Payee necessary for account transfers?

KYN

Hi there. Hopefully an easy question: When I create manual transfers between accounts (checking to savings, for example) is there any reason that I should fill in the "Payee" field? I've used Quicken for years with "Transfer Money" as the Payee, but I've recently wondered why it's necessary to include if I'm using the bracketed Category names ("[Account Name]").

NotACPA

I'd  say "Try it and see".

volvogirl

You probably have to put something in the description/payee field.  Don't you want to know what you did and why?  Just type in the word Transfer at least.  

KYN

Thanks for the responses, NotACPA and volvogirl.

Turns out that (at least in most cases I've encountered so far), it's not necessary to include a Payee name. (Oh, except when saving a Bill & Income Reminder; that does require a Payee name.)

In my case, just seeing the account to/from which the transfer was made tells me what I did and why. (So, if I'm in my Checking register, then seeing the TXFR in the Check # field and [Credit Card] as the category tells me that I'm making a payment to my credit card.)

Just trying to see if there are any major or obvious-to-anyone-else potential repercussions that I'm not thinking of.

Rocket J Squirrel

KYN said:

So, if I'm in my Checking register, then seeing the TXFR in the Check # field and [Credit Card] as the category tells me that I'm making a payment to my credit card.

Then you actually have a payee, e.g., AmEx, Chase, Citi, etc. That's what I put in the Payee field when I pay a credit card.

splasher

I have Memorized Payees, like "Chase", which have the category filled in, such as "[Chase]", so, for me, it is easier to type Chase then to type [Chase].  Not sure how leaving Payee blank is saving time or energy.

KYN

> @"Rocket J Squirrel" said:
> Then you actually have a payee, e.g., AmEx, Chase, Citi, etc. That's what I put in the Payee field when I pay a credit card.

Thank you for your reply! It's beneficial for me to think of these things. See, I've always thought of it as payees being entities that I actually purchase things from (a restaurant or store, for example). Unless I'm paying interest or a credit card fee to AmEx/Chase/Citi/etc., I wouldn't consider them a payee if I'm just transferring money to pay off a credit card bill for things that I've actually purchased from other entities. My thinking is that if I use the financial institution's name as the payee when I'm just paying off a credit card, then a report would show that I'm paying the money to that institution when I've not actually purchased something from them, if that makes sense.

KYN

> @splasher said:
> I have Memorized Payees, like "Chase", which have the category filled in, such as "[Chase]", so, for me, it is easier to type Chase then to type [Chase].  Not sure how leaving Payee blank is saving time or energy.

I've just responded to someone else, but if I were to include "Chase" as the payee, then my reports would show that I'm paying money TO Chase when really I'm just paying off a credit card that Chase holds. If, on the other hand, Chase charges me interest or a credit card yearly fee, then I DO include "Chase" as the payee.

And you're right, leaving Payee blank wouldn't necessarily save time or energy, I was just thinking about it in terms of it's necessary somehow. Thanks for your response!

Rocket J Squirrel

KYN said:

if I were to include "Chase" as the payee, then my reports would show that I'm paying money TO Chase when really I'm just paying off a credit card that Chase holds.

Maybe not. Try running an Itemized Payees report, for example. You'll see that the payments to your credit cards don't show up under Expenses. They show up under Transfers, but only if you enable the display of transfers on the Advanced tab of the report customization dialog.

KYN

> @Rocket J Squirrel said:
> Maybe not. Try running an Itemized Payees report, for example. You'll see that the payments to your credit cards don't show up under Expenses. They show up under Transfers, but only if you enable the display of transfers on the Advanced tab of the report customization dialog.

Ah, very cool, I hadn't realized that. Thank you. I guess now I'm just trying to figure out if there's any benefit to using the financial institution name vs. just "Transfer".

q_lurker

FWIW: When you used to mail them a check (noting my presumption), what did you write on the Payee line?  Answer: Chase. Yes you are paying money to Chase. They paid XYZ for your charged groceries. They paid ABC for your gas. Now you are paying them. 

KYN

> @q_lurker said:
> FWIW: When you used to mail them a check (noting my presumption), what did you write on the Payee line?  Answer: Chase. Yes you are paying money to Chase. They paid XYZ for your charged groceries. They paid ABC for your gas. Now you are paying them. 

Good point. Between this and @Rocket J Squirrel 's note about the reports not showing transfers as expenses, I shouldn't have any problems with including Payees, though I guess it's also been nice to see (so far) that there don't seem to be any huge/obvious negatives (for the way I do things) if a Payee isn't included. Thanks so much for helping me work through this, everyone.