I am new to using GB to track my credit card expenses - I have only used it for our checking account previously.
When I import my list of credit card transactions, I assign them to the correct account and envelope. I pay my card off every month, so I understand that when I make the payment I just transfer the amount from my checking account to my credit card amount. But I’m not sure what to do about the payments when they appear in the list as I import transactions. How would I assign them without it seeming like a credit that I don’t actually have?
Hopefully this makes sense!
Personally I’d just ignore them in the Credit Card Account (i.e. not import them). If you already have them in Goodbudget as Account Transfers, then putting in another transaction would just count it double and make things confusing.
Alternatively, if you haven’t put in the Account Transfers yet, you can add the payments as Credits to your Credit Card Account and then use them as reminders to create Transfers, and delete the Credits once you’ve done that.
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I cannot figure out how to make payments to credit cards and it’s frustrating I’ll get a refund and go back to a manual budget. I allocate expenses when using credit cards, but how do I transfer from my Checking account to a credit card in your system? It doesn’t give me the option of Checking in my drop-down even though there is a checking account. Do I just use unallocated (seems not)?
It sounds like you may be struggling with the difference between accounts and envelopes. The credit card and checking should be two separate accounts, so a payment simply represents a transfer from checking to the CC. Depending on whether you pay the card off every month or carry a balance (a debt account), the transaction may have some additional data but the general principle is the same.
On the envelope side you won’t be “making payments”, nor will you have a “checking account” unless you’ve created an additional envelope for that (which would be unusual). You’ll just have the expenses you’ve made. “Unallocated” is simply a representation of the combined balance of all your non-credit/debt accounts, minus the amounts you’ve designated to the envelopes you’re using.
It can get confusing if you’re using a card while you try to pay off a balance; you can enter transactions as debts but without some creative usage those charges won’t come out of the “correct” budget envelope, e.g. a Grocery purchase will show as a debt, but won’t deduct from your grocery envelope.
Bottom line: to make a credit card payment, do an account transfer from Checking to the Credit Card if it’s a card you pay off monthly, or do a Debt Transaction/Payment if it’s a card you’re working to pay off.
Is that helpful?
Last try, How do I transfer from Checking to Credit card? Checking is not an option under my “from accounts” nor do the credit cards I pay off come under debt accounts. Is there a better solution/package you would recommend as your package just isn’t working for me? Sorry
It sounds as if maybe your accounts and envelopes aren’t set up correctly? Do you have all your budget envelopes in one tab, and all your accounts in another? Or are you confusing the debt envelope for the credit card with its actual account maybe?