How to add a Credit Card w/out downloading past transactions?

ShellyMMM

I only want to load future transactions for 2021, since I already spent hours categorizing past CC transactions in the account ledger. I have been using Quicken for years but didn't know about this capability. Please help! This has been agonizing...

Frankx

Hi @ShellyMMM,

If you are setting up the credit card account for downloading for the first time - it will usually download all transactions for the prior 3 months (and for some financial institutions it may be more than 3 months).  But you don't need to have all those transactions appear in your Quicken account.  You can control which transactions get added transactions by doing the following BEFORE you do the first download:

1) Go to "Edit" > "preferences" > "Downloaded transactions";
2) In the window pane on the right  - make sure that "Automatically add to banking registers" is NOT checked.  See the Snip below.


Then connect to the credit card and download transactions.  After you do that, open up the credit card account and you'll likely see a number of transactions in the "Downloaded transactions" window.  You should accept any new transactions (that you have not entered manually) and after that, simply delete any that are duplicates.  Then for the future, you'll only see new transactions in that window.

Let me know if you have any followups.

Frankx

Sherlock

If you don't want to download transactions, add the account as an offline account.  If you want to download transactions but don't want to accept all of the transactions initially imported, you may delete the range of the imported transactions you don't want accept.  Subsequent downloads should not present the transactions again.

ShellyMMM

Frankx... I have categorized all the transactions through splitting the Chase or CitiBank amount that gets downloaded by my bank to my checking account. I put the category first, then sometimes a tag or memo, then the amount. So it's not going to look anything like the transax that would be downloaded from Chase into a CC account I set up. So maybe I just don't accept any of them for those few past months? Is that possible?

I am used to managing the CC transax by month, not as they come in. I don't want them populating the register as they come in. I don't even know how to get them into the register if I set up an account, without messing up what is already in my account registers. Or do the individual transax then not go into the register? That's where I have them now... set up as explained above.

I could attach a screen shot, but I don't see an option to attach anything when leaving a post... :/

Frankx

Hi again @ShellyMMM,

You asked "So maybe I just don't accept any of them for those few past months? Is that possible?" and the answer is YES.  That's what I was proposing above, and I think its the best way of transitioning. 

Once you setup the accounts for downloading, you can decide when you want to download and do it at the end of the month if that's what you are used to. I think that you'll find that the downloaded transactions will look similar to the manual ones you've been making - and yes - you'll only need to "accept" the transactions and they will then appear in your register, similar to what you've been doing manually.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Frankx

ShellyMMM

Hey Frank! I did what you suggested and I got my first credit card added. Thanks! So I categorized the transactions that I hadn't done yet and now they are in the account. Now, do I have to memorize the payees so that future transactions will give the payee the default category I want? I did memorize one payee with a split (50% personal/50% business), but my $$ advisor helping me (who had watched a full Quicken video) believes that Quicken will categorize automatically with time. I think I should memorize the payee with the category that will usually apply (e.g., Amazon -- Supplies; ABC Hospital -- Medical). I obviously don't want to have to categorize every time. Also, does Quicken have the ability to assign presumptive categories? Such as Rite Aid -- Medicine. That would save a lot of time.

I have many payees memorized for my checking accounts (incl downloaded payees), so just wondering how that works for the downloaded credit card transax. Thanks so much for your info!