Comments on: iBank 2

By: piminnowcheez

piminnowcheez — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:30:24 +0000

I’ve been using ibank happily for about 6 mo UNTIL today… I’ve spend the last 3 hours trying to deal with a glitch that is closing the program every time I attempt to reconcile an account. It’s SO buggy. If iBank forces me back into the clutches of quicken, I will be the bitterest man alive.
Except for that 5th Beatle guy.

By: Ed Erickson

Ed Erickson — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 03:36:43 +0000

I used to use MS Money and Quicken back in my “dark” days. A couple of years ago, I switched to a program/service called Mvelopes. Based upon the old envelope method. This is a very easy way to create and manage a budget. I find it far easier to use than the Quicken type of managing money. It’s a web-based app that downloads into your browser. Built with Flex and Flash. Works great using Firefox and Camino. Has hung a few times for me with Safari. You pay via a monthly subscription and it includes a bill pay feature. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.mvelopes.com/mvelopes/index.php
http://www.mvelopes.com/mvelopes/pcworld.php

By: Reality Bytes

Reality Bytes — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:48:23 +0000

Close, but no cigar here. The transfer from quicken isn’t working, can’t get the currencies downloaded. What’s up with the budget? How about auto-categories? I have to manually input them? I love the multiple currency function so I will continue to battle it, but not a happy experience thus far…

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:57:21 +0000

If you’re using multiple currencies, you’ll have problems with the Budget and Smart folders features. It doesn’t do conversions– 10 euros + 10 dollars = 20 dollars. Other places in the app multiple currencies work fine.

By: Jeffrey McPheeters

Jeffrey McPheeters — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 05:34:02 +0000

I’ve been using Quicken since it was first created more than a decade ago, migrating to it from Managing Your Money, but recently just became so frustrated with it, especially since incorporating our business and needing to manage two databases (Quicken only lets you keep one open at a time), so I began checking around. I ended up purchasing Cha-Ching for my teenage boys for teaching them basic principles of budget management, but buying iBank for our business as it’s easier to manage separate sets of books with it. As for the inconvenience of having to download QIF exports from our banks, it’s not big deal, since Quicken has not been as reliable with the auto-download process, sometime, for some inexplicable reason, confusing transfers between accounts as separate transactions on EACH account, doubling the transactions. I’ve never figured out why it does that from time to time through 2004, 2005, and 2006 editions. It didn’t happen often, but when it does it is frustrating!

I’m very pleased with iBank after 60 days, and will continue to use it, I think. It lets me get the data into a format I need for our accountants. My only other option was to get an Intel/Mac and run Quickbooks. But that was really overkill for the simplicity of our corporate needs, and it would not really be ideal for our personal needs at all. I’d recommend iBank to anyone who needs to spend LESS time with the actual bookkeeping chores and thus wants a simple to operate application.

By: Mat P

Mat P — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 14:59:09 +0000

I’ve actually been an iBank2 user for quite awhile now, since at least April 06, and after only using it for about a week, bought the license. (they have a great trial option, you get to use it until you hit 100 transactions — give or take on that number).

Since then I’ve been very happy with it. Great software, very intuitive. The only thing I dislike is after 8 months of use, my database file is getting rather large, and at times it takes a little while to load. But, in comparison with Quicken which I had used about 4 months before finding iBank… it is much faster.

By: Vince

Vince — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:29:23 +0000

Thanks for the Moneydance suggestion, Kevin.

Anybody else know of a similar product (i.e., has automatic online banking connectivity) with a elegant Mac interface? I’d be willing to lay out some quality dough for that feature alone - think a simpler, uber-streamlined Quicken, with an interface designed by Midnight Apps. Mmmm.

This has been my holy grail for ages, but I’ve been unable to find anything that fits the bill (sorry, bad pun intended).

By: Kevin Lepard

Kevin Lepard — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:35:07 +0000

Moneydance is another good alternative. It will directly connect to banks, credit card companies, etc. It’s Java, so it will run on OS X, Linux, or Windows, which can be handy. Imports Quicken and OFX without any trouble. It’s well supported, and unlike Quicken, bugs actually get fixed. Insert your standard “Just a Happy Customer” disclaimer here.

By: Benno

Benno — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:38:44 +0000

If people are looking for a much simpler app for doing home finances they should try cha ching…. I have been using it and its heaps easy to use for simple transactions.

By: hanindyo

hanindyo — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 02:04:11 +0000

I hope iBank developers hear your wish Ryan

or make the word a better place for everyone, email ‘em about this. I’m sure they’d came up with an elegant solution integrated within the app.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:43:27 +0000

I wonder if it may be possible to write an AppleScript or an Automator workflow that can automatically download OFX or QIF files from your bank’s web site and import it into iBank. If that is possible, I’m sold!