QuickBooks Banking Error - Multi-Factor Authentication

How to Fix QuickBooks Error 185

QuickBooks bank feed stopped updating and shows: "Error 185: The financial institution requires additional information."

Error 185 fires when your bank has added or changed a security requirement that QuickBooks cannot complete automatically. At QuickFix Bookkeeping, 185 is one of the fastest banking errors to resolve once you understand that the fix happens at your bank, not inside QuickBooks.

The QuickFix Bookkeeping Distinction

Error 185 is not a QuickBooks problem. Your bank is asking for something QuickBooks cannot provide automatically.

What most guides say

Disconnect and reconnect the bank feed. While reconnecting sometimes works, it fails when the bank still has a pending security prompt. The correct first step is logging into your bank directly.

What is actually happening

Your bank has a pending security action -- MFA enrollment, security question reset, terms update, or suspicious activity alert -- that must be completed by a human before the bank allows third-party access again.

Rule: Always log into your bank directly in a browser before touching anything in QuickBooks. Complete all pending prompts, then return to QuickBooks.

What Is QuickBooks Banking Error 185?

Error code

185

QuickBooks Online - Bank Feed - MFA Error

What it means

QuickBooks bank feed stopped updating and shows: "Error 185: The financial institution requires additional information."

What Causes This Error?

🔐

Bank Added Multi-Factor Authentication

Your bank recently enabled or changed MFA. QuickBooks cannot complete an MFA challenge -- only a human can. The bank blocks the connection until MFA is set up directly.

❓

New Security Question Required

Your bank reset its security questions or added new ones. The bank requires you to answer them before allowing third-party connections.

📋

Terms of Service Update Pending

Your bank updated its terms and requires acceptance before API access is granted. These prompts only appear when you log in directly, not via QuickBooks.

⚠️

Suspicious Activity Alert

Your bank flagged unusual activity and locked third-party access pending confirmation. Logging in directly and confirming the activity re-enables the QuickBooks connection.

🔑

Changed Online Banking Password

A recent bank password change was not updated in QuickBooks. The bank rejects connection attempts with the old credentials and returns Error 185.

Banking Error Series

102

Bank website temporarily unavailable

105

Bank website has changed

185

This page -- Additional info required (MFA)

324

Account not found at institution

How to Fix This Error

METHOD 1Log Into Your Bank and Clear All Pending ActionsDo this first
1

Open your bank website in a browser and log in with your normal credentials.

2

Look for any pending prompts: MFA enrollment, security questions, new terms, security alerts. Complete all of them.

3

Once your bank dashboard loads with no outstanding prompts, return to QuickBooks.

4

In QuickBooks Online: Banking > Banking > find the affected account > click Update.

METHOD 2Re-enter Sign-In Info in QuickBooksAfter clearing bank prompts
1

In QuickBooks Online: Banking > Banking > find the affected bank account.

2

Click the pencil icon next to the bank name and select Edit sign-in info.

3

Re-enter your banking username and password and complete any MFA challenge.

4

Click Save and Connect. QuickBooks will re-establish the feed and begin syncing.

METHOD 3Disconnect and Reconnect the Bank AccountIf update and edit fail
1

In QuickBooks Online: Banking > Banking > click the account > Edit > Disconnect this account on save.

2

Save, then click Add Account and search for your bank by name.

3

Enter your credentials and complete any security steps your bank requires.

4

Match the reconnected account to the existing QuickBooks account when prompted.

Related Errors

Error 185 Still Showing After Clearing Bank Prompts?

Let QuickFix Bookkeeping Reconnect Your Bank Feed.

Persistent Error 185 after completing all bank security steps usually means the bank's API is caching the old connection state. We reconnect your feed and manually import any transactions missed during the outage.

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