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Any way to estimate credit card balance from a fixed date, not current balance?

fsmontenegro

Hi!
(Using Quicken R33.7 Build 27.1.33.7 Canadian edition)

Is there any way to estimate future withdrawal for the credit card based not on the CURRENT balance for the card, but on a fixed date in the past month?

My credit card is set for autopay on the 1st of the month but the amount that gets withdrawn is the balance when the statement is created (which for me is the 11th of the prior month). This means that the estimated amount based on current balance is off.
Example: on March 11, balance was 3K. On March 31st, balance was 7K. Projected withdrawal was 7K, but actual amount withdrawn was 3K.

I know it's a good thing to have as a safety net to expect more will be withdrawn that it will actually be, but I'm wondering if there's a way to better reflect the actual balance that will be withdrawn - can't use other options (year, last 3 amounts, ...) as credit card expenses vary wildly for us.

Not sure if an option to be configured or if this is a proposed feature (estimated withdrawal as balance as of date 'x' in previous month).

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

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Accepted answers

UKR

When you receive your statement on March 11, that's when you should manually enter the amount due using the scheduled reminder (the one with the due date on the 1st of next month). Don't wait recording the payment until the due date because by then you will have recorded all the new charges and the estimated amount will be off.

All comments

UKR

fsmontenegro

Thanks, that's a perfectly valid approach. I was hoping for something more automatic (as Quicken could easily implement this rule)...
Still, thanks for the prompt response!

Chris_QPW

I personally would love to see this as an option too.
Maybe you can resubmit it as an Idea so that people can vote on it.
To submit an idea go to the Home page and select New Post -> New Idea

Sherlock

fsmontenegro said:

Thanks, that's a perfectly valid approach. I was hoping for something more automatic (as Quicken could easily implement this rule)...
Still, thanks for the prompt response!

We may set the payment reminder to automatically enter in advance.

Note: In the U.S., the amount of the autopay payment may be less than the balance on the closing date if we have any credit refunds or payments processed by the financial institution between the closing date and the payment date.

fsmontenegro

Thanks all. Sherlock, I know about automatically entering the transaction. As for credit refunds, if they were to happen AFTER the statement date, they're reflected in next month's statement. Example:
March statement on Mar 11- 3K
refund on March 13 - $100
other expenses through March 31 - +4K
Withdrawn on April 1 - 3K
other expenses through April 10 - $500
April statement on April 11 - 4K+500-100 = 4.4K

Looks like there is no automatic way to just "magically" pick the 3K number, I may suggest as an idea.

Thanks again!

Sherlock

fsmontenegro said:

Thanks all. Sherlock, I know about automatically entering the transaction. As for credit refunds, if they were to happen AFTER the statement date, they're reflected in next month's statement. Example:
March statement on Mar 11- 3K
refund on March 13 - $100
other expenses through March 31 - +4K
Withdrawn on April 1 - 3K
other expenses through April 10 - $500
April statement on April 11 - 4K+500-100 = 4.4K

Looks like there is no automatic way to just "magically" pick the 3K number, I may suggest as an idea.

Thanks again!

In the U. S., the Withdrawn on April 1 can be 2.9K.

The automatic way to just "magically" pick the 3K number is to set the reminder to automatically enter in advance.

If the payment is regularly paid 21 days after the closing statement date, the payment amount is the register's running balance on the closing statement date, the payment reminder may be set to automatically enter the payment transaction 21 days ahead of the due date using the current balance and Quicken will have magically" pick the 3K number.

Chris_QPW

Sherlock said:

Note: In the U.S., the amount of the autopay payment may be less than the balance on the closing date if we have any credit refunds or payments processed by the financial institution between the closing date and the payment date.

I'm not sure if that is a 100% rule. I think it might vary by the financial institution.
But my Chase and Citi credit cards certainly do apply returns immediately (reducing the payment amount).

But even with this I would like to state why I like the idea.

If I select the reminder estimate amount "account balance" it will be right on the statement ending date, but it doesn't get "locked in" at that point. So, as we charge things it goes up and over the period between the statement ending date and the payment date this could be quite a bit.

It I could have it lock at the statement ending date, which is basically what this idea is all about, sure the refunds will cause that amount to be over the amount needed by the refunds, but it will also stop adding in the new transaction amounts. This is important for my looking at the Projected Balance graph and determining cash flow. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be better.

And yes, one can change the "next instance" when the statement comes in and have the same affect, but it is a bit more work. Also, it has been found to have bugs in it. People have reported and I have seen where I change just the amount and later Quicken overrides that amount. You have to change both the amount and the date to make it stick with this bug.

Sherlock

Chris_QPW said:

Sherlock said:

Note: In the U.S., the amount of the autopay payment may be less than the balance on the closing date if we have any credit refunds or payments processed by the financial institution between the closing date and the payment date.

I'm not sure if that is a 100% rule. I think it might vary by the financial institution.
But my Chase and Citi credit cards certainly do apply returns immediately (reducing the payment amount).

But even with this I would like to state why I like the idea.

If I select the reminder estimate amount "account balance" it will be right on the statement ending date, but it doesn't get "locked in" at that point. So, as we charge things it goes up and over the period between the statement ending date and the payment date this could be quite a bit.

It I could have it lock at the statement ending date, which is basically what this idea is all about, sure the refunds will cause that amount to be over the amount needed by the refunds, but it will also stop adding in the new transaction amounts. This is important for my looking at the Projected Balance graph and determining cash flow. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be better.

And yes, one can change the "next instance" when the statement comes in and have the same affect, but it is a bit more work. Also, it has been found to have bugs in it. People have reported and I have seen where I change just the amount and later Quicken overrides that amount. You have to change both the amount and the date to make it stick with this bug.

@Chris_QPW

As explained earlier, we may already get estimated amount locked in by entering the credit card payment reminder transaction in the register.

We enter transactions in our registers ahead of import. This means the current balance on the statement ending date may include transactions that have not posted. Our Projected Balance graph works great and we have no difficulties determining cash flow.

Based on our previous discussions, I understand you have chosen not to enter transactions into the registers ahead of import. This means the register balance on the statement ending date will reliably match the full balance on your statement but your Projected Balance graph will be off and you have difficulties determining cash flow.

Chris_QPW

@Sherlock, yes, I know that I can enter the reminder into the register to lock it down, but it just bugs me that we have to do all these different kinds of workarounds for bugs Quicken.

The whole point of setting the next instance of a reminder is that it is supposed to "stick".

Actually, I think I might try setting it to automatically enter using the "current balance" on the day after the statement date. I usually update every day, so should in theory lock it into the statement balance.

EDIT, can't do the automatic entry perfectly because I want the payment date to be accurate so to get the entry date correct the only thing I can do is use 28 days ahead to enter it, but that is going to change depending on how many days there are in the month. But at least it is closer, and locks it in. It is only an estimate after all.

Sherlock

Chris_QPW said:

@Sherlock, yes, I know that I can enter the reminder into the register to lock it down, but it just bugs me that we have to do all these different kinds of workarounds for bugs Quicken.

The whole point of setting the next instance of a reminder is that it is supposed to "stick".

Actually, I think I might try setting it to automatically enter using the "current balance" on the day after the statement date. I usually update every day, so should in theory lock it into the statement balance.

EDIT, can't do the automatic entry perfectly because I want the payment date to be accurate so to get the entry date correct the only thing I can do is use 28 days ahead to enter it, but that is going to change depending on how many days there are in the month. But at least it is closer, and locks it in. It is only an estimate after all.

@Chris_QPW

The workaround we use for the reset of the next instance of a reminder bug is to enter the reminder's transaction, use the entered transaction to create a new only once reminder, and then delete the entered transaction.