Estimate payment as total balance for scheduled credit card payments

DA62

Frustrated as heck here. This was very easy to do in Quicken Windows, but after a month of switching to Mac I still can't get this to work, despite an hour searching the net for instructions.

I want to have a calendar reminder to pay and automatically enter in the register my monthly credit card. I always pay in full, so the estimate should change each month to whatever the current balance shows on the payment date.

I did this no problem in Windows, but on Mac, all my old transfers like that changed to a fixed amount, and I can't edit them, and I can't set up a new one.

Is this BASIC function of the Windows version available in the Mac version?

Jon

No, it is not. As you discovered, you can have a reminder for a fixed amount but you can't have one that will automatically adjust to your current credit card balance each month.

jacobs

DA62 said:

I can't edit them, and I can't set up a new one.

If you have the credit card payment set up as a scheduled monthly transaction, while it won't pick up the amount due automatically, you can easily edit the amount each month when you pay the bill. Just double-click the next scheduled instance in your register, enter the amount, and press enter to save it. 

(I never understood how this feature could work accurately on Quicken Windows; on my credit cards, the balance due on any given day may not match the monthly statement balance, due to variances in when certain transactions post, or the closing day shifting one day earlier or later.)

DA62

> @jacobs said:
> If you have the credit card payment set up as a scheduled monthly transaction, while it won't pick up the amount due automatically, you can easily edit the amount each month when you pay the bill. Just double-click the next scheduled instance in your register, enter the amount, and press enter to save it. 
>
> (I never understood how this feature could work accurately on Quicken Windows; on my credit cards, the balance due on any given day may not match the monthly statement balance, due to variances in when certain transactions post, or the closing day shifting one day earlier or later.)

It never picked up the actual statement balance due, but the total balance. Since I pay in full each month, this is a great feature for making sure your cash flow doesn't go below my comfort zone at any point in the month. The total balance will always be more than the amount to pay off.

It's automatic, and you just change the amount to the actual due when the downloaded payment comes in and get a match to your calendar entry.

I didn't have to look at statements, and change entries by hand for planning purposes, all very reliable in the Windows version, and the least labor intensive.

Mac version, one month in, has some better functions than Windows, but overall, Mac just isn't as good. I'd switch back to Windows version in Parallels, but Windows on a virtual machine on my new M1 Pro mac is painfully slow. Painfully.

jacobs

@DA62 Thanks for explaining how it works in Quicken Windows. My one comment is that if all it does is show the accounts current balance, that amount is visible to you in the left sidebar. It's not in the calendar, I understand, but you don't even have to click anything to see the current amount you owe.

DA62

Thanks for the comment, but of course that's pretty obvious.

The value of it, is if you're someone who pays in full each month, unless it will overdraft your payment account, IT WILL SHOW YOU ON THE GRAPH/CALENDAR that you will go negative and need to take action. It's about cash flow.

We can explain it away all we want, but in the end it's a useful feature in Quicken Win that Quicken Mac lacks. Just one of many.

It took me 15 years to finally switch from Quicken Win (on PC or in Mac Virtual Machine) to Quicken Mac, and after a month I'm still feeling the pains of missing features. I've been a Quicken user since the days of floppy discs and Quicken 3.0 for DOS, and this has been the most frustrating transition from one version to another.

> @jacobs said:
> @DA62 Thanks for explaining how it works in Quicken Windows. My one comment is that if all it does is show the accounts current balance, that amount is visible to you in the left sidebar. It's not in the calendar, I understand, but you don't even have to click anything to see the current amount you owe.

Quicken Jared

DA62 said:

Thanks for the comment, but of course that's pretty obvious.

The value of it, is if you're someone who pays in full each month, unless it will overdraft your payment account, IT WILL SHOW YOU ON THE GRAPH/CALENDAR that you will go negative and need to take action. It's about cash flow.

We can explain it away all we want, but in the end it's a useful feature in Quicken Win that Quicken Mac lacks. Just one of many.

It took me 15 years to finally switch from Quicken Win (on PC or in Mac Virtual Machine) to Quicken Mac, and after a month I'm still feeling the pains of missing features. I've been a Quicken user since the days of floppy discs and Quicken 3.0 for DOS, and this has been the most frustrating transition from one version to another.

> @jacobs said:
> @DA62 Thanks for explaining how it works in Quicken Windows. My one comment is that if all it does is show the accounts current balance, that amount is visible to you in the left sidebar. It's not in the calendar, I understand, but you don't even have to click anything to see the current amount you owe.

Hello @DA62,

I thank you for taking the time to bring the matter of estimating total balances for credit card payments up for discussion, and for contributing so much in this thread.

I understand your frustration that the functionality in question is currently missing, and I want to be sure to mention that desired features can always be suggested and submitted in the form of an Idea thread. Users can then provide feedback and vote on the proposed addition to the software, and the results can then be handed over to the development team for further consideration.

Here is a link to the category where such threads can be found and created:

https://community.quicken.com/categories/product-ideas-quicken-for-mac

I hope this is helpful,

Thanks,

Quicken Jared