AutoPaying credit card - How to record the Bank's auto-withdrawl & concurrent credit card payment

PutterFlutters

I'm trying to learn/devise an automated methodology to record the process whereby a Credit Card is "AutoPaid". i.e. The bank automatically deducts the outstanding balance from the previous statement and then credits that amount to the respective credit card. Separate Banks for the payment and the credit cards.

All of the transactions (purchases & payments) are auto downloaded which seems to eliminate several of the previously suggested process.

When the bank's current statement is constructed it tells what the next months payment will be and I would have plenty of time to edit an upcoming scheduled transaction. Balances are paid in full.

I've played with this at length but I seem to be missing something. I bet the answer is there but I just don't see it.

Thanks in advance.

John_in_NC

Norm:

You can still view Quicken as a glorified check register: Any transaction you manually enter will/can always be matched to a downloaded one.

Your single scheduled transfer transaction, when "marked as paid" will post to both your checking and credit card accounts. You do this when find out what the amount for that month's bill is, and it will post the transaction to the account just as if you wrote it down the paper ledger few of us remember. That is what "marked as paid means"-it posts it to your register. And then, then downloaded transactions will match to those to confirm what you entered. Follow?

Downloads should auto-match. If they don't, you simply drag the downloaded one atop the one you manually entered and your nomenclature will take preference. (Payee, category, etc.) Don't delete the downloaded transaction if it doesn't auto match. Quicken will learn your matching style.

I don't know of any situations where matching (accepting) a transaction results in questions about how much you spent last month. That is more in reporting.

John_in_NC

You didn't mention why this failed in the past: This is a simple scheduled transaction setup.

You setup a scheduled transaction that is a transfer between the accounts for the date desired. 

You mentioned getting the balance from your statement, so I assume you are not attempting to use online biller. You don't need to.

Simply mark the scheduled transaction as paid with the current balance amount, and the downloaded transactions should match to that when they post.

Please post back where you are running into problems with this process.

PutterFlutters

Hi John and thanks... That is what I thought I was doing but it never did what I expected. I am a new Mac user after several decades of Quicken/Windows. If I try to apply my old windows logic to a current Mac situation I frequently get in trouble.

Not sure if you ever saw the old Pogo comic strip but on of the best lines used there was.... " we have met the enemy and he is us".

Anyway.... I gave up this effort a few months ago so time and frustration have clouded the details.

Recently I have been enlightened about viewing future scheduled transactions and discovered that in several cases I have mistakenly created a duplicate scheduled or duplicate individual transaction....

I am going to try again, take baby steps, and keep better track of what I done.

so I refer you to Pogo again... sorta.... " I have met the enemy and he is me"

P.S. another error that comes to mind was that I had what I thought was a legitimate scheduled "Bill" transaction and when the time came I would get a download of that "Bill" but it would appear as a separate transaction. I learned there all I had to do was select the new download and drag it on top of the "scheduled" transaction.

P.P.S. Yesterday I discovered how to view future scheduled transactions .... that is proving both enlightening and embarrassing. :-/
At this point this is like trying to straighten out a bowl of overcooked spaghetti.

Thanks again.

PutterFlutters

OK.. now it is coming back to me.....
1. The Credit Card Company auto withdraws the balance due of last statement from my checking account.

(That reduces my balance on my CHECKING account but I don't see a way to auto record that being a payment/transfer to my. CREDIT CARD account as well.)

2. A day or two later I down load the payment to the CREDIT CARD.

I think I now realize the simple way to do this is to just live with those to transaction, each with their individual "scheduled transactions".

I was trying to generate a "Scheduled Transfer" ... which I now believe doesn't exist.

I'm trying to create a single Quicken process which would do both but it doesn't seem doable then or now.

As I said above... it now seem simpler to live with two seperate "scheduled transactions".

If any one might have another process I love to hear it.

John_in_NC

I believe the step you are missing is setting your scheduled transaction up as a transfer transaction. It should look roughly like this (screenshot from my checking account:)



I "mark that schedule transaction as paid" with the updated amount. Downloaded transaction then match on both sides of the transaction. (i.e. one in the checking account, another in the CC.)

You could do it with two separate scheduled transactions, but the transfer makes a single transaction that will be identical in both accounts.

PutterFlutters

"I think" I understand the general concept but still working on understanding the details.

Let me see if I can work through this.
When the transaction (CC Co withdraws payment from Bank) comes in you manually mark as paid the scheduled transaction above.

I am wondering what happens the 2 downloaded transactions:
1. CC Co Withdrawal
2. The credit against the CC Outsanding Balance
Do you just delete them?

I'm asking because I really want to get more information out of Quicken.

For decades I have been using Quicken as a glorified check book balancing system as well as watching the other type accounts. I am now trying to get a better understanding of my financial situation and finding that some of the thing I might do would really muddy the waters.

For instance.. Previously my just accepting the down loaded transactions would provide an erroneous answer to question like "How much did you spend last month". In that case I would seem to have both a credit card payment and the charges for CC purchases. Seems to me that would double count....

The transfer would seem to avoid that "IF" I just delete the relevant downloads as well. Correct?

Additionally I think I really need to understand what "Mark as Paid" really does.

Boy ... I really miss the limited hard copy documentation.

Thank you very much for your time and efforts.
Norm in FL

John_in_NC

Norm:

You can still view Quicken as a glorified check register: Any transaction you manually enter will/can always be matched to a downloaded one.

Your single scheduled transfer transaction, when "marked as paid" will post to both your checking and credit card accounts. You do this when find out what the amount for that month's bill is, and it will post the transaction to the account just as if you wrote it down the paper ledger few of us remember. That is what "marked as paid means"-it posts it to your register. And then, then downloaded transactions will match to those to confirm what you entered. Follow?

Downloads should auto-match. If they don't, you simply drag the downloaded one atop the one you manually entered and your nomenclature will take preference. (Payee, category, etc.) Don't delete the downloaded transaction if it doesn't auto match. Quicken will learn your matching style.

I don't know of any situations where matching (accepting) a transaction results in questions about how much you spent last month. That is more in reporting.

PutterFlutters

Afternoon John

"I THINK" I am pretty close to comprehension.

Pretty sure I understand the scheduled transfer & mark as paid. It sit there waiting for the banks action which is reported in Quicken. Then that scheduled transaction is marked as paid with after confirming the amount.

Also sitting there are two (one for bank, one for credit card) and'll they are auto/drag matched with incoming transactions.

I'm looking forward to next one to come in. Also going to have to get smart on reporting.

Thank you again for your time and effort. Both are greatly appreciated.

John_in_NC

Norm, you're figuring it out. :-)

Note: you can always mark a scheduled transaction as paid in advance. For example, I do this when my electric bill comes and I know it will be auto-drafted in 3 weeks. I adjust amount/date to post and all is well.

Alternatively, I could do nothing. The downloaded transaction will match to my scheduled transaction and mark it as paid automatically.