Quicken icon and select Run as.
3. In the Run As window:
   1. Select The following user.
   2. Click the User name drop-down arrow and select the Administrator.
   3. In the Password box, enter the Administrator password, and then click OK.
4. If you receive a warning about unauthorized access, click Allow.

If you are not logged in as an administrator, an error occurs when you try to update your version of Quicken. To resolve this issue, log in as an administrator, and then update to the latest release for Quicken 2007.

[+] Close

For Quicken Windows:

To verify that you have successfully updated Quicken verify the First Interstate Bank information is updated in the Participating Financial Institutions:

• Select Online menu -> Participating Financial Institutions.
• Locate First Interstate Bank in the list and click First Interstate Bank’s name.

Verify First Interstate Bank. Supported Download Method shows Direct only and First Interstate Banks 's logo does not appear on the screen.

For Quicken Mac:

• Choose the Lists menu > Accounts.
• Select an account from the list and click Edit.
• The Financial Institution field should display First Interstate Bank. At the Download transactions field – the entry should read “using direct connect”

[+] Close

If Activate in the One Step Update area is unavailable and the "One Step update is not available" message appears in the screen, please follow below steps:

• Choose the Tools menu > Account List.
• Click on Add Account button near the top right of the screen.
• On the Quicken Account Setup process window where Quicken prompts, “What is the financial institution for this account?”, enter ‘First Interstate Bank’. Click Next.
• When Quicken prompts, “How do you want to set up your [First Interstate Bank account(s)” select Yes radio button.
• When Quicken prompts, “Log in to setup First Interstate Bank account(s) in Quicken”, enter your I-Bank Access ID (Member Number) and password.
• After the account is successfully downloaded, Quicken will display a list of downloaded account, which allows user to match to the existing account in the Cash Flow Center.

Manually match each downloaded Quicken account to the appropriate First Interstate Bank account in the drop-down list, and complete the remaining prompts.

[+] Close

When First Interstate Bank initially set up the account types for online data access – the accounts may have been mismatched.

When accounts are mismatched Quicken will force the user to open a NEW ACCOUNT if the Account Number and Account Type (Account Location) do not match or return an OL-XXX error.

In order to resolve this issue, the account type (account location) needs to be reselected in the Edit Account Screen before you activate your accounts with the new Direct Connect service.

For Quicken Windows:

1. If Quicken forces you to create a new account, on the Quicken Account Setup screen, record the Account Type downloaded within the Financial Institution’s Account list for this account.
   • For example in the below graphic: “Savings, 0016”, note that the Account Type is “Savings”.
   • Then proceed to step 3.
2. If Quicken returns an OL-XXX error, cancel out of the error message and proceed to step 4.
3. Click Cancel on the Quicken Account Setup screen. Follow the prompt to exit the account setup screen.
   
4. Right-click your first applicable First Interstate Bank account from the list of accounts under Personal Cash Flow.
5. Select Edit account from the drop-down list that appears after you right-click the account.
   
6. Click the General Information tab. The general information for the account appears.
7. Select the Account Location entry that matches the account type noted in step #1. Follow the matching guidelines below. Once you have selected the proper account location for the account, click OK.
   
   1. Checking Account > Account Location == “Cash Flow: Spending”
   2. Money Market > Account Location == “Cash Flow: Spending”
   3. Savings > Account Location == “Cash Flow: Spending”
   4. Creditline > Account Location == “Cash Flow: Credit”
8. Repeat for each account that either causes this issue. Once you are finished with all the accounts, the issue will be resolved.

For Quicken Mac:

1. If Quicken forces you to create a new account, on the New Account Assistant screen, record the Account Type downloaded within the Financial Institution’s Account list for this account.
   • For example in the below graphic: “3222222S01, note that the Account Type is “Savings”.
   • Then proceed to step 3.
2. If Quicken returns an OL-XXX error, cancel out of the error message and proceed to step 4.
3. Click Cancel on the Quicken Account Setup screen. Follow the prompt to exit the account setup screen.
   
4.  Choose the Lists menu > Accounts.
5.  Select the account, that was causing the issue at step #1 and click Edit.
   
6.  Select the Account Type entry that matches the account type noted in step #1. Follow the matching guidelines below. Once you have selected the proper account type for the account, click OK.
   
   1. Checking Account > Account Type == “Checking”
   2. Money Market > Account Type == “Money Market”
   3. Savings > Account Type == “Savings”
   4. Creditline > Account Type == “Line of Credit”
7. Repeat for each account that either causes this issue. Once you are finished with all the accounts, the issue will be resolved.

[+] Close

After you have successfully activated your First Interstate Bank account(s) on your initial statement download you may receive duplicate transaction history downloaded that already exists in your Quicken account registry.

This issue usually occurs ONLY when you download transactions for the first time after First Interstate Bank makes a system conversion.

To resolve this issue, you need to delete the original transaction and keep the most recently downloaded transaction:

1. Locate the original transaction in the register and make note of its status (R, C, or blank) in the Clr column. If you reconcile your accounts regularly, the transaction status most likely shows as R (Reconciled).
2.  Delete the original transaction:
   1. In the register, select the transaction.
      Note: In Quicken Windows, you may select multiple transactions.
   2. Click Edit, and then choose Delete Transaction.
   3. Click Yes to the confirmation message.
3. Locate the duplicate transaction that was downloaded. Its status shows as C.
4. Change the status to match the transaction that was deleted by clicking in the Clr column of the duplicate transaction.
5. Click Enter to save any changes to the transaction.
6. Repeat these steps for each set of duplicate transactions.

[+] Close