Quicken displays bills and utilities as credits not debits

gringojosh

Just getting started with Quicken, but once it accessed my information it displayed all my spending on bills and utilities as credits, so my annual spending was off by a lot. Is there a way to fix this?

Boatnmaniac

@gringojosh - OK, I see your concern now.  I'm guessing that your Spending report is double counting your bills and/or which accounts are being included in your Spending report/graph or that some transactions are mis-categorized.  This is not a problem with Quicken.  It is simply a reflection of how transactions have been categorized and/or which categories are included in the Spending report.

To start troubleshooting this:

1. There should be a Gear icon toward the upper right corner that was not captured in the snapshot file you attached.  Click on Gear icon > Accounts > All Accounts.
2. Then click on Gear icon > Accounts > Custom.  If you have any Assets and/or Liabilities checked, uncheck them..  Make sure all your Bank, Credit and Cash accounts are checked.  If you have Investing accounts that you use for spending (paying bills, etc.), check those as well.  Then click "OK". 
   

Does your Spending graph now look right now?  

If not and you are still seeing that negative dollar amount, double click on that dollar amount and the transactions included in it will show up in a register below the graph.  What are you seeing?  Specifically, what categories are showing and should they have been categorized differently?  For instance, was a transaction categorized with an expense category when it should have been categorized as an income category?  If you find a transaction with the wrong category, double click on it to go to the actual transaction and correct the category.

Let me know if this fixes your issue or not.  If not, we can explore other steps to take to resolve this issue.

Boatnmaniac

Hi, @gringojosh .  Can you provide more detail as to what you are seeing?  Is this in an account register?  What kind of account?  In a report?  What would really be helpful is if you could take a screenshot of the issue you are seeing (black or gray out any personal or confidential information), save it as a picture file and then attach the file (icon circled in red...disregard the blue circled icon).

gringojosh

Hi, here is a screenshot. I outlined the "bills and utilities" in red.

UKR

Another screenshot, please.
This time can you show us the transaction details categorized to bills and utilitities, please?
I'd like to make sure that they are really recorded as charges / withdrawals and not deposits.

Boatnmaniac

@gringojosh - OK, I see your concern now.  I'm guessing that your Spending report is double counting your bills and/or which accounts are being included in your Spending report/graph or that some transactions are mis-categorized.  This is not a problem with Quicken.  It is simply a reflection of how transactions have been categorized and/or which categories are included in the Spending report.

To start troubleshooting this:

1. There should be a Gear icon toward the upper right corner that was not captured in the snapshot file you attached.  Click on Gear icon > Accounts > All Accounts.
2. Then click on Gear icon > Accounts > Custom.  If you have any Assets and/or Liabilities checked, uncheck them..  Make sure all your Bank, Credit and Cash accounts are checked.  If you have Investing accounts that you use for spending (paying bills, etc.), check those as well.  Then click "OK". 
   

Does your Spending graph now look right now?  

If not and you are still seeing that negative dollar amount, double click on that dollar amount and the transactions included in it will show up in a register below the graph.  What are you seeing?  Specifically, what categories are showing and should they have been categorized differently?  For instance, was a transaction categorized with an expense category when it should have been categorized as an income category?  If you find a transaction with the wrong category, double click on it to go to the actual transaction and correct the category.

Let me know if this fixes your issue or not.  If not, we can explore other steps to take to resolve this issue.