Transfers and Paying Credit Cards

[@texasbelliott]

Very very helpful, even 6 years+ later!

[@jasonfanton1996]

Credit cards confuse a lot of people in Quicken. They should be recorded as transfers. They are confusing because cash moves from an account with a positive balance to one with a negative balance. Using a credit card causes instant cash inflow that becomes an outflow later on when the bill is paid.

[@swenk222]

Do you see a way to have transfers show in Q2015 reports? I know they cancel out but in the past reports they showed...

[@allenschneider1847]

I had basically the same concern as Gary. I have been manually "dividing up" my transactions into categories and recording them in the category section of the checking account as I pay the Visa bill. The expense is incurred at the time I make the payment. I'm considering (hoping to achieve greater accuracy) using a CC account and downloading the transactions then categorizing them in the CC account. If I understand the process, the expense will be incurred on the date of the transaction, instead of the date of the payment from checking to CC. Is this basically correct? If so, I don't think it will really much matter after the first month, but at the time of transition (Dec 2014/Jan 2015) I will end up with two sets of CC charges in my Dec 2014 finance statement: the Dec. charges for the payment (and categorization) done under the old system and the new charges made in Dec of 2014 that won't actually be paid until Jan of 2015. I'll just have to keep this in mind when I do my end of year financial statements. Question: When I make a payment to Bank of America (and so indicate as a transfer to my CC account) will I in any way apply that payment in the CC account to specific transactions? I actually make two monthly payments (the 15th and the 28th) the total of which pays off the bill each month. Do I have to manually indicate which payment is being applied to specific transactions? I guess what I'm really asking is: how do you "reconcile" a CC account? Thanks, Allen

[@QuickenMac]

I wouldn't overthink this too much; Quicken is designed to be cash, not accrual accounting. That is not to say that people have resorted to rather elaborate setups to achieve the former which is more what I think Gary desires. I sense you simply wish to become more efficient and not make a credit card payment as a big split where you have to manually sum up for each category. Since you are concerned about overlap, it sounds like you downloaded transactions and got a few months of older data. (Make a backup first.) You can always delete some transactions in your new BOA CC account to the point before you switched methods so they do not show up twice. Quicken 2015 should auto adjust the opening balance to reflect the removal of those transactions so that your running balance is still correct. That way, you don't even have to worry about seeing things twice. In other words, only have recent transactions in that CC account after you switched over. You reconcile a CC account the exact same way you reconcile any other cash account. When you use your CC, you basically increase a liability. The transaction recorded in that account reflects the date and purpose (category) for that charge. (i.e. Groceries on 1/10/15). Then, your CC payment is simply a reduction of said liability and payments in no way get applied to specific transactions. Again, don't overthink this; Quicken is designed for the laymen. And, you can make as many payments per month to your CC account. it does not matter.

[@fgiraffe8751]

First, THANK YOU for these great videos. They are very helpful. Second, how would you suggest handling a car loan payment in Quicken Mac 2015? In Quicken 2003 (don't laugh!) I used to account for the part that went to the principle and what went to interest payment, and tracking each monthly interest accrual. Would you do this as a transfer also? It seems weird because if say $300 leaves my checking account, only maybe $280 reduces the balance of the loan. Complicating matters is that my source checking is auto downloaded and my car loan account is not. Thanks again for providing this great resource.

[@QuickenMac]

I can't post links here, but do know that I have a separate channel all for 2015 and those videos are better than my older Essentials ones. On my Essentials channel, I do have a video for home and auto loans-you might have to scroll over to see it. But, they are pretty simple: Setup an asset account for your car and enter the estimated value via an Opening Balance Adjustment (use "Adjustment" as the category-this keeps it as showing as income or expenses) Setup a liability account for the loan and again enter an adjustment for the amount you owe. In your checking account, setup a scheduled transaction (bill reminder) for your auto loan payment. Make it a split transaction with the Parent loan the total of the bill (what gets downloaded). The child lines will be deductions for the interest, etc. (you will have to figure out the interest payment*), and one other split child will be a Transfer over to your liability account to reduce the amount owed by (in your example $280) The checking download will be matched to your scheduled transaction, and nothing needs to get downloaded to your loan account. * There is no loan amortization in 2015 so you will have to provide the amount paid in interest.

[@deltaloop]

I have been one of those who manually categorized credit card transactions and then entered them into a split transaction in the checking account register when paying the bill. I tried your method, downloading transactions from the credit card carrier and then tracking the payment by effecting a transfer. The problem is that when I look at month end results, expenses vs income, it includes money spent and purchases made but not paid (that is, credit card purchases). Is there a way of producing a report of expense vs income---money in and money out--using your method of downloading credit card transactions and using the transfer facility within the program?

[@deltaloop]

***** Thank you John. In my old way, I would track actual money going out each month including the cc payments--but not purchases made after the credit card monthly cut off for billing. Those would be paid and documented in the next month's payment. (We pay off the card statement fully each month.) With downloading cc data, all "expenses" show, both actually paid and incurred but not paid. I can see the advantage of knowing exactly where you are expense-wise in real time but it sure changes the way I've done things for years. So, is there a way of downloading cc data but reporting in a way that shows money out but not the "debt" incurred by cc purchases after the monthly billing date? Thank you!! BTW, your videos have been very very helpful. Again, thank you for doing them.

[@deltaloop]

Gary T I also see that downloading cc transactions captures different purchases-- for the most part. The bill I pay in early October, and manually categorize, is for expenses incurred primarily in September. When I download cc transactions and run a report for October, it shows purchases made in October up to the date I downloaded data. In switching from my old way to new (downloading and transferring) there will be purchases not categorized and captured in a report. hmmm. Got to think about this.

[@QuickenMac]

Gary T Gary: I will first say that the way you were doing things in the past is by in no means "wrong", and if it works for you, then feel free to keep doing it! My video covered the more common (and easier for most users) way of approaching this. But that doesn't mean you have do it that way. It sounds like you want a more accrual way of handling your finances in which you can control when cash inflows/outflows are realized. My suggestion is more for cash accounting (which Quicken is more geared for-you make a charge today, you realize that expense today even though you pay the CC bill later in the month.) If that is your goal, then you may wish to go back to your old way of doing things. Good luck, and I am glad you find the videos are helpful. They are time consuming to create!

[@allenschneider1847]

Thanks for the response. I am currently using Quicken 2004 on a Mac at my office; but I’m trying to shift to a home computer where I have Quicken Essentials for Mac. I was a little disappointed in the Quicken Essentials in that it seemed limited in setting up (and getting reports) budgets as I had in quicken 2004. Would it be a wise move to update my Quicken Essentials to Quicken 2015? Does Quicken 2015 offer more budgeting features than the Quicken Essentials? With the Essentials I couldn’t figure how to include various savings accounts (which I use for car savings, xtmas savings, vacation savings, etc.) in my budget; nor could I figure out how to do a budget from a 12 month perspective. Are these issues addressed (updated) in Quicken 2015? Thanks, Allen

[@QuickenMac]

For starters, I would at least get your 2004 file into 2005 or newer as no shipping version of Quicken will import a 2004 file natively. I can't provide links here, but Intuit provides 2006 for free. Go ask over at the Quicken Live Community and I can post the link. That way, you at least have some future plan in case you 2004 machine dies. It isn't pretty if you have pre 2005 files. You will find 2015 as an extension of Essentials as it is based off the same platform. Much has improved, but budgets have remained the same for now as bigger fires existed. In 24 years of using Quicken, I have never used the budget module. But, I have tried it in Essentials, and found that budget useless, and it isn't just because of a lack of 12 months planning. So, at this point, upgrading to 2015 isn't going to accomplish much. Now, what you mention about savings accounts concerns me; there are no savings goals accounts in Quicken for Mac. As designed, the only accounts in your Account List should be ones you hold in the real world (BOA Checking, Savings, brokerage accounts, etc.), and those registers should mirror your bank's records. You might be using Quicken in a non-standard way, and perhaps you are indeed in a situation more like Gary. John Schneider

[@allenschneider1847]

Quicken 2015 Well, In Quicken 2004, under the budgeting set up one can enter budget amounts for income and expense categories and for transfers. So if one is saving for a new car, you can budget $300 a month to a specific savings account. That is a pretty nice feature and one I'm missing with Quicken Essentials.

[@rosamurphy631]

hi i just watched your video, it was helpful, but... i don't understand when creating a spending report about your checking account, how do you get a view on how much you spent in total for credit card expenses. I want to know by looking at my checking account how much money i spent and then create a credit card report that shows me where i spent it. how do you do that?

[@QuickenMac]

Rosa: from your term "spending report" it sound like you are using the Windows version. I am less familiar with that version, but the answer should be the same. You need to categorize all your transactions in your CC account, and any report will accurately show you this spending. You won't be trying to track the spending from paying the CC from your checking account.

[@jenettecarson6304]

How do you record payment types such as Drafts, etc.

[@ronstrode9124]

When posting my payment from checking, when I split transfer to Escrow account, it is deleting from my escrow balance instead of adding??

[@QuickenMac]

Do you have the transfer amount signed correctly?

[@bethereyesterday]

I have a year and a half of recording in my Quicken and have not used the "transfer" method. I am trying to go back and correct the payments paid from my checking account to the credit card account but it messes up the reconciled input. What am I doing wrong?

[@QuickenMac]

You don't HAVE to use transfers to pay credit cards: as long as you have an equal an opposite transaction in both accounts (with the same category so the transactions net to zero), that is perfectly fine. All a transfer simply saves time and ensures you have an equal and opposite transaction in the other account. If you do wish to replace your older data with transfers, then yes, your new ones will no longer be reconciled and you have to get rid of one (or both) of your older transactions. (I am not there to see your data.) Trick: make sure you have the reconcile column visible, and you can hold down option and click through to force a reconciled status. So, if you are careful about what you remove or change, you can keep your account reconciled. Make a backup before you begin, though.

[@bethereyesterday]

Quicken 2015 I am using Quicken on MacBook Air and have edited all my credit payments to show as a transfer from my checking account. However, as I did that my outstanding balance of cash increased enormously. What did I do wrong?

[@QuickenMac]

bethereyesterday Without seeing what you did, one of two things likely went wrong: 1) you instead of moving money from checking to your CC account, you inadvertently got the sign wrong (or used the wrong column) and moved money from your CC to your Checking account, or 2) You entered the transfer (as a new transaction) and you had the older remnants of the payment still around. If you modified an existing, you still likely have the other part of the older transaction still around. That is all I can suggest without seeing things.

[@bethereyesterday]

Quicken 2015 Who can I ask to help me look at my transactions to see what I'm doing wrong. I signed up for the M and D support through Quicken but that connects me with individuals in India and I doubt if they can help me in this situation. How do I make this a private conversation with you?

[@QuickenMac]

bethereyesterday you can reach out to me at jrs8084 at bellsouth dot net (format to an email address Keep in mind that I am a stranger to you as well, so don't just blindly send private information. Transfers are really simply, so this shouldn't be too hard to figure out. I also need you to confirm in your email if you are using Quicken Essentials or the newer 2015. (I have videos for both.)

[@4Asti]

How do you handle a paypal account?

[@QuickenMac]

Hi, Asti: It likely doesn't really matter, but a checking account is probably the best option. You can set it up for manual transaction entry, or you can choose to have it be online enabled. Be warned, though, PayPal can be spotty with downloading transactions correctly. I don't use PP much, but the last few times I did, it was duplicating transactions. It wasn't a big deal, but might be more so if you are not familiar with Quicken/banking. I have seen PayPal credit cards going around-I really don't know if those are acting like a debit card attached to your PP account, or if you have a line of credit associated with them. So, that might affect your answer. But, in reality, most all accounts are/act the same with the difference being where they are listed in your list of accounts. (I.e. you could setup a credit card as a checking account and it would behave the same.)