Why can't I delete a cancelled check-pay transaction

Question

I entered a check-pay transaction to pay a credit card that I track in quicken.   That created a linked transaction in my checking and credit card registers.  I immediately realized the amount was wrong and cancelled the transaction.

The transaction status shows as "Payment Cancelled", but the amount still shows in both registers -- which now have the wrong balance.

I want either to delete the transaction from both registers or (at minimum) zero the amounts to correct the register balances.  Either way, quicken refuses and says the transaction must be cancelled first....    BUT the status is already reported as cancelled.

Seems like a bug!!

harterpk · Answer

Update!!!

Surprise, surprise, in the end, the right thing happened, though not in the best way ...

After I could not delete the cancelled transaction because quicken said it had to be cancelled, even though Q showed its status as cancelled, I checked back over the next several days to see if anything would change.  Initially, no change.

Then, a full week after the initial entry, I fired up Quicken and the transaction had been changed:
     1 - instead of the check-pay check number, the number field showed "Canceled"
     2 - the transaction amount was blank (zeroed)
     3 - the linked transaction in the CC register also showed the amount as blank (zero)

So far, so good.  But then I thought I might just change the memo field of the cancelled transaction to indicate that it was a cancelled check-pay, so I tried to edit the memo field.  But then, when I tried to save modified register entry, it just vanished!!!  The linked transaction in the CC register did NOT disappear, but I was able delete it manually.

In the end, things are fine, but I think Quicken could do better:

1 - when trying to delete the cancelled transaction, Q should have said:  "You cancelled this, but you can't delete it until the cancellation has percolated through.  Try again in a week."
     2 - if Quicken has modified the txn to show "Canceled" where the check number had been, it should allow subsequent deletion, but also allow the user to modify the memo and leave it in place if desired.

So, in the end, my registers are good, and the txn is gone, though I might have preferred the option of keeping it with modified amount.  Similar to what happens when I VOID a transaction.  The transaction is marked as VOID with 0 amounts, but I can keep a record of it, if I choose.

paul

harterpk · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had already added the transfer you suggested, but I just think I shouldn't have to do this!!!

Right, I think it's a bug.  I saw lots of complaints about deleting check-pay transactions where the check was (presumably) printed and sent, but then returned or destroyed.  In these cases, the entry should maybe be retained, but there should be a way to zero the amount.

The bug is telling me that I have to cancel the transaction before it can be deleted or modified and reporting the status as "Cancelled"

q_lurker · Answer

Sounds like a bug to me as well. Users have complained for some time about not being able to delete such cancelled payments. Yours is the first I recall mentioning the Payment Cancelled notation.

The suggested way to adjust your Quicken records is to enter a counteracting transaction - in this case a transfer back from the cc account to the checking account.