Assigning categories between accounts
Anna
Hi,
I'm wondering if it's possible to do the following:
Making a payment from a checking account to a credit card account
being categorized as a transfer. But the transaction on the credit
card being categorized as groceries, for example. So it would look
like this:
Checking --> transfer to CC ($51.30)
Credit Card --> Groceries ($51.30)
Is this possible?
I want to make sure that the purchase is counted only once, in the appropriate category.
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2 Posted by tod on 26 Jul, 2012 05:33 AM
Are the checking and credit cards separate accounts or is this a debit card?
If separate accounts then I think you are looking at two transactions in real life and you can handle them as two transactions in Moneydance:
If it is a debit card, just make one transaction in you checking account for groceries.
At least that is how I do it.
3 Posted by Anna on 26 Jul, 2012 06:03 AM
Thanks for replying Tod. They're two separate accounts. They are two separate transactions, but I'm trying to avoid misrepresenting my accounts at the end of the year. I run an annual report which outlines all my transactions, by category, so if I"m paying for groceries with a credit card ($70, for example), I'd like it to be reflected under groceries. When I make a payment to my credit card from checking (say $100, for the groceries and another transaction), I don't want the $100 from checking to be counted as a "payment to CC" category because those transactions will have proper categories. So at the end of the year, if I'm looking at all the transactions in all the categories, the payment to the cc (from checking) shouldn't be categorized as "groceries' and it shouldn't be "cc payment" because I think it will distort the overall picture of what I'm spending on.
Not sure if I'm explaining it well enough.
4 Posted by -Kevin N. on 26 Jul, 2012 12:36 PM
HI Anna,
Be sure when entering the Credit Card payment into your Checking account that you select the actual Credit Card account as the 'Category' of the transaction. This action will enter the txn into the Checking account as a debit and into the Credit Card account as a payment. There will be no income or expense category designated to this transfer.
Do not create or use a 'Credit Card Payment' expense category for use in a transfer txn.
HTH -Kevin N.
5 Posted by Anna on 26 Jul, 2012 12:47 PM
Ah, ok. Thanks. I saw that in the user guide and tried it, but then it looked like I had "extra" transactions in the cc account (as opposed to matching a transaction from checking to a transaction in the cc account).
Wish there were examples with screen shots and "use cases" or scenarios. :)
6 Posted by Anna on 27 Jul, 2012 01:20 AM
When I did that, it looks like I have two entries for one transaction (one that seems to have been auto-generated when I categorized a payment from checking to the credit card, and the other one that was downloaded from the bank (I imported the cc info I downloaded from the cc website)). Is there a way to reconcile them? Or prevent what looks like a double entry?
7 Posted by tod on 27 Jul, 2012 01:40 AM
If you click on a little split icon at the top of the register and one of the downloaded transactions a merge area opens up and you can tell Moneydance that the two transactions are one and the same.
I haven't used that much for investment accounts but it does work for credit and bank accounts. I have used it on a couple of investment accounts but most of the firms I have accounts with seem to only want to download .csv files which I find too messy to deal with.
8 Posted by -Kevin N. on 27 Jul, 2012 02:20 AM
Hi Anna,
Forum member tod's suggestion is a viable method.
There is also another method that you may want to try out.
Look in 'Preferences' on the 'Network' tab. Try Check-marking 'Automatically Merge Downloaded Transactions'.
Going forward, when the txn is downloaded, MD should 'Merge' it with the existing txn in the register thus eliminating the initial duplication of the two txns.
Try both methods and see which one you prefer. Both are correct.
HTH -Kevin N.
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 15 Oct, 2012 09:19 AM.