Fidelity ofx downloads: current state

[redstreet]

@patbakdev writes:

I have about 10 Fidelity Investment, NetBenefits, and CMA accounts. I am currently using OFXClient to download and red's fidelity OFX importer to handle all of them. Unfortunately one of them started to give me a download error and I think we are quickly approaching the end of simple CLI download of OFX data. It seems we will all have to manually login and download unless you are Intuit. Fortunately, Fidelity will allow me to download all of the account data in one file. The bad news is that they only offer CSV.

I'd love to have a single all-in-one Fidelity CSV importer that can handle such a file. I tried using the Fidelity CSA importer against it, but it didn't recognize it (I assume it doesn't support multiple accounts). Given the comments above, it seems like basing something off of the investment builder makes the most sense. Has anyone given any thought to such an importer. I have another project I am currently working, on, but I have a feeling I am going to have to deal with this sooner than later.

EDIT: I'm looking at the schwab importer now. Maybe we need somethings similar like fidelity_{csv, ofx}_{balances, checking, brokerage}.py

[redstreet]

@patbakdev, I too have most types of of account Fidelity has (a ton of them), and regularly use bean-download (ships with this repo) to download them. No trouble there, even as of two minutes ago.

CSV is of course, the ultimate fall back solution, but for many reasons, it is a huge downgrade over .ofx, and I only use the fall back if there is no other option.

With Fidelity,
a) they seem committed to solid .ofx support when I talked to them
b) they seem to have the best direct-download support so far (I imagine they'll provide notification if they decide to pull support for this, an
c) even if they pull the plug on (b), they do offer downloads .ofx via their web interface still. Is this right? Are you saying they do, but it's an individual download for each account?

I'm wondering if there is a solvable issue with your .ofx CLI downloads that can be resolved easily? What error are you seeing?

[redstreet]

@patbakdev writes:

@redstreet Interesting. I took a look at bean-download and it gave me a few ideas. I was able to fix-up the NetBenefits account I was having trouble with. I think I was just irritated because that account had escaped my purview (either didn't download or appeared to download correctly, but without data) and I was making portfolio decisions with 6 months of missing data and not knowing it.

I completely agree with OFX > CSV. This process can be a bit fragile and every time it breaks my search comes across new info like these (including one from you 😄) so maybe I am just a little big jumpy:

• https://nb.fidelity.com/bin-public/070_NB_PreLogin_Pages/documents/email/MECB2B/FAQ_Securing_Customer_Data_on_Fidelity_Webpages_EXTERNAL.pdf
• Banks moving on from OFX to Open Banking? FDX? csingley/ofxtools#164
• Where do we go for help? csingley/ofxtools#160
• Fidelity Investments OFX download fails again csingley/ofxtools#140
• OFXHome shutting down

I cannot find any QFX/OFX download option from the Fidelity website for either a single accounts or all-accounts. Statements can be downloaded as either CSV or PDF, but activity and positions appear to only be CSV. Then again, they change the interface sometimes so its possible I am on a newer/beta version. Maybe if I enroll in Full View it as an options, but that is not something I want to do. I also have Chase accounts and they stopped allowing direct download. Fidelity is the only reason I continue to maintain my automated download scripts for.

But alas, for now, I am back in a working state and can avoid the webscrape and csv hell I fear in the future.

[redstreet]

Indeed, ofx download via the web has been removed, unfortunately. Fidelity export page for reference.

Ofx has generally been on the chopping block the last several years, so this is not surprising. From my conversations with Fidelity customer service, the Quicken download (ofx download that bean-download uses) is a highly used feature, and is unlikely to go away soon. But that may just be one customer service agent speaking off the cuff.

With those references, I'm going to close this issue. Feel free to comment, reopen, or open a new issue as needed.