Big banks are firing out a warning shot to personal-finance startups

Some of Bank of America's customers say the lender restricted their account access through programs like Quicken and Mint last month.

The service seems to have been restored, but the restrictions described are similar to steps taken by other lenders.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that JPMorgan and Wells Fargo were "throttling" data feeds to Mint, which lets its customers monitor several investment and and savings accounts on one screen. 

To work, the programs need access to a user's account at each institution. It's a drain on the lenders' networks as the number of startups offering these services has increased. According to a person at one of the banks, the access also raises security concerns because the apps aren't required to adhere to the same standards as financial institutions.

Several small business owners told Business Insider that they had trouble accessing the data through Quicken, during a period in late October.

Richard Dym, a California-based tech consultant, said the problems began about three weeks ago. Within the last several days, Dym said, Quicken sent him correspondence stating that it would once again begin downloading data through Bank of America.

"When I talked to BOA, they said they were no longer supporting Quicken direct downloads due to security issues," said Dym.

Quicken did not provide an explanation for the data disruption in its correspondence, he said.

"Our highest priority is to serve our customers in a secure manner across the various channels we provide to them directly," a representative for Bank of America said to Business Insider. "We actively manage any tradeoffs needed to ensure this."

Both Quicken and Mint are owned by Intuit Inc., a California-based maker of software for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The company recently partnered with On Deck Capital to launch a small business lending vertical - something that would compete with big Wall Street banks. 

Holly Perez, a spokeswoman for Intuit, said the company wasn't aware of any problems.

"Bank of America did not disable Direct Connect," she wrote in an e-mail. "We are not aware of any recent disruptions in connectivity for Quicken customers using Bank of America."

But other Bank of America customers said their difficulty accessing their account information via Intuit's personal finance tools has been a lingering issue. 

"Bank of America started blocking my ability to automatically download transactions a few months ago," Candyce Edelen, CEO of Colorado-based marketing firm Propel Growth, said.

Others took to Twitter to express their frustration.

Have you had your access to an app you used to manage personal finance transactions or small business operations locked out by a big bank? We're looking for more consumers who have had their apps impacted: jmarino@businessinsider.com.