CC Payment being read as a Transaction on a different CC

KDekk33

I've got two Bank of America credit cards connected to my Quicken Account (we'll call them BAC#1 & BAC#2 for reference). BAC#1 worked exactly as it should have after going through the adding account process. Then I added BAC#2 to my Quicken and something went wrong. Now BAC#2's payments are showing up in BAC#1's transaction list as an expense, which is causing BAC#1's ending balance to show that it's thousands of dollars in the red. I can see that each of the BAC#2 payments in the BAC#1 list are noted as a manually added transactions but not paired with a downloaded transaction. I know I didn't manually enter anything (I'm a relatively new user and still getting the hang of the program and all it's capabilities) so I'm not sure what I did or missed but would love to get this fixed. That way, the totals are consistent with what the actual Bank of America accounts are telling me.

Quicken Anja

Hello @KDekk33,

Thanks for reaching out and explaining the issue—this definitely sounds confusing, especially when you're still getting used to Quicken.

Since the transactions showing up in BAC#1 appear as manually entered, I recommend checking the category assigned to them. If these are categorized as transfers (for example, using [BAC#2] in the category field), Quicken may have interpreted them as internal transfers and auto-created corresponding manual entries in the linked account.

This can sometimes happen even with downloaded transactions if a transfer category is involved. Reviewing and editing the category on those entries—especially if they don’t reflect actual movement between your accounts—should help clear up the confusion and correct the balances.

Let us know what you find!

KDekk33

Thanks for the tip! I looked at each transaction in BAC#1 that were categorized with BAC#2 and changed said category to match the account and that seemed to solve the problem. Now those transactions don't show up in BAC#1 anymore. Is there a way to tell Quicken not to categorize these the BAC#2 payment items like that anymore or will I have to adjust that manually each month/ time that item comes through?

Quicken Anja

@KDekk33 Thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear that resolved the issue for you.

To help prevent this from happening again in the future, here are a couple of things you can try:

1. Review Your Memorized Payee List
Go to Tools > Memorized Payee List.

From there, search for the payee in question and check what category is saved. If it's saved with a transfer category, you can edit it by right-clicking on the entry and selecting Edit, then update the category to your preferred one. This helps ensure that future transactions for that payee don’t auto-fill with a transfer category.

2. Adjust Your Transfer Detection Settings
Go to Edit > Preferences > Transfer detection.

Here you have two options:

• Uncheck “Scan downloaded transactions for possible transfers” to turn off automatic transfer categorization entirely.
• Or leave it checked and select “Confirm possible transfers before entering in the register” to get a prompt before Quicken assigns any transfer category.

These settings can help give you more control over how your transactions are categorized moving forward.

Additionally, since you mentioned earlier that you are a new user, I wanted to also let you know about the option to schedule a free, one-on-one tour with our Quicken 1-2-3 Team.

During your scheduled appointment, a team member will call you directly to walk you through the program, help you get familiar with its features, answer any questions, and make sure it’s set up in a way that best fits your needs.

If this interests you, you can click here to choose a time slot and schedule your tour. You also have the option to call them directly—the phone number is listed at the same link.

Hope this helps!