HELOC vs. Home Equity Loan

GK626

1. I see an option to add a Home Equity Loan, but do not see an option to add a Home Equity Line of Credit. Can someone help me find this option?

2. If I set it up as a Home Equity Loan with downloads enabled, this account doesn't show up in transaction entry screen so I don't have a way to show that an amount was moved (borrowed) from this HELOC account to a checking account (or vice versa). Please advise.

Mark1104

@GK626 - question: since you are ALSO downloading your checking account transactions, which is where the HELOC credit goes in any event, and assuming the category you select for that HELOC deposit into the checking account is 'HELOC', then why does it matter whether or not the HELOC transactions is automatically downloaded to the HELOC Account??

If a deposit posts to the checking account during its automated download process and you choose the category 'HELOC'. it's the same result...... are you making this more complicated than it needs to be???

UKR

Looks to me as if we're going around in circles, getting nowhere fast.
If this was my HELOC account, I'd just simply set it up as an offline Credit Card account and don't worry about activating for download. There typically are only a few transactions per month: transfer to Checking to take money out, transfer from Checking to pay money back, Interest charge. Those few I can record manually and/or with the help of a Scheduled Reminder or two.

Mark1104

yes you do- the transaction should appear in the checking account (as a checking account transactions).  Be sure that the category for that checking account transaction is 'HELOC'

"HELOC" should be set up as a liability account. 

are you downloading transactions for your checking account?  

Rocket J Squirrel

You can add an offline HELOC and may be able to connect it to online downloading later. As far as Quicken is concerned, a HELOC is a Credit Card account and that's what you'll end up with.

GK626

Thanks @Mark1104 and @"Rocket J Squirrel" for your answers. Very helpful!

My HELOC bank allows downloading of transactions, so I was looking to set up my HELOC as an online account and not an offline account.

Mark - Yes, I am downloading transactions for my checking account as well.

Rocket J Squirrel

GK626 said:

My HELOC bank allows downloading of transactions, so I was looking to set up my HELOC as an online account and not an offline account.

When creating an online account, QWin doesn't always get the account type right. It thinks my savings account is a checking account, for example. That doesn't really matter, but I generally advise people to create accounts offline to make sure they are the correct type. Then activate downloads and you're in business.

GK626

Thanks @Rocket J Squirrel - that's a great idea. Unfortunately, even when I set up an offline account first and then tried to set up online downloads for it, Quicken is forcing me to either add a new account or not add. There is no option to link to the offline account I created.


Thanks for your help though - I really appreciate it!

Mark1104

@GK626 - question: since you are ALSO downloading your checking account transactions, which is where the HELOC credit goes in any event, and assuming the category you select for that HELOC deposit into the checking account is 'HELOC', then why does it matter whether or not the HELOC transactions is automatically downloaded to the HELOC Account??

If a deposit posts to the checking account during its automated download process and you choose the category 'HELOC'. it's the same result...... are you making this more complicated than it needs to be???

UKR

GK626 said:

Thanks @Rocket J Squirrel - that's a great idea. Unfortunately, even when I set up an offline account first and then tried to set up online downloads for it, Quicken is forcing me to either add a new account or not add. There is no option to link to the offline account I created.


Thanks for your help though - I really appreciate it!

The image shows the HELOC account with a Type = Loan field. "Loan" is selectable. If you click this field's "▼" button, what choices do you have? LOC, HELOC or Credit Card would all be fine and should give you a link to your offline HELOC register ... I hope ...

GK626

Good point @Mark1104! I try to have all my accounts set up for auto downloads so every transfer is captured on both accounts involved, but yes I can make do with downloading just the checking account and keeping HELOC offline.

GK626

Thanks @UKR! The options are Loan, Mortgage, Student Loan, Consumer Loan, Commercial Loan, Home Equity Loan, and a couple of others, but no Line of Credit or Credit Card. All the available options are treated like a loan with a loan amount and a payment schedule. The line of credit or credit card behavior - meaning there is max line limit but you can increase or decrease how much of that line you are using at any time - is not possible.

UKR

Looks to me as if we're going around in circles, getting nowhere fast.
If this was my HELOC account, I'd just simply set it up as an offline Credit Card account and don't worry about activating for download. There typically are only a few transactions per month: transfer to Checking to take money out, transfer from Checking to pay money back, Interest charge. Those few I can record manually and/or with the help of a Scheduled Reminder or two.