Best way to handle credit card payments in downloaded transactions

Cindi Anderson

I am downloading transactions for checking and credit cards.  Often the credit card payments end up showing as double entries and make the balances wrong.  What is the best way to handle those?  Connect them together somehow?  Change one to a transfer back to the same account?  Something easy since I have about 15 a month, but that uses transfer transactions so it doesn't put it into a category so it's double counted in the expense tracking.

Thanks!

Arctic Hare

@Cindi: I'm not sure that I clearly understand the problem from your description. What I can say is that, with good practices, you won't end up with duplicate entries and/or incorrect balances. In my opinion, the best practice is to use Quicken's "Transfer" feature to create a payment transfer from your payment source account (e.g. chequing) to your credit card account. Then, when you download the two bank transactions for the payment from the chequing and the payment to credit card, each of these will respectively match one end of the pre-entered transfer.

In terms of timeline, let's say my Credit Card statement is published on the 21st of each month. On the 22nd of the month, I would reconcile the credit card statement and then log into my bank account and set up a post dated transfer from my savings/chequing account to my credit card account on, or shortly before the due date. I would also, immediately, use Quicken's Transfer feature to create the payment transfer in the Quicken registers. Once the post-dated transaction date comes along, the two payment (out and in) transactions will download and match the pre-entered transfer.

This is a best practice and works well.

volvogirl

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Sherlock

A credit card payment should be entered as a transfer transaction from the checking account to the credit card account.

Cindi Anderson

@Cindi: I'm not sure that I clearly understand the problem from your description. What I can say is that, with good practices, you won't end up with duplicate entries and/or incorrect balances. In my opinion, the best practice is to use Quicken's "Transfer" feature to create a payment transfer from your payment source account (e.g. chequing) to your credit card account. Then, when you download the two bank transactions for the payment from the chequing and the payment to credit card, each of these will respectively match one end of the pre-entered transfer.

In terms of timeline, let's say my Credit Card statement is published on the 21st of each month. On the 22nd of the month, I would reconcile the credit card statement and then log into my bank account and set up a post dated transfer from my savings/chequing account to my credit card account on, or shortly before the due date. I would also, immediately, use Quicken's Transfer feature to create the payment transfer in the Quicken registers. Once the post-dated transaction date comes along, the two payment (out and in) transactions will download and match the pre-entered transfer.

This is a best practice and works well.

Thanks, but not acceptable for me.  I don't make transactions and I'm not about to start.  Way too much work for little payback.  I simply download.  All I am interested in is how to easily modify the transactions once they have been downloaded on order to keep the balances correct. 
 

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

I am not "paying the bill."  Everything is paid automatically through ach on the due date.  I am simply downloading transactions so I have a record.  But it downloads twice, once from the checking and once from the credit card company.

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Three SuperUsers are struggling to understand your "problem". This suggests that you might benefit from providing additional detail, e.g. screen shots of the issue.

My instinctive reaction is... yes, there are two sides to a payment transaction, one side on the source account and one side on the receiving account. All is good... but, I fully expect you'll respond indicating that it isn't working correctly.

Rocket J Squirrel

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

All of your credit card purchases should show as Charges in your credit card account. You should have one single Transfer from checking to credit card each month.

Are you saying your credit card purchases are appearing in your checking account as well as in your credit card account?

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Make that four SuperUsers who can't wrap their head around the issue as described.

volvogirl

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

If you’re not paying the bill then who is? Of course you are paying the bill. Either by check or automatically. But the payment is coming out of your checking account (or some other account). The payment transaction should be a Transfer to the credit card account. If it’s not then you need to change the category on the payment to be a Transfer. Then if it also downloads the same payment to your credit card account you need to delete that one.


Oh is the expense showing up twice in reports? You can exclude the Transfers from reports.

NotACPA

@Cindi: I'm not sure that I clearly understand the problem from your description. What I can say is that, with good practices, you won't end up with duplicate entries and/or incorrect balances. In my opinion, the best practice is to use Quicken's "Transfer" feature to create a payment transfer from your payment source account (e.g. chequing) to your credit card account. Then, when you download the two bank transactions for the payment from the chequing and the payment to credit card, each of these will respectively match one end of the pre-entered transfer.

In terms of timeline, let's say my Credit Card statement is published on the 21st of each month. On the 22nd of the month, I would reconcile the credit card statement and then log into my bank account and set up a post dated transfer from my savings/chequing account to my credit card account on, or shortly before the due date. I would also, immediately, use Quicken's Transfer feature to create the payment transfer in the Quicken registers. Once the post-dated transaction date comes along, the two payment (out and in) transactions will download and match the pre-entered transfer.

This is a best practice and works well.

But, your checking transactions should download ONLY into your checking account ... and your credit card transactions should download ONLY into your credit card account.
One transaction that will download into both of those accounts is the monthly payment ... which will be a debit in checking and a credit in credit card.
Is that not happening? 

How are you determining that the balances aren't correct?  What are you comparing to what to determine "not correct"?

NotACPA

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Cindi,
Is it possible that what you're calling a "credit card" is actually a debit card ... where those transactions are, properly, downloading into your checking account?

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

With all due respect, because I appreciate the attempts to help, 3 superusers did not read my question closely in which I specifically said I am downloading transactions, not entering transactions.  

Also, as I stated, credit card payments are showing up in both accounts.  Not credit card transactions.

So to clarify further, the payment downloads from my checking account and subtracts from my balance.  And the payment shows in my credit card account.  But those two don't link together as a "transfer" so QB knows there is one transaction.  Sometimes QB seems to match up those transactions, but other times not.  Maybe that's because the dates sometimes vary by a few days?   I saw one post about manual matching of transactions, but I don't see that in my menu on (latest version of desktop quicken), so maybe it's in a different place?  

I could just leave them unlinked, but then the credit card payment shows up in spending categories (and the underlying transactions are already in the spending categories.)  So I need to categories to be "transfers" so they don't get added again to spending.  

Rocket J Squirrel

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

I think I understand now. You need to tell Quicken to detect transfers so that the payment from checking to credit card is entered correctly as a transfer. This is a user preference under Edit > Preferences > Transfer Detection.

Cindi Anderson

@Cindi: I'm not sure that I clearly understand the problem from your description. What I can say is that, with good practices, you won't end up with duplicate entries and/or incorrect balances. In my opinion, the best practice is to use Quicken's "Transfer" feature to create a payment transfer from your payment source account (e.g. chequing) to your credit card account. Then, when you download the two bank transactions for the payment from the chequing and the payment to credit card, each of these will respectively match one end of the pre-entered transfer.

In terms of timeline, let's say my Credit Card statement is published on the 21st of each month. On the 22nd of the month, I would reconcile the credit card statement and then log into my bank account and set up a post dated transfer from my savings/chequing account to my credit card account on, or shortly before the due date. I would also, immediately, use Quicken's Transfer feature to create the payment transfer in the Quicken registers. Once the post-dated transaction date comes along, the two payment (out and in) transactions will download and match the pre-entered transfer.

This is a best practice and works well.

Yes, as I stated, I am talking about credit card PAYMENTS, not credit card transactions.  Please see my latest clarification below.  And as far as balances, compared to the actual balance at the bank (in the cases when the transactions are double counting.)

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

We did read your description carefully. My response involved entering and downloading transactions, which is a best practice.

The root of your problem is that you are not manually entering the transfer before downloading the matching pair of transfer payments. That is the solution, never mind the best practice. Quicken may not reliably detect the two ends of the payment as a transfer if you do not manually enter the transfer.

I enter very few transaction manually, but one type of transaction I always enter manually, to facilitate proper matching, is precisely the type of payment under discussion. Most transactions do not need to be entered manually if you are downloading, but transfers, which include payments from a chequing account to a savings account, is best entered first manually and the matched to downloaded transactions.

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Thank you!  I see mine is set to Automatic.  Do you think I can keep it more accurate if I select the Confirm option?

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

I have transfer detection turned on, but it does not work 100% reliably. What is 100% reliable is to manually enter the CC payment as a transfer and then the downloaded transactions will match reliably.

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Confirm will help prevent something that shouldn't be a transfer being recorded as a transfer. Confirm will not help something be detected as a transfer. What will help ensure detection as a transfer is manually entering the payment transfer (when you get your statement). Seriously, it takes 2 seconds and avoids the problem. I'm not advocating manual entry of all transactions!

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Arctic Hare, OK, but your answer didn't make clear that you understood the issue.  A clear answer would have been "Transfers can be problematic if you don't enter them ahead of time before downloading."  OK, thanks, that is good to know.  It tells me I'm not set up wrong or doing something wrong (although the previous answer told me about transfer detection which does seem to be important.)  However there are still ways to fix them after the fact, and I am just looking for the best way.  

The most obvious of course is to delete one and make the other a transfer to the right account.  But I am always concerned the next download from that account will add it back in.  Is that something to be concerned with, or does it handle that so it doesn't happen?

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Sorry Arctic Hare, I understand that is best but I'm not going to do it.  I have 15 credit cards downloading, sometimes 2 payments on each in a month.  I don't even know when the payments happen unless I log into the accounts to see, and enter them before downloading.  Which is the whole reason I started downloading, so I didn't have to log into 8 different credit card systems.

Rocket J Squirrel

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

The absolute best practice is to Reconcile your credit card accounts monthly in Quicken. At the end of the reconciliation, Quicken will ask how you want to pay the credit card bill. In your case, the answer would be "handwritten check." This causes Quicken to generate the transfer transaction from checking to credit card. Then when the ACH payment is downloaded, it will match the transfer that Quicken created.

This would all be a lot simpler if you had fewer credit cards. I find one of each - AmEx, Mastercard, and Visa - to be sufficient.

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

I get $5k+ of free travel each year through optimization of credit card miles & points.  

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

If you delete a downloaded transaction it will NOT be re-downloaded. When you delete a downloaded transaction, the Quicken database (in a location that you can't see as a user) retains a record of the Downloaded ID of the deleted transaction - specific to that account). When transactions are downloaded, Quicken will ignore, and not present to you, any transactions where the Downloaded IDs match with Downloaded IDs associated with transactions in the register or transactions that have been previously downloaded and "deleted". I put "deleted" in quote marks because Quicken remembers that the transaction was previously downloaded even after it is deleted.

Note: Downloaded IDs should be constant/unique to a transaction, but, there are exceptions to every rule. Under certain situations a new Download ID can be assigned and this leads to duplicate transactions. This is not normally a problem and I wouldn't worry about it with respect to the situation you describe.

What I would probably do in your situation is, once the pair of transactions are downloaded, I would go to the source account and check whether the transaction got recorded as a transfer. If not, I would change the category to make it a transfer. Then, I would go to the receiving account and make sure that there is only one payment received, and that is the double ended transfer.

Of course, I would, in practice do none of that... because... I expect you are going to continue to have problems until you begin manually entering the payment transfer transaction manually in advance. With that many credit cards and payments, I can see the potential for Quicken to get confused. All the more reason to follow best practice.

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Good to know.  Thanks.   To confirm, there is no "manual matching" of transactions, where you could choose 2 and say they are a transfer?  You just make select one to make a transfer and then delete the other?

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

$5K of benefits on what total value of external spend? i.e. what is your return on spend?

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

No, there is no way to manually match transactions into a transfer. That is the issue. That is why I advocate for manual pre-entry of the transfer.

Once you correct the source transaction, if I remember correctly my experience, Quicken might (but won't necessarily/reliably) detect the other end of the transfer and ask you if it should make the pair of transactions into a transfer. This is that "confirm" feature in practice. Regardless, I would manually go to the receiving account and make sure all is in good order.

Cindi Anderson

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

I average around 7%.

mshiggins

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Well then it ought to be worth it to you to set up reminders for the credit card payments that can be set to automatically enter themselves in your account register prior to your downloading transactions. A small initial effort, no follow on effort, and no time spent trying to sort out duplicated downloaded payments.

mshiggins

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

Well then it ought to be worth it to you to set up reminders for the credit card payments that can be set to automatically enter themselves in your account register prior to your downloading transactions. A small initial effort, no follow on effort, and no time spent trying to sort out duplicated downloaded payments.

Arctic Hare

I didn’t understand your problem either. But Just in case you are doing it the wrong way,


The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account. Then when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.



When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this... [credit card] or newer versions have a Transfer column.



I used to do it the wrong way for years! Then I wised up and now enter them properly. I would split my credit card payment into all the categories on one transaction in my checking account. And since I always pay more than the bill I would need to figure the difference and put it to another category. But then I needed to have them entered on the date the charges actually happened. So I finally set up a credit card account. It makes it much easier to enter and balance!

7% is high. Very high, actually. Can that be achieved without employing a kiting scheme? Can that be achieved legally? Rhetorical questions, I suppose.

I can't imagine the effort involved in the chasing that kind of ROS on cc benefits. I (for the most part) restrict myself to one card with a high % cash back. I don't hit 7%, obviously, but with zero effort, it provides a nice cash deposit with no restriction on when, where, or how I spend it. Point returns are higher than cash back, but they come with strings/conditions, even if they say no strings/restrictions.

Each to their own... I can't imagine spending time chasing CC benefits. But, good on you for hitting 7%. Maybe you'll write a how to book someday?