The basic problem is that Money -- like every other software program -- is
kind of stupid. You and I can immediately tell that BILL PAY CASUAL CORNER
12 is a payment to Casual Corner, and so is BILL PAY CASUAL CORNER 22.
Money, OTOH, sees both as unique payees, because of the extra numbers at the
end, and sees neither as Casual Corner, because of all the other junk in
there.

The various fixes that we have given you are all directed to one end: to
edit the payee so as to make it recognizable to the program. I'm not sure
the more automated solutions will work unless you pay bills from within
Money, so I'd stick with manually editing the payee names in the
transactions, before you accept them., but YMMV.

Good luck!

Susan

"ebekim" <ebekim[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B05561E5-79FB-4E91-B1E3-B1AEA82E7DAF[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

You know where to find us...

"ebekim" <ebekim[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:52EBD67F-EDF3-4B31-8613-02BE8B451CC7[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

Ok guys I am on this like a rat on cheeto we will see where it leads. Thanks
for all the help.
Mike

"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

- quote -

OK. Now I think I'm with you.

First some theory.

There are two kinds of Payees in Money. Let's call them Implicit and
Explicit. Every name ever entered into a Payee field in a transaction in a
register or scheduled is implicitly a Payee in Money. I.e., Money knows
something about it. The explicit Payees are those payees you told it to
include as Payees and are the ones that show up in Account tools/Categories
& Payees/Payees and are the ones that show up in the Payees pulldown in a
transaction entry form. Unless you set the previously mentioned confirm new
payees option, Money adds every implicit payee it sees in a new data entry
to the explicit list if it isn't already there.

FIs download all kinds of crap in the field that Money thinks of as Payee
because they are sloppy, lazy, don't know any better, don't care, and didn't
engineer their systems from the ground up to present Payee information as
just that and no more or less. That's why things like WalMart#1234 and
WalMart #456 and Wal Mart 123 So Podunk and POS PURCH WALMART all come down
to you from the FIs in transaction data when the obvious normalized (in
database engineer speak) way to record all of these in Money is WalMart. If
the FI is particularly lame, they even call Check # a Payee. Most of us
would thing Check # was a Check #. But they want to print it out pretty on
their statements, so they call it a Payee and then they download it to you
as a Payee.

Given this, step #1 is to set the confirm new payees option. This way Money
won't add any piece of crap data it gets in this field as an Explicit Payee
before you even blink. Then they won't show up in Account tools/Categories &
Payees/Payees nor in the pulldown.

Step #2 is to store downloaded data in your file with sane Payees. I don't
know about you, buy having WalMart#1234, WalMart #456, Wal Mart 123 So
Podunk, POS PURCH WALMART, and Check #12345 all stored in Payees fields for
money spent at WalMart seems really annoying and stupid to me. Money should
somewhere permit you to edit the transactions before you accept them into
the register--there is where you can fix this. There is also a mechanism you
can use to train Money to convert each of WalMart#1234 and WalMart #456 and
Wal Mart 123 So Podunk and POS PURCH WALMART to "WaL-MaRt" if that's what
you want. It's called Payee Rules Manager. It can't fix everything. It can't
invent Payee information where there is none (like downloaded check
information). Nor is it clairvoyant enough to figure out that a Payee name
like "check #1234" really means "Mondo Gas Co." and "check #1235" really
means "MegaMax Electricity By The kWH".

For more details on step #2, you'll need some input from other posters who
are true believers in this newfangled downloaded transaction data stuff. For
any number of reasons kinds like this one, I just enter my transaction data
by hand and skip all of these headaches.

"ebekim" <ebekim[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FEF409A8-1150-4919-BC94-36912CBDD594[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, ebekim wrote:

- quote -

Here is something that may help:
Tools-> Settings-> OnlineServiceSetting check
ShowStandardizedPayeeNamesForWhichANameIsNotFound. Try clicking
MoreDetails to the right of that selection for a description of what
it should do.

If your have Payees such as "Tenth Bank $12.34 05/05/05", change at
least one of these to "Tenth Bank". That way there will be a payee
that matches except for numbers and punctuation.

Also, you can change the payee for such transactions with a
Tools-> FindAndReplace simple search, and change them all to the same
payee. While the payees that you changed will not now show a date
for LastPaid in Banking-> AccountTools-> Categories&Payees, it still
showed up in the drop-down Payee list when I tried it. Eventually it
should go off of the list thru disuse.

In doing such changes to your file, it is always a good idea to keep
an extra copy or backup for your file. Let us know how this works
for you.

Well it is starting to make a little more sense. Let me pass this on to you
and you let me know if we are going in the same direction, when I go to my
account register and enter a new check and select the pay to drop down list,
that list has all of this information listed as payees. Every credit card
charge, I only have one credit card and would like to see the issuing bank
listed as a payee, but not every single charge. Every check I have ever
entered for my house note is in this list I want the bank that holds the
mortgage to show as a payee but not every check I send to make the payment.
And, as I said before, even the interest my bank pays me shows up in this
list. It get so long that there is no use in having it because I can type in
the name of the entity I am writing the check to faster than I can locate it
in this list. So what I do is go to Acount Tools/Categories &Payees/Payees
and delete all of this information, leaving only the payees I have set up.
Sadly the next time I download a statement from the bank or the credit card
company there it all is again.
Do I have to just live with it?
Mike

"harrelsonesq" wrote:

- quote -

Ok Dick, thanks again for spending the time. Here is what I am trying to fix.
If I open the account register for my bank in Money to enter a check, I click
new (withdrawal) and then click the "Pay To" drop down list. That list, that
is the list I am refering to. And it includes every check I have ever entered
in the register as I said in the earlier post it will list Check # 1 to
"electric company". Check # 2 to gas company etc. Instead of just listing
electric company and gas compnay. I have set up both companies as payees but
I have not set up Check # **** as a payee. In addition every credit card
charge (I do make downloads from the bank that issued the card) is also in
this list. My wife makes 3 trips a day to the Wal-Mart down the street and
every charge shows up in this list as "Purchase Wal-Supercenter #**********.
"Purchase Panera Bread#*****. Also even the interest payment the bank makes
on my checking balance is in this list as Accr. Earnings #********. So I go
to Account tools/Catagories & Payees/Payees and one by one delete all those
checks and credit card enteries etc. untill the only payees left are the ones
I have set up, which are basically my monthly payments and credit card
accounts. Once that is done when I go to my bank account register and select
Pay To I have a manageable list to select from. I don't know if it is normal
for all that information to show up in my Account Tools/Categories &
Payees/Payees list, and to be listed in the Pay To drop down list for my
account register.
Mike
Hope that makes a little more sense.
Mike

"Dick Watson" wrote:

- quote -

Answers inline:

- quote -

This is a very good sign, as you and I are using the same version, and seem
to use Money in much the same fashion. This increases the chances that I
might be able to tell you something useful. I download transactions through
my bank's website, and also use the bank's bill pay.

I am asked to accept each transaction that comes from the > bank down load
and that is probably where I am going wrong. I usually just
- quote -

Do you edit the transactions at all -- like add categories & so forth? For
me, even the ones that match up properly usually need something.

I noticed
- quote -

Just in case you haven't been doing any editing, this is how to go about it:
if you click on the transaction, it changes color, and the "accept" and
"change" buttons appear. Click again, and a transaction form opens at the
bottom of the page.

Change the payee from, for example, "BILL PAY CASUAL CORNER ONLINE 62," to
"Casual Corner." (You probably don't shop at Casual Corner, but that's one I
didn't edit, myself, so there it is in my payees.) Next month, when "BILL
PAY CASUAL CORNER ONLINE 72" shows up, change it to "Casual Corner."

- quote -

I hope that clarifies things a bit. Post back and let me know.

Susan

Dick:
Thanks for the reply. I am using Money 2005 but had the same problem with
Money 2000. Every payment I make, and I use no Money epay and no print checks
but I do download my bank info into Money, show up as a payee. I pay some
bills online through my bank and I write checks to many different people and
companies. Each of these ends up as a unique payee in my payee list. In
addition so does every deposit to my bank account, and every interest payment
the bank makes to my checking account. It is all there in the payee list and,
as you would expect it gets quit large. I usually go to my payee list and
just delete one transaction at a time, but that takes a lot of time. I know
it is coming in through the bank download but am not sure how to stop it, or
if it can be stopped.
Thanks for the help.

"Dick Watson" wrote:

- quote -

Harrelsonesq:
I believe you have the right answer, but I am not sure I understand it. I
have just moved from the information dirt road to the superhighway and so
that is a large part of my problem. I am trying to learn and appreciate your
help. Here are my particulars. I am now using Money 2005, although I had the
same problem with 2000. I do download from my bank but I do not pay bills on
line through Money. I am asked to accept each transaction that comes from the
bank down load and that is probably where I am going wrong. I usually just
"accept" if the check or deposit matches the entry in my register. I noticed
that even the interest I earn on my checking account ends up as a unique
payee in my payee list. Every deposit is listed and every check is listed. In
addition I do pay some bills on line through my bank and each of those
transactions is also listed as a payee. Right now I just go to my payees list
and delete them, but would like to know if there is a way to stop them from
ever making the list.
Thanks for any help you might give.

"harrelsonesq" wrote:

- quote -

My bank downloads transactions with a unique transaction number. The secret
to keeping all those unique transactions from becoming unique payees in
Money is to edit them before accepting them.

Sometimes Money will be able to match them to a scheduled transaction, and
sometimes you have to do it yourself.

If a window pops up asking you if you want to change future instances of
your scheduled bill to whatever jargon your bank calls it, say no.

HTH,

Susan

"ebekim" <ebekim[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1951621A-3C31-4C61-8C12-1B50DAF7F3DE[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

I didn't say downloading or epaying caused problems. But not doing so seems
a sure way to avoid them.

"Ron Rosenfeld" <ronrosenfeld[at]nospam.org> wrote in message
news:ib6ub1pd899c7epv8iqh81l1g3aqh77qvl[at]4ax.com...
- quote -

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 14:22:01 -0600, "Dick Watson"
<littlegreengecko[at]mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote:

- quote -

Dick,

FYI, I do both in Money 2003 and also do not have any problems of this nature.


--ron

Somebody who can help will surely need some more data. What version of
Money? How are you making these payments (print check, Money-connected Epay,
what?) When you look in the Payees list, what's different about each of the
multiple similar payees? Do you download transaction data? Direct from your
bank, or, for M05, via Yodlee?

The secret to stopping this lies somewhere in not starting it in the first
place.

I neither Epay from Money nor download transaction data and have no problems
like this. Those two things may be connected.

"ebekim" <ebekim[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1951621A-3C31-4C61-8C12-1B50DAF7F3DE[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

Can anyone help me with this question. Every time I write a check both the
check and the person, company, etc. that I am writing the check to show up in
my payee list. As an example if I write a check each month to the electric
company my payee list includes the electric company and, after twelve months,
twelve checks to the electric company as payees. Dito for the gas company,
Wal-Mart and on and on.
My payee list is a mile long because of all the checks. Can I stop this
--
ebekim