Good morning this might be a stupid question.

Robert the Spruce

I'm trying to get more use from my Quicken subscription. Compared to Mint which automatically updates, I haven't had to time to take advantage of this software yet but getting started out I have hit a couple of stumbling blocks. Such as my mortgage company not able to offer online access to Quicken.

Anyways, where do credit card accounts go during setup? I connected my credit card accounts online to Quicken but they automatically go under banking and I feel like they should be under bills?

Sorry if I am not understanding this but I've tried to contact support about this issue and still feel confused.

Bill44

Yes, credit cards go under Banking. They do however, list under checking and savings accounts.

Frankx

Hi @Robert the Spruce

So, an explanation of what you see on the Q "home page" is in order. 

The column that you see (usually docked on the left side of the screen) is called the "Account Bar" but accountants would call it a sort of "general ledger" and it is a list of all of your Quicken "accounts".  From top to bottom, this includes: bank accounts, short-term liability accounts (mostly credit cards), Investment accounts (brokerages, retirement plans. etc.), and finally your property, long-term debt (e.g. mortgage loans), some short-term debt, and finally your net worth (which isn't an account, per se, but a calculation of all of the above).

As mentioned - credit cards aren't where you would logically expect them to be. They are lumped in the "Banking" group while one would expect them to be with the in property and debt.  I think this has more to do with how credit cards are used and how often they are used by most folks.  In the past credit cards were referred as "revolving accounts" because they typically roll over much more quickly than most loans.  And I think Quicken recognized that - because they are used so often, that they should be in the banking category.

And you may have noticed that there is no "bills" group in the Account Bar, because "bills" isn't really a type of account, it is something that you owe or must pay. 

Hopefully this helps your understanding of Quicken.  Let me know if you have any followups,

Frankx

Bill44

Yes, credit cards go under Banking. They do however, list under checking and savings accounts.

Frankx

Hi @Robert the Spruce

So, an explanation of what you see on the Q "home page" is in order. 

The column that you see (usually docked on the left side of the screen) is called the "Account Bar" but accountants would call it a sort of "general ledger" and it is a list of all of your Quicken "accounts".  From top to bottom, this includes: bank accounts, short-term liability accounts (mostly credit cards), Investment accounts (brokerages, retirement plans. etc.), and finally your property, long-term debt (e.g. mortgage loans), some short-term debt, and finally your net worth (which isn't an account, per se, but a calculation of all of the above).

As mentioned - credit cards aren't where you would logically expect them to be. They are lumped in the "Banking" group while one would expect them to be with the in property and debt.  I think this has more to do with how credit cards are used and how often they are used by most folks.  In the past credit cards were referred as "revolving accounts" because they typically roll over much more quickly than most loans.  And I think Quicken recognized that - because they are used so often, that they should be in the banking category.

And you may have noticed that there is no "bills" group in the Account Bar, because "bills" isn't really a type of account, it is something that you owe or must pay. 

Hopefully this helps your understanding of Quicken.  Let me know if you have any followups,

Frankx

UKR

Just my 2cents' worth ... I would not bother attempting to activate any loan or mortgage account for downloading.  (Not discussing LOC or HELOC accounts here which should be treated like credit card accounts)

At least in Quicken for Windows, an online-connected loan or mortgage account does NOT have a transaction register. All data shown in the account come from whatever information the bank downloads to you ... if this process works at all.

As a result of being connected, the scheduled payment transaction reminder cannot transfer the amount of principal paid into the (non existent) account register and must use a category, usually something like Loan:Principal, instead. The category seems to vary with the Loan Type you selected when creating the loan account in Quicken.

Effective with Quicken Windows 2018+
you can deactivate an online-connected loan account and regain full control over your transaction register.  However, you should still review the Scheduled Reminder (or Memorized Payee List entry) associated with the monthly loan payments to ensure they now transfer Principal to the loan account register and not to a Category.

If you're a Q Mac user, you should be able to do something similar about setting up and maintaining an offline mortgage account together with a correctly calculated Scheduled Transaction Reminder for the monthly payments from your checking account.

splasher

Personally, I would set the mortgage up as a manual account using Quicken loan wizard.  It is only one transaction a month and you have no control over loans that are setup for downloading, you don't even get a register to see what is happening.

Just my two cents.