HSBC bank feed consistently duplicating some imported lines

Support
1

I’ve been using HSBC bank feed very successfully for a few years. I’ve noticed in doing my 2015 YE (and not before) that the bank import process is duplicating some lines:

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I wonder whether it is down to some pattern of non-standard alphanumeric or similar that is causing it to ‘hiccup’ first time round on that line. The second line is always the full and correct one, the first one always terminated early, and always at the same point. Currently only happens with one supplier. Example text:
INT’L 0080159082 HST*bistunis.com 866-573468
INT’L 0080159082 HST*bistunis.com 866-573468 USD 178.80 @1.3899 Visa Rate
Thanks.

2

Hi @mlawson

I’ll refer this to our development team. However, I believe the cause is, although the lines are the same they say different things. One line having this added on the end:

USD 178.80 @1.3899 Visa Rate

Because the text is different, it’s likely to be picked up as a different line. These issues do crop up from time to time unfortunately. Until banks implement a reliable way for us to import transactions, they will likely to continue to happen. But, we’ll keep trying our best to get around them :wink:

Bear with us, and someone will update this thread shortly.

3

Maybe I failed to explain. My bank statement has one transaction (starting INT*L 008015…)

Your bank feed import process loads this one line twice: first time round truncating it, second time round importing the full line.

Here’s the same (single!) entry on my bank statement:

So the problem, as stated in my original post, is that the bank import process is duplicating some lines.

4

@mlawson the problem we have here is that let’s say you pull in the feed on 19th June. HSBC will output that transaction description as:

INT’L 0080159082 HST*bistunis.com 866-573468

Now on the 20th you import the HSBC feed again, this time HSBC will report the same transaction with a different description:

INT’L 0080159082 HST*bistunis.com 866-573468 USD 178.80 @1.3899 Visa Rate

In this case it would appear that HSBC are appending the exchange rate info retrospectively, most likely as this wasn’t known at the time. This presents a problem for the feed as we have no way of knowing 100% if that transaction is the same as the original one previously imported.

This won’t just cause problems with QF but other software that rely on bank descriptions remaining static (as they should). Ideally HSBC should be putting that information in it’s own column.

When you import items from the feed you have the option to trim the transactions before they are inserted to your bank account. Providing you avoid any overlap here that should prevent duplicates like this appearing.

5

OK, thanks for the explanation - so just something to watch out for.

Didn’t know about trimming. Will try and import only once, and after they’ve appended FX rates.

Thanks for clarification - so not a bug, just a ‘feature’ of HSBC and its banking!

1 Like
6

Yes, unfortunately it’s a HSBC feature and a couple of other banks are known to do this too.

When you import the feed you can trim using the following options, I’m afraid that’s the best we can offer right now.