Credit Cards, Budgets, and Adjustments Oh My!!!
Options
ThomasWJames
Member ✭
So I was using Quicken for Mac with zero problems. I had everything perfect the way I wanted. Everything up to date and budget fine. That is until my Mac decided to die on me. I now have a PC and use Quicken there.
My question is on keeping track and categorizing credit card payments in the budget. Particularly I have two credit cards. One has a balance, but I don’t use it, however, a minimum payment is still required and I budget for this and created a category. I always pay the interest + $100 and on the Mac I was able to show this transaction on the budget because I created a category, say Visa CC with Visa CC interest and Visa CC minimum as subcategories. On the credit card register I would categorize the interest as Visa CC Interest and then on my checking account under the transfer I would split and categorize the $100 as Visa CC minimum and the interest I would be able to select “Adjustment” and this would allow for it to pay the credit card but not double dip in the budget. I can’t seem to be able to select “Adjustment” in Windows as it just doesn’t exist and if I create it myself it either has to go as an income or expense.
My second credit card also has a balance but that one I use everyday. I track all expenses as categories there. I pay all new expenses off at the end of the month so the transfer functions works fine there. I also categorize the interest as Amex CC interest. However, I also like to budget $155 to pay off the balance that’s there already. Again on Mac I was able to create a split that would look like like this:
$155 - Amex CC Minimum
$whatever interest - “Adjustment” note Amex CC Interest
The rest - “Adjustment” note new monthly expenses paid.
This worked perfectly! The balances on my checking and credit cards evened out and marched online and I was also able to budget the interest as an expense AND a minimum payment which to a family budget IS an expense in a way. I understand it’s a cash flow but for budgeting reasons the minimum or whatever one chooses to pay every month has to be budgeted from total income.
How come I’m not able to do this on Windows. My only two Orion’s are transfers which don’t show up on the budget and if I categorize the payment transfer as a category I created the credit card register doesn’t get updated and shows incorrect balance.
I tried using the show transfer as expense and this could work for the credit card I don’t use. However, if I categorize the interest in that CC register and then transfer over a payment that’s pays off the minimum + interest I now have interest doubled as an expense in the budget.
The budget feature to me is important as it’s how I see the household expenses and income. I also love the circle graphs so I see how much I’m spending in each category but hate that sometimes some things go uncategorized in this case if I don’t set a category to CC interest it just gets left uncategorised which is weird to me then I have to figure out what the heck it is.
I’m not sure if this made any sense but someone please help. I’ve been at this for 24 hours straight, and when I say straight I mean I didn’t sleep!
My question is on keeping track and categorizing credit card payments in the budget. Particularly I have two credit cards. One has a balance, but I don’t use it, however, a minimum payment is still required and I budget for this and created a category. I always pay the interest + $100 and on the Mac I was able to show this transaction on the budget because I created a category, say Visa CC with Visa CC interest and Visa CC minimum as subcategories. On the credit card register I would categorize the interest as Visa CC Interest and then on my checking account under the transfer I would split and categorize the $100 as Visa CC minimum and the interest I would be able to select “Adjustment” and this would allow for it to pay the credit card but not double dip in the budget. I can’t seem to be able to select “Adjustment” in Windows as it just doesn’t exist and if I create it myself it either has to go as an income or expense.
My second credit card also has a balance but that one I use everyday. I track all expenses as categories there. I pay all new expenses off at the end of the month so the transfer functions works fine there. I also categorize the interest as Amex CC interest. However, I also like to budget $155 to pay off the balance that’s there already. Again on Mac I was able to create a split that would look like like this:
$155 - Amex CC Minimum
$whatever interest - “Adjustment” note Amex CC Interest
The rest - “Adjustment” note new monthly expenses paid.
This worked perfectly! The balances on my checking and credit cards evened out and marched online and I was also able to budget the interest as an expense AND a minimum payment which to a family budget IS an expense in a way. I understand it’s a cash flow but for budgeting reasons the minimum or whatever one chooses to pay every month has to be budgeted from total income.
How come I’m not able to do this on Windows. My only two Orion’s are transfers which don’t show up on the budget and if I categorize the payment transfer as a category I created the credit card register doesn’t get updated and shows incorrect balance.
I tried using the show transfer as expense and this could work for the credit card I don’t use. However, if I categorize the interest in that CC register and then transfer over a payment that’s pays off the minimum + interest I now have interest doubled as an expense in the budget.
The budget feature to me is important as it’s how I see the household expenses and income. I also love the circle graphs so I see how much I’m spending in each category but hate that sometimes some things go uncategorized in this case if I don’t set a category to CC interest it just gets left uncategorised which is weird to me then I have to figure out what the heck it is.
I’m not sure if this made any sense but someone please help. I’ve been at this for 24 hours straight, and when I say straight I mean I didn’t sleep!
0
Comments
-
Hello @ThomasWJames,
Thank you for providing the details of this issue to the Community, although I apologize that you have not yet received a response.
It appears that Quicken for Windows does not support the categorization of a "transfer", nor the ability to create any other type of "neutral" category.
One workaround you could try is to create a cash account that is used for no other purpose than the "transfer" category you would use for the specific transactions you'd like excluded from the Budget.
You can then exclude the entire cash account from the Budget, as well as hide it in the Account Bar, Account List, and Reports.
You may also consider creating an Idea post requesting that Quicken for Windows add a separate "neutral" category that is not the current "transfer" option, only allowing you to transfer funds between accounts.
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7849425/creating-and-voting-for-ideas-in-the-community
Our developer's review Idea threads to get an idea of what people would like Quicken to offer.
I hope this helps!
-Quicken Natalie
0
This discussion has been closed.