Is there any way for me to control the Mortgage split automatically?

Question

Hey guys, trying to figure this out. It's been wrong forever, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix this.

I have a 20 year mortgage (started in December of 2021). It's for $245k @ 3.375%. When I go through the automated process of setting up the entry (manual account tracking), it creates a distribution for principle and interest every month that starts off with $50 in principle, and like $900 or something for interest. I have no idea why this is the case. It's never been like this. From day 1, I've been paying at least $600 in principle from the very beginning.

For Escrow of course, I create a separate line item, which doesn't even matter because Quicken is not correctly tracking anything else properly. So literally all I use it for is to keep track of how much is owed (against the value of the home), and every month after I make my payment, I simply do a "balance update." But it shouldn't be that way. I've searched everywhere and it seems Quicken does not allow me to edit / modify the amount paid by principle and interest.

This is a rental property, which I suppose is inconsequential. Anyone have any idea why it assumes I'm paying so little in principle when I'm paying nearly 10 times that? Keep in mind, this is regardless of the extra principle payments I'm making. My mortgage statement clearly states the distribution is far far different than what Quicken is assuming. Is there any fix for this? Or is this just what it is?

Thank you…

Tom Young · Answer

It would seem like some initial setup error as suggested by @Jim_Harman might be in play here, but I'm confused by this statement: "I've searched everywhere and it seems Quicken does not allow me to edit / modify the amount paid by principle and interest."

I'm assuming that in your setup of the loan that you've told Quicken to create a Reminder for the payments and make an entry in your checking Account at the appropriate time, in which case the "opposite" side of the entry in the loan Account - the payment recorded in the checking Account - should be sitting there, easily modifiable.  That's not the cure for the problem you've described of course, but any particular payment should be easy to change, if that was your point.

Jim_Harman · Answer

It sounds like there is something wrong with the setup for your loan. I created one in Quicken with your parameters and it shows a monthly payment of $1405.21. The first payment is $716.15 of principal and $689.06 of interest. Does this match the statements from your lender?

You may be able to fix this by clicking on the loan account in your account bar and correcting the settings.

Note that it would not let me set up the loan with a next payment due in the past. If the origination date was 12/1/21 like your loan, it started the payment schedule with a balance adjustment, presumably to account for payments that would have been made in the past.

Changing the origination date after the loan was set up did not seem to have any effect.