Suggestions for a category

dogsnbeaches

I've been using Quicken for over 20 years and have a very newb question.

I recently started using a new primary credit card with the idea of closing another one out. I was curious to see how much I spent on it over the years. So I opened the CC register, tapped "spending" above the register and thought the total number would be the number I was looking for.

But I realized when I make a payment I categorize it as "Credit Card Payment" in my checking account register AND my CC register. So naturally Quicken sees that category as "Spending" and it completely skews the total.

I want to see the total of purchases, not including payments. Would I need to create a new category for the CC register when I make a payment or is there another workaround?

RickO

Is the payment transaction in the CC register a positive (green) number? If so, it should not be included in the Spending tab, nor included when you filter the main register by Type:Income. Could you post a screenshot of the latter to show what's happening.

BTW, the best way to record the payment from your checking account to the CC is to use a Transfer transaction. You enter the payment with category "Transfer" (or "Transfer:Credit Card Payment") in the checking account with a negative number. You enter the CC account name in the Transfer column (or use the category column shorthand "Transfer:[CC account name]". This single transaction entry gets linked to a sister transaction that gets created in the CC account. This would also solve this issue.

RickO

Could you redo the screenshot to include the column headers? Can't tell what's what on this one. Then another screenshot, but with the Type:Spending filter invoked?

It's not easy, but there is a way to edit all the category "Credit Card Payment" transactions and change them to Transfers. In the CC account, use the search bar to filter the register by "Credit Card Payment". Select all these transactions and click menu File > Get Info. Enter "Transfer:[checking account name]" in the category field. Then you'd have to go to the checking account and delete all the "Credit Card Payment" transactions which will now be duplicates. Finally, you'll need to search the checking account register for "Transfer:[CC account name]" and mark them all as cleared by selecting them all then right click and mark selected transactions as cleared. Then you'd need to rereconcile to get them all marked as reconciled.

The above is a pretty risky procedure. You should definitely make a backup or work in a copy of your file. There's a good chance you'll miss something and have trouble getting the account to reconcile properly.

RickO

Is the payment transaction in the CC register a positive (green) number? If so, it should not be included in the Spending tab, nor included when you filter the main register by Type:Income. Could you post a screenshot of the latter to show what's happening.

BTW, the best way to record the payment from your checking account to the CC is to use a Transfer transaction. You enter the payment with category "Transfer" (or "Transfer:Credit Card Payment") in the checking account with a negative number. You enter the CC account name in the Transfer column (or use the category column shorthand "Transfer:[CC account name]". This single transaction entry gets linked to a sister transaction that gets created in the CC account. This would also solve this issue.

dogsnbeaches

Ricko - I had a feeling you were going to suggest using Transfer. I am familiar with transfers, but at the time I started using Quicken I paid the credit card the "novice" way and once you start doing things one way…

But to answer your question, here is a screenshot from the CC account.

I just tried the transfer option on my most recent payment and it works great. Is there a way to re-categorize all the previous transactions as transfers?

dogsnbeaches

Rico…I just figured out how to change past transactions in bulk. Thanks for the help!!!😁

RickO

Could you redo the screenshot to include the column headers? Can't tell what's what on this one. Then another screenshot, but with the Type:Spending filter invoked?

It's not easy, but there is a way to edit all the category "Credit Card Payment" transactions and change them to Transfers. In the CC account, use the search bar to filter the register by "Credit Card Payment". Select all these transactions and click menu File > Get Info. Enter "Transfer:[checking account name]" in the category field. Then you'd have to go to the checking account and delete all the "Credit Card Payment" transactions which will now be duplicates. Finally, you'll need to search the checking account register for "Transfer:[CC account name]" and mark them all as cleared by selecting them all then right click and mark selected transactions as cleared. Then you'd need to rereconcile to get them all marked as reconciled.

The above is a pretty risky procedure. You should definitely make a backup or work in a copy of your file. There's a good chance you'll miss something and have trouble getting the account to reconcile properly.

dogsnbeaches

it’s all good now! I was able to carefully select and change all the categories to transfers and run reconcile again to make sure it all worked. It did!

Thanks again for the help 😊

RickO

Glad that worked for you!