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Credit card account balance mischief: how to fix?

VelaFella

Charges for purchases are treated as deductions from my balances, and payments by me are treated as additions to my balances. The exact opposite of how it should work.

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Accepted answers

Jim_Harman

A credit card account will normally have a negative balance because it is a liability: it is money you owe.

When you make a payment to the credit card company, your liability is reduced and the balance is less negative.

volvogirl

Does it look like the balance is going the wrong way? It doesn't seem to me that the prior answer addressed your question. Charges normally increase the balance.

First make sure you are sorted in Date order with the newest date at the bottom. If you are not then click the DATE Column heading to sort.

Sounds like you're running a credit balance. Is the balance in red or black? Look back through your transactions and maybe you'll spot one that was entered backward. Or a payment in the charge column or a charge in the payment column. Look around back where this first started happening. Or maybe you are missing some charges?

If the balance is in Black, it means you have a credit on the card. Like if you overpaid the bill or got a refund for something you returned. When you enter a charge it will reduce (decrease) the credit you have available on it. And a payment will increase the balance.

Also make sure you have the right starting balance. If it's zero you might need to add a beginning balance for when you started the account in Quicken.

The credit card balance you OWE should be in RED. If the balance is Black then it's showing the credit card company owes you and you have a credit balance. And then when you make a payment it's like the cc owes you more. So you need to go back though your entries and find where the balance switched to black to being in your favor.

See this for more info…..

https://www.quicken.com/support/positive-black-balance-credit-card-account

All comments

Jim_Harman

VelaFella

Thanks for the answer, Jim. I think I can keep the accounts straight now.

volvogirl

Does it look like the balance is going the wrong way? It doesn't seem to me that the prior answer addressed your question. Charges normally increase the balance.

First make sure you are sorted in Date order with the newest date at the bottom. If you are not then click the DATE Column heading to sort.

Also make sure you have the right starting balance. If it's zero you might need to add a beginning balance for when you started the account in Quicken.

See this for more info…..

https://www.quicken.com/support/positive-black-balance-credit-card-account

VelaFella

The link you provided helped me see many of the errors I have made over the course of time. It would take ages to go back to correct them (including how they impacted other accounts). So, I am just going to adjust the current balance by inserting a charge/payment called "unexplained discrepancy" to make the current balance conform to the online balance, and hope that future charges and payments will be correct. Thanks.

Steve Brenessel

Unlike a checking account, it isn't really possible to reconcile a credit card statement in Quicken.

Rocket J Squirrel

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20354108#Comment_20354108

Sure it is. I reconcile my credit cards monthly against their statements.