3 Bill Pay Checks, 3 Returned Bill Pay Checks - Stop Payment Question

Paddy

I had 3 checks from a bank's bill pay system that I put a stop payment on but they had already been mailed. When I called, they credited my account for each check that I put a stop payment on (money that had not been spent yet) the next day February 23, and then debited the account on March 1st the day of the 3 scheduled transactions. So they just removed the money for each debited amount.

I don't want the checks to show I was spending and the returned amounts as revenue.

How do I make it so the checks don't show up as an expense or revenue and not uncategorized?

Boatnmaniac

There are a few ways to do this. My preferred method is keep the transactions and make sure they have the same category. So if one of the checks was $50 categorized as “insurance”, then the returned amount would be a transaction that is also categorized as “insurance” but the dollar amount would be -$50. Then you keep the transaction history but the two transactions will cancel each other out. This is the same process I use for purchases made with a credit card that later get returned to the store for credit.

Another way, if you want to keep the transactions but do not want to have them show up in reports and the budget: Create a new category and name it whatever you want. “Not an expense” would be good for this. Use this category for the transactions and customize your reports and budget to exclude this new category.

Another way, if you do not care to maintain the transaction history is to simply delete the transactions.

Boatnmaniac

There are a few ways to do this. My preferred method is keep the transactions and make sure they have the same category. So if one of the checks was $50 categorized as “insurance”, then the returned amount would be a transaction that is also categorized as “insurance” but the dollar amount would be -$50. Then you keep the transaction history but the two transactions will cancel each other out. This is the same process I use for purchases made with a credit card that later get returned to the store for credit.

Another way, if you want to keep the transactions but do not want to have them show up in reports and the budget: Create a new category and name it whatever you want. “Not an expense” would be good for this. Use this category for the transactions and customize your reports and budget to exclude this new category.

Another way, if you do not care to maintain the transaction history is to simply delete the transactions.

Paddy

Thanks @Boatnmaniac