How to properly set up for paying credit card statements from checking account
I have 4 credit cards for which I have set up Quicken accounts. I pay these monthly from my checking account, for which I also have an account set up in Quicken. I want to know the proper data elements to be entered in the fields on the "Enter Expense Transaction" form for use when paying the credit card statement from the checking account.
Payee information:
Payee. I believe this should be the name of the credit card company as shown in Quicken for that company.
Category. I'm not sure what to enter here. I believe I read somewhere that it should be the bracketed name of the credit card account.
Payment information:
Account to use. I believe the Account to use field in the Payment information section of the form should be the name of checking account that I have set up in Quicken.
Method/Check. I do not know what, if anything, should be entered here.
I believe that possible errors in my current setups may be causing the Projected Balances report to compute incorrectly. I hope someone can help me set up these transactions correctly.
Thanks!
D. Eager
Answers
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Sounds like you have it right. In your checking account you can enter anything you want for the payee/description. The payment should be a TRANSFER to the credit card account.
When you enter the payment in your checking account you put the credit card account name in for the category using square brackets around the name to indicate it is a transfer...like this… [Visa] or newer Mac versions have a separate Transfer column.
I'm staying on Quicken 2013 Premier for Windows.
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Just to clarify…
I have the CC payment transactions set up permanently Expense Transactions in the Bills and Income Reminders list with $0.00 balances. These then appear each month in the Bills, Income & Transfers list. Once I receive a new CC statement, I post the actual amount due in the Bills, Income & Transfers list. If I understand correctly, to make this work properly the Payee Category in the Enter Expense Transaction screen should be [credit card account name] and NOT the checking account name.
Does this make sense?
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That is correct.
In my Checking account, a transaction to pay my Citi VISA account, card number ending in 7369, looks like this:
Way back in the past I used to print checks with Quicken and mail them, therefore the Payee Name is part of the required mailing address and the Memo field contains my full card number.
Nowadays, I have authorized Citi to automatically debit the full credit card balance on due date every month from my checking account. With these automatic debits I can't miss or be late on payments any more.If you always pay the full credit card balance due, in your Scheduled Reminder you can also set the amount due to an estimated amount, with the option "Use full credit card balance".
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Can I continue to use my current method of having a $0 balance on the card amount due for each CC in Bills & Transfers, which appears automatically each month in the Bills & Transfers list as $0 due? Once the actual statement is received from the card company, I change the amount in Bills & Transfers from $0 to the current amount due. If so, I need to know the correct data elements to reference in the Enter Expense Transaction for each CC as questioned above. Can you help with that?
Thanks.
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Of course. I was just showing you some of the features in Quicken. If the $0.00 transaction works for you, keep on using it.
The use of "current credit card balance" (meaning the running balance of your credit card register in Quicken) is optional and helps with forecasting future account balances.
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I think the only thing I still need is a final answer concerning the proper data I need to enter in the fields listed below.
Payee information:
Payee. I believe this should be the name of the credit card company as shown in Quicken for that company.
Category. I'm not sure what to enter here. I believe I read somewhere that it should be the bracketed name of the credit card account.
Payment information:
Account to use. I believe the Account to use field in the Payment information section of the form should be the name of checking account that I have set up in Quicken.
Method/Check. I do not know what, if anything, should be entered here.
Please confirm my understanding of the Payee, Category, Account to Use.
Please advise what, if anything, should be entered in the Method/Check field.
Thanks again!
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I'm sorry for being so persistent but I really need to get this right. I think all I need to know now is what data should I enter in the fields below on the "Enter Expense Transactions" screen for each CC account.
Payee information:
Payee. I believe this should be the name of the credit card company as shown in Quicken for that company.
Category. I'm not sure what to enter here. I believe I read somewhere that it should be the bracketed name of the credit card account.
Payment information:
Account to use. I believe the Account to use field in the Payment information section of the form should be the name of checking account that I have set up in Quicken.
Method/Check. I do not know what, if anything, should be entered here.
Thanks again for your help.
Don E.
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I prefer the simple method of having Quicken Reminders setup for manual entry -
and then just fill in the amount when they come due -
only really need the bracket account name - [CC Visa card] and the amount - done -
vs clicking on the —> Settings —> Transfer —> fill in the fields -
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Thanks. I actually figured out on my own what the problem was with the Projected Balances report. I had the credit card reminders set up incorrectly. Fixed the affected credit card accounts and all is good.
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ok - you never mentioned anything about Projected Balances Report -
just the badgering about how to enter all the fields on the Transfer - and we all showed you 2 ways to enter a Transfer -I actually figured out on my own what the problem was with the Projected Balances report.
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