Amount-Based and Account-Based Rules

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Quickfill rule for payee based on amount.

Ken from NJ

The Quicken Help file says there are amount-based and account-based rules. But I can't find these options in the Memorized Payee screen. What am I missing? (Quicken Business and Personal for Windows R62.16)

The Edit Memorized Payee screen I see is below, and the Quicken help file that talks about these optional rules is attached (also found at Quicken Windows Help → Budgets / Planning
→ Plan your financial future
→ Finances → Finances Task).

Quicken Help - Memorized Payee optional rules.pdf

Thanks!

Quicken John H

Hi, this is John from Content. This documentation is in advance of a new feature that was expected to release last week. I published when it was expected out, but an issue delated the release slightly. I apologize for any inconvenience and have put a note at the top of the four topics letting people know it may not match until the release comes out, which should be in the next day or two.

kenman38

I've been trying to get the Memorized Payee with the amount-based rule working for a couple days now, R63.21, Build 27.1.63.21. I have two cases that I've tried, and neither chooses the expected category.

Case 1: Insurance company where auto insurance is paid each six months (> 1000.00), and homeowner's insurance paid monthly (< 100.00). I have two Memorized Payee entries for this insurance company, expecting a downloaded payment of roughly 70.00 to categorize as homeowner's insurance. Instead, the downloaded and accepted transaction categorizes as auto insurance. I have a Bill Reminder for the payee and proper category, and it's getting marked as paid when the downloaded transaction was accepted.

Case 2: Amazon (payee). I have an amount-based rule for the exact amount of Amazon Prime that I want categorized as Membership, and a second rule for > 20.00 that lumps into Miscellaneous (with a tag of REVIEW to cue me to take some manual categorization). The transaction for Amazon Prime recently downloaded and accepted, categorized as Miscellaneous. I have a Bill Reminder for the payee and proper category, and it's getting marked as paid when the downloaded transaction was accepted.

I've tried various combinations of some settings within Data Fill, restoring from a backup and repeating the download. It's not clear what I'm missing, or if it's just not really working as I expect. It's as though Quicken is still using past transactions as the precedence, but

choosing the category that has the greatest aggregate expense for that payee.

I know how I could direct the Amazon to a renamed payee (Amazon Prime), but there's nothing in the downloaded transaction for insurance that I could play that game. That would defeat the purpose of the amount-based rule.

AmountRules.jpg

InsuranceBill.jpg

PrimeBill.jpg

InsurancePmtAccepted.jpg

PrimePmtAccepted.jpg

UKR

@kenman38 ,
for Case #1 I recommend using two Scheduled Reminders, set up with distinct Payee Names, e.g., "XYZ Ins. (Auto)", "XYZ Ins. (Home), each of the categorized properly and recorded as needed BEFORE you download transactions from the bank containing these debits. This will ensure proper matching of downloaded transaction to already existing register transaction for each situation.

Your Case #2, Amazon transactions, were discussed elsewhere with a recommended solution. You might want to give that a try.

Upon download, auto categorize all Amazon transactions to Amazon category — Quicken

You may need to add additional Renaming Rules for your purchases if downloaded transactions arrive using different payee names, e.g., "amazon.com".

kenman38

@UKR ,

I fully understand what you have described as a workaround, either through payee renaming when possible, or having bills auto-post into the register by the time the transaction downloads.