Thank you for sharing a detailed description of your concern, Dan.

Let's team up to ensure a smooth and seamless transition to QuickBooks Online (QBO).  

First, entering a customer's credit card information in QBO is designed for our own payment system, QuickBooks Payments. This ensures compliance with payment processing standards and the secure handling of sensitive data. With this, you can consider signing up for QuickBooks Payments.

Once subscribed, you can enter customer credit card details directly within their profile. Refer to the image below for visual guidance.

Second, using a third-party integration tool can simplify the process of syncing data with QBO. For example, PayTraQer is a supported integration app that allows for syncing payment data, but it doesn't offer storing credit card info.

For your third question, yes, by using a third-party connector.

Simply put, you can use a third-party app for Braintree integration, but you'll need a separate app for storing your customers' credit card information. You can check out the QuickBooks Apps Store to view our list of supported apps or directly visit the Find Integrations page.

Feel free to reach out if you have any follow-up questions about transitioning to QBO.