If I enter "DEBIT" in the action column of my check register, what should happen?

Allan L.

I'm asking because sometimes, seemingly at random, Quicken treats the transaction as a deposit, adding the amount of the transaction instead of subtracting it.

jacobs

The Action column does not affect the operation of a Quicken register; it is an optional informational field. I don't think entereing DEBIT or CREDIT in the Action column reverses a transaction between a deposit and a payment. I've tested it a number of ways, and I couldn't make it have any effect.

I don't think most people use the Action field; even Quicken Help describes the field as "Not commonly used." Most people who want to record some identifier with transactions do it in the Check Number field so they don't need another column. Imports from some banks may put text into the Action field, but I don't think that's common.

Years ago, I entered "EFT" for transactions I completed online, but that because such a common thing for me that I could always judge by context (e.g. a payment with no check number) what was an electronic payment; I used to enter "ATM" for ATM transactions, but I could again tell by the Payee name whether it was a depot or cash withdrawal — so I just stopped using the Action field entirely and have never missed it.

If you are seeing a deposit as a payment or vice versa, it is likely something in the way the bank incorrectly encoded the downloaded transaction, or a user error in manually entering a transaction. (I use the separate Payment and Deposit columns in my registers instead of the single Amount column, because I find that easier to spot a transaction entered opposite of what it should be.)