Is there a way to not have a credit card account 'linked' to a checking account?

gptmegan

I've got a care credit account that brings in the category of the payment account automatically when i update. BUT, i need to actually manually enter in different categories in my checking register. When I do that, it screws up all my balances.

I'd like to still go online and have my care credit register update, but I don't want it to tie in with my checking accounts when payments to the care credit are brought in

volvogirl

I don't understand what's happening? Can you explain more? Why do you have to enter different categories in checking? The checking account should only have 1 entry for the payment. It should be a transfer to the credit card account. Are you splitting out the payment in the checking account? That is the wrong way.

To make a Transfer you type the other account name in the category spot in square brackets like [credit card]. Or there is a transfer column you can turn on. Transfers don't go to categories, only to the other account.

gptmegan

so, the category in both is the other account in checking. I don't want that. I want to have the info for the card, but not have it come in as [checking]

Jim_Harman

You should include the credit card account in the report, enter the Categories with each transaction in the credit card account, and enter the credit card payment as a transfer to the credit card account.

Then you do not have to go through the credit card statement or whatever you have been doing to enter all the categories in the card payment.

gptmegan

so, they come in like this. The first is in my checking account as a debit going to pay the credit card. You can then see the payment on the second line. I then want to go in to the checking account (first line) and change the category from [CreditCard….] to something else. When I do that, it screws up the credit card account register.

I want to keep track of my credit card..and pay my credit card - but not have that payment link to the checking. When i download the checking transactions, it could simply come in as a credit. BUT not linked.

volvogirl

OK. What do you want to change the checking account payment to? That looks right. It has to go to the cc account.

The proper way is to set up a credit card ACCOUNT and enter the charges into it when the purchase is made and assigning it to a category. Then when you pay the credit card bill you TRANSFER the payment from your checking account to the credit card account (not a category). Then if or when you download the payment from the bank you match it to the one you already entered.

gptmegan

so, when i have the credit card charges: i categorize. But, I don't want the payment that is registered and pulled in to be at all related to my checking account. I just created a copy of my account file. I entered into my credit card a payment from [checking] and it appears automatically in my checking account as a debit. When i change the category of the debit to something else (example: bills and utilities), the entry in the credit card register disappears.

what i think i have to do is create a whole other quicken file, add the credit card account and pull the credit card info into there and just track on its own. That way it won't try to connect to a matching account as there won't be another account in that file.

Rocket J Squirrel

I entered into my credit card a payment from [checking] and it appears automatically in my checking account as a debit.

This is correct behavior and you should not change it.

When i change the category of the debit to something else (example: bills and utilities), the entry in the credit card register disappears.

You should not be doing this. All categorization of your credit card transactions must appear in the credit card account itself. Paying the credit card bill from checking is a transfer - which can not be categorized in Quicken for Windows.

what i think i have to do is create a whole other quicken file, add the credit card account and pull the credit card info into there and just track on its own. That way it won't try to connect to a matching account as there won't be another account in that file.

You are way over-thinking this and creating more work for yourself. Go with Quicken's flow and you will see it works well.

volvogirl

Man, I don't understand. Why don't you want the payment in your checking account? How did you pay it? Wait, are you making multiple payments a month to cover individual credit card charges? The checking account payment doesn't go to a category. It just goes to pay the credit card bill. The expenses get categorized from the credit card account.