What to enter as "Payee/Description" for "Margin Interest Expense" in my manual brokerage account

sashah87
sashah87 Quicken Mac Subscription Member ✭✭
edited January 29 in Investing (Mac)

I am trying to record a margin interest charged by my brokerage. When I simply enter "Robinhood" for "Payee/Description", it automatically becomes blank when I save the record. It's expecting me to enter a security. But my brokerage doesn't charge margin interest for individual securities that I may have used the margin for. It charges me a total margin interest amount once a month.

I would expect to be able to enter the brokerage name as the "Payee" for a transaction with the "Margin Interest Expense" category.

Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Best Answer

  • MontanaKarl
    MontanaKarl Quicken Mac Subscription Member, SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓

    @sashah87 I don't really understand why you want a payee … and why just entering the margin interest number with a blank security/payee is an issue? Margin interest is only charged by the brokerage itself - so who else could possibly be charging it? You can always put something in the Memo if you want more information recorded.

    If the purpose is to break down your margin interest in a report across multiple brokerage accounts, the Category by Acccount crosstab report will do that for you - showing margin interest per account (in columns).

    Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)

Answers

  • sashah87
    sashah87 Quicken Mac Subscription Member ✭✭

    As an example, I am able to enter any Payee I want (not a Security) when I record a brokerage transaction with the "Payment/Deposit" category. I would expect the same for a transaction with the "Margin Interest Expense" category.

  • MontanaKarl
    MontanaKarl Quicken Mac Subscription Member, SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓

    @sashah87 I don't really understand why you want a payee … and why just entering the margin interest number with a blank security/payee is an issue? Margin interest is only charged by the brokerage itself - so who else could possibly be charging it? You can always put something in the Memo if you want more information recorded.

    If the purpose is to break down your margin interest in a report across multiple brokerage accounts, the Category by Acccount crosstab report will do that for you - showing margin interest per account (in columns).

    Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)

  • UKR
    UKR Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 30

    Added: In Quicken for Windows, for example:

    Margin Interest Expenses, when recorded using the correct Action type, do not need a security name or other payee name. See example:

  • Jon
    Jon Quicken Mac Subscription SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta

    @UKR It's different on the Mac. For Margin Interest Expenses we have a Payee/Description field which has to be either the name of a security or left blank.

  • sashah87
    sashah87 Quicken Mac Subscription Member ✭✭

    @MontanaKarl That’s a fair point. I have been putting the institution’s name as the payee for all fees and interests (earned or paid) to have consistent naming across all finance-related transactions. Leaving this blank breaks my self-imposed constraint but will work out okay in reporting the way you suggested. Thanks!

  • UKR
    UKR Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oops. Didn't see that this is a Mac-specific situtation.
    I'd just simply put "Margin Interest" into the Payee Name field and be done with it.

  • MontanaKarl
    MontanaKarl Quicken Mac Subscription Member, SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta

    On Mac, nothing other than a security name can be entered into the Payee field. My answer is the only option on QMac.

    Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)