How to handle duplicate credit card charges and checking account payments to credit cards?

Timber

I buy everything using credit cards and pay them off immediately with my checking account (transfer). Because both accounts are in Quicken, a charge will show up first under my credit card account, then it will show up in my checking when I pay my credit card. This is causing duplicate expenses everywhere as my wife and I have multiple credit card accounts and this is our process. Please help me figure out the best way to manage this so that it Quicken doesn't think we bought things twice.

RickO

You should not be entering individual charges in your checking account, nor should you be using an expense category in your checking account when you pay your credit card bill.

Instead, you should enter your credit card payments into your checking register as Transfer transactions using the format "Transfer:[creditcardaccoutname]" in the Category column. (Alternatively, you can enable the Transfer column in the checking register and enter the credit card account there and simply "Transfer" in the Category column.

This debit entry in the checking register will create a corresponding credit entry in the credit card account register so you don't need to create a separate entry there.

Transfer transactions are neither expenses nor credits, so these will not affect your expenses reports for particular expense categories and will eliminate the duplicate issue you are seeing.

RickO

You should not be entering individual charges in your checking account, nor should you be using an expense category in your checking account when you pay your credit card bill.

Instead, you should enter your credit card payments into your checking register as Transfer transactions using the format "Transfer:[creditcardaccoutname]" in the Category column. (Alternatively, you can enable the Transfer column in the checking register and enter the credit card account there and simply "Transfer" in the Category column.

This debit entry in the checking register will create a corresponding credit entry in the credit card account register so you don't need to create a separate entry there.

Transfer transactions are neither expenses nor credits, so these will not affect your expenses reports for particular expense categories and will eliminate the duplicate issue you are seeing.

Timber

Perfect. Makes sense. Thank you!