Hello!

I've been using Microsoft Money to manage my finances for a number of years. I have been able to automate downloading most of my bank transactions using some software called PocketSense but not all banks have an accessible OFX/QFX server. I've written some simple scrapers in Python that will log into these sites and download my transactions automatically.

Current Issues:

  1. Only supports some limited banks (Empower Retirement and Wealthfront).
  2. Only works with the Firefox web browser.
  3. It might not work if you have multiple accounts at either of those websites (I have a single account at each and can't test it).

Here's what you'll need:

  1. A version of Python installed (I've been using ActivePython 2.7.14 as that is the version that works with PocketSense, but my script should work with other versions).
  2. Firefox installed and working.
  3. Your account information for the site you want to download.
  4. The appropriate script:

The process:

  1. GeckoDriver (one-time setup: interfaces between Python's Selenium and Firefox):
    1. Download the appropriate GeckoDriver for your version of Firefox (32-bit or 64-bit).
    2. Copy it to your Python directory (or anywhere else in your system path).
  2. Firefox (one-time setup: create a new profile to store long-term cookies):
    1. Open Firefox.
    2. Navigate to "about:profiles".
    3. Click "Create a new profile".
    4. Click "Next" and name your profile "Selenium". This is a the name of the software that Python uses to interact with Firefox.
    5. Click "Finish".
  3. Firefox (as often as needed: create your persistent cookies in the Selenium profile):
    1. Open Firefox.
    2. Navigate to "about:profiles".
    3. Under "Profile: Selenium", click "Launch profile in a new browser".
    4. Use this profile to login to your bank as normal. If your bank uses multi-factor authentication, this will be how you can receive your text/email code and enter it.
  4. Local Scripts:
    1. Download the appropriate Python script from above and place it in a local directory.
    2. Edit the Python file and insert your username and password for the website into the appropriate fields. Your username and password are only stored in this file and then sent to Firefox to login to your bank.
    3. Run the script.
      1. You should see the script launch the GeckoDriver and then eventually Firefox will load with a yellow address bar. This is the Firefox (with the Selenium profile we created) that will be browsing to your bank website.
      2. Your bank page will load, enter your login, navigate to your OFX/QFX download page, and download the file to your current directory.
      3. After the browser quits, you will have to manually close the GeckoDriver (this seems to be a known bug with how Python terminates processes).

Please contact me if you find this script useful or if you run into a problem.
shaferandrew@gmail.com

UPDATES: