If I have a credit card as one of my accounts do I need to split the payment?

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dfox2
dfox2 Member ✭✭
in Registers & Transactions (Windows)
I have several different accounts (banking, investing and credit card). Since I am tracking the categories within my credit card accounts, how do I handle a payment from one of my banking accounts. Am I not "double counting"? I'm not an accountant so can someone explain how to handle this?

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  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
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    You go to your checking Account and record the payment - payee and dollar amount - and then in the Category box you enter the name of the credit card Account as you have it in Quicken, with square brackets ("[" and "]" ) surrounding the name. 
    So if you are making a payment for the credit card that has the name "Bank of America VISA"  you'd enter "[Bank of America VISA]" in the Category box.  Here's one of my recent payments as and example.


Answers

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
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    " Since I am tracking the categories within my credit card accounts, how do I handle a payment from one of my banking accounts."
    That's a simple "Transfer" transaction, usually originating in the checking Account, with the dollar amount due on the credit card statement as the entry in the checking Account register, and the offset being the credit card that's receiving the payment in the Category box, e.g., "[BofA Visa Credit Card]."  
    After you make this entry then typically the cash side of the transaction in the checking Account is recognized first via a subsequent download, followed by the payment processed by the credit card company being recognized with a download a day or two later.
    That one entry captures the reduction in your checking Account balance and the reduction of your liability to the credit card company over in the credit card Account.  There's no "double counting" happening here.
  • dfox2
    dfox2 Member ✭✭
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    Thank you Tom, I will try to look this up myself, but how do you do a transfer within the source account (in my case, checking)?
  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Options
    You go to your checking Account and record the payment - payee and dollar amount - and then in the Category box you enter the name of the credit card Account as you have it in Quicken, with square brackets ("[" and "]" ) surrounding the name. 
    So if you are making a payment for the credit card that has the name "Bank of America VISA"  you'd enter "[Bank of America VISA]" in the Category box.  Here's one of my recent payments as and example.


  • dfox2
    dfox2 Member ✭✭
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    Perfect! That works. Thanks Tom!

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