How do you make a loan payment in 2020 for the Mac?

fleonhardt

Just upgraded from 2007 to 2020 for the Mac last week. The conversion went well. Today I went to make a loan payment. All of the loan information was there. I even added in the property taxes and extra principal. But then I went to click on a "make payment" button (or "use" in 2007) and there is none. A quick search suggested that there should be a Make Loan Payment button. But now I'm worried that that button is only in Windows. Then I found a post here from a person who also upgraded from 2007 for the Mac. She writes: "A feature I've been using for 25 years is completely missing in new Quicken—both Mac and Windows." Can this be true? Really? [removed-inaccurate] Making a loan payment is a very basic and necessary feature, one that us 2007 users have enjoyed for decades. Please tell me that this is not true. What a huge step backwards. One more thing to not like about 2020. Why ask me to categorize my property tax charge in the loan details area if that information is not going to be used anywhere? Baffling! And I did call tech support and they were equally baffled. So, how do you make a loan payment in Quicken 2020 for the Mac? And to add insult to injury, I was told by tech support that there is no online manual for 2020. Without my 2007 background I would be completely lost. I'd hate to be a newbie.

J_Mike

You need to create a Bill Reminder for your loan payment.

Open the loan account in the register.
At super left, select Edit won and Payment Terms.
A dialog opens to Loan Details view.
Select the Bill Reminder view (top center of dialog).
Select desired Reminder Type - (suggest Detailed).
Select Save.

You should now see a scheduled reminder under the Bills & Income tab.

Post back if you have further questions.

fleonhardt

This is a kludge work around at best. So-called "old" Quicken users (i.e., 2007 and before) have used a tried and true method of handling loans for decades. As another community member who upgraded from old to new put it, "How did new Quicken get every aspect of loan handling wrong that old Quicken got right?" I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. In old Quicken, loans are their own separate entity. You get a sense for this when you look at the loan details in "new" Quicken. You would pick a loan from a list of loans. A window would open that would show you loan details (not unlike new Quicken). You could then add things like additional principal, and make changes to items collected in escrow like taxes and insurance. Once things were setup you would click a button labeled "use." This transaction would then be entered, with all of the appropriate splits, into the account window that was open at the time. This allows you to use any account to pay that month's mortgage payment whether a checking account or even a credit card account. In old Quicken, the loan entity controls how the loan payment transaction gets setup and entered, not a reminder (which still baffles me). And when a transaction is created or "used" the loan status is updated.

Using a reminder makes absolutely no sense at all. A reminder assumes that none of the expenses associated with a loan change, like additional principal or even the amount taken out for the escrow account. In addition, it assumes that you make loan payments from the same account each time. A reminder is a canned transaction that is divorced from the loan itself. I realize that new Quicken does not have the same exact feature set as old Quicken, but changing how Quicken handles loans is simply bad programming form. Using a reminder does not instill confidence at all. I would say that properly tracking a home mortgage loan is extremely important. It is to me. Please, bring back the old method. You are almost there. Just put a "use" or "make payment" button in the loan details area and us old users will be happy campers. Thanks.

jacobs

@fleonhardt  I want to point out a few things that may not completely satisfy what you're looking for, but might help…

When you create a scheduled transaction, you can certainly include whatever split lines you wish, including extra principal payments (a split line to transfer to the loan liability account), edit escrow amounts, etc. You can make one-time changes without affecting future transactions, or you can edit the scheduled transaction for the next and all future transactions. 

You can create a monthly scheduled transaction for, say the third Saturday in a month or the 21st of the month, but this shows up asa  gray transaction in your register and is not recorded as a real transaction until you mark it Paid -- at which time you can change the date as needed to match the real payment date instead of the scheduled date.

Additionally, the Quicken product manager posted after this latest release that more changes to loan payments are forthcoming which sound like it will make the process more up front for users:

The way Quicken Windows and Quicken Mac, in the not too distant future, will handle complex loan payments is there will be a special "loan" payment option. This way you can budget the full payment but continue to have a split where the principal is a transfer to the loan account and interest and other costs are tracked as category expenses.  We realize this is one of the top reasons customers have expressed they wanted the ability to budget transfers but it's actually more complicated because of the split. This is a top feature priority.

I'm not sure whether that applies solely to budgeting for loan payments, or actually making loan payments, but it's clearly an area they are working on.