Payoff day is a good day!

Although I didn’t add it to GoodBudget until late in the loan, it’s always a great feeling to pay off a debt! :relaxed:

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Wow, awesome~ Congratulations!!

(your emoji matches the envelope face as well!)

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Hi, Tiffany.

We paid off our car, as well. However, we also had an envelope associated with the debt payment. When I enter the final payoff, my envelope now shows a negative balance. Do I need to delete the envelope first and then pay off the debt to be able to make both the debt and the envelope away cleanly?

Congrants, btw! :slight_smile:

You shouldn’t have to delete it first; that may just dump the excess into your Unallocated balance (although I’m not sure). I would simply adjust the loan balance (using “Edit” on the Accounts list) to match the final payment.
(Edited for clarity!)

It absolutely went into the unallocated (neg) balance. I actually put in a ticket to see if they could reset my GB to where it was this morning as it is now completely messed up.

If I adjust the loan balance, do you mean down to “0”? Then how do you show that payment from Checking to the Loan? We had an accrual envelope that we used to make the payment each month and now both the envelope and Debt account are gone. I was able to transfer the $ from our checking on the account side, but there is still a negative outstanding balance in Unallocated.

Let’s say GB showed a balance on the loan of $125.75 but the bank says the payoff is just $125. I would edit the loan balance to $125, make the payment as usual (which will make the loan balance $0) then if there’s anything in the budget envelope (it shouldn’t be more than little bit) I’d just transfer that to another envelope or Unallocated.
Am I understanding your question correctly? I don’t think I took into account your separate envelope for the loan in my other answer.
PS—have you already deleted the debt account and the envelope?

I’m re-reading the thread; I think you’re saying your Debt Payment Budget envelope (not your debt account?) is where you see (saw?) the negative balance, yes? Which means your final payoff was more than you had available in the envelope. Ideally you would fill that envelope with just enough for the payment—either from Unallocated or from another envelope by way of a transfer—then make the payment.
If you’ve already deleted everything and have a negative Unallocated balance, you’ll just need to transfer from existing envelopes back to Unallocated. If you still need to record the payment, I think your best bet would be to adjust your Checking account balance, which will enter a transaction in the ledger, then rename that transaction “Car Payoff” or something.
Maybe the admins will have an easier way, or can reset you like you mentioned. Fingers crossed!

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I had delete the envelope and changed the account to “pay off every month” which, essentially makes it a credit card in GB. The admins are not able to reset, which is a bummer, but at least he car is paid off!! Now I just need to understand how to pay a “debt” in GB for an amount that is other than the monthly - I think that is the key. The mechanics don’t make sense. I will confess that I did this during my first cup of coffee and have had a migraine all day, so maybe I have been to hasty.

I think I just figured it out - thank you so much for thinking this through with/for me. :slight_smile: :grin:

What do you do with your “paidoff” debt envelopes? They’re still showing in my “Debt” section. They show a zero balance, but can we archive?

There’s no “archive” per se, but you can delete them and their associated account when the debt is paid off. The transactions will remain in your ledger and be searchable, but the envelopes will no longer be there.
Hope that helps!

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Congratulations! I left a debt envelope with a $0 balance up for several months just because it was so much fun to see the $0 there. :slight_smile: It also felt good to finally delete it, though.

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