Re : Credit card payments end up in wrong CC register

Toootall68

Hi !! Just started to autopay all my credit card payments through one checking account I have . The CCs (credit cards ... ) transactions are downloaded to Quicken R32.12 in individual accounts and I manually input the checking account transactions ( don't like how the Payee is not specified in the downloaded version ... ) via the printed Bank statement I receive through the mail ( not downloaded ... ) Since all the CCs are autopaid they sometimes end up in different CC accounts ( they seem to have a transfer to them ie CC name {Slate 1} but end up in the wrong register anyway ... ) I enter everything in the checking register as an EFT in the num field if it doesn't have a check # associated w/ it . Is this what's causing these transactions to appear in different registers and if so what should be in the Checking #/ Num field when inputting these transactions ?? Thanks for your help !!!

UKR

In case you have issues with transfer transactions not being generated correctly from downloaded transactions:

For best results manually enter transfer transactions into your register BEFORE you download transactions from the bank which contain the transfer confirmations. For recurring transfers use scheduled reminders and enter them a day or two before the due date. Be sure to use distinct Payee Names for each transfer / credit card payment to avoid confusing Quicken - memorized payee entries.
That takes the guesswork out of the download process. Because a correctly entered transfer transaction already exists in your account registers, Quicken should just match the downloaded transfer transaction to the existing one in both accounts.

Toootall68

Thanks for your response UKR !! I think I understand what you're talking about but I think this is different and frankly doesn't it defeat the whole purpose of automating all of this ?? So what I do is every few days I will download all the credit card transactions into their individual Quicken accounts . Except for an occasional glitch I have no problem downloading them into the right accounts . And when the bank statement comes once a month I will manually input all the debits from the credit card accounts into Quicken ( along with Check # , deposits etc ... ) and that's when it happens . It'll put a payment from one credit card into another cc account ... I do put "EFT " in the check # / Num field ( I don't see any other Num field that I can use ... ) and wondered whether that has anything to do w/it . All the autopays on the printed bank statement don't seem to have any identifying markers except the bank name . Thoughts ?? This has only started happening when I automated all my Credit Cards to debit out of my checking account ...

Chris_QPW

Toootall68 said:

Thanks for your response UKR !! I think I understand what you're talking about but I think this is different and frankly doesn't it defeat the whole purpose of automating all of this ?? So what I do is every few days I will download all the credit card transactions into their individual Quicken accounts . Except for an occasional glitch I have no problem downloading them into the right accounts . And when the bank statement comes once a month I will manually input all the debits from the credit card accounts into Quicken ( along with Check # , deposits etc ... ) and that's when it happens . It'll put a payment from one credit card into another cc account ... I do put "EFT " in the check # / Num field ( I don't see any other Num field that I can use ... ) and wondered whether that has anything to do w/it . 

I'm very confused about your process.  Most people that manual enter transactions, would do that first and then download matching to those transactions.  You seem to be doing that in reverse, which doesn't make any sense especially if you manually entered the same transactions again you would have duplicate transactions.
What I'm I missing here?

Next putting EFT in the check # field does nothing, the important part is what do you do with the category field?  There should be one transaction that is a transfer that pays off the credit card.  As in if you are in the checking account the category is [Credit Card Account Name] (the account name in square brackets.

Toootall68 said:

 All the autopays on the printed bank statement don't seem to have any identifying markers except the bank name . Thoughts ?? This has only started happening when I automated all my Credit Cards to debit out of my checking account ...

This is exactly where the "automation" breaks down and the recommendation of pre-entering transfers comes in.  If you can't find anything that identifies a given transfer how is Quicken suppose to do it for you automatically? 

There is this:


Which kicks in after you have finished the downloading of transactions, but as you noted there isn't any real indication of what is a transfer or to what account.  So how does Quicken perform this magic?
It is a guess and nothing more.  As in it looks for a deposit and a withdraw for the same amount in two downloaded accounts on about the same date, and if it finds them it guesses that they are a transfer.  That is why it is very important that if you use this procedure you have the confirm on.  But even better is to pre-enter the transfer and then just match the downloaded transactions.

Note if you confirm that a given set of transactions (withdraw and deposit) is a transfer Quicken changes them from two separate transactions to one transfer transaction.

Chris_QPW

Rereading your "process".   First off it sounds like you are downloading all of your credit cards into their own accounts, but not your checking account.  Is that true, and is there a reason for that?

Also you say you are making transfers from one credit card to another.  Are you really paying off one credit card with another?

NotACPA

IF the user isn't paying off the credit card(s) in full ... I can see making the payment from a card with a lower interest rate.

Toootall68

Morning Chris !! Hey the reason why I download the credit cards in their own accounts is to keep track of them for tax purposes in Quicken . The only duplicate transaction in all the Credit Card accounts and the Quicken checking account is the monthly payment for each credit card that debits from my own personaI checking account . So I then add all the transactions from the printed statement from my bank in the Quicken checking account once a month and then reconcile . I think the tip about confirming transfers before entering them in the register will definitely help me now . You know I’d download my personal checking account into the Quicken checking account but found that the “payee” is not “specified “ ( it only loads by CK # and doesn’t name the payee which doesn't help me in flagging a tax related item … ) and once you reconcile the checkbook by paper statement ( instead of the online Quicken statement … ) you can’t go back ( at least in the older versions of Quicken … ) This is all about running a tax report at the end of the year for me to complete my taxes in TurboTax . Thanks Chris for your help !!!!

PS I’m definitely NOT paying off one CC for another .Guess the Xfers happen when the CC payment is found in the checking account and like you said Quicken doesn’t know which account to apply it to …