Loan payments should allow more than 3 splits
I have a first mortgage set up as a loan account in MD. MD automatically allows 3 split components on the payment: principal, interest, and escrow. However, the bank and I both see 3 components to the total escrow amount: property tax, home insurance, and reserve. I'd like to be able to track those three separately, because one of them (prop tax) is deductible on income taxes and the other two are not. Also, it's just good practice to see what money is going where (isn't that what MD is all about, after all?). What I'm doing now to work around it is hand-editing each automatic payment, after it's recorded, to add the additional 2 splits and get the amounts right. But why can't MD just allow more splits on the loan payment? Why limit it at all? Other split transactions can have as many splits as you want.
I'm running MD 2008r4 (641), Java Version 1.5.0_20, Mac OS X 10.5.8
Thanks,
David
Support Staff 2 Posted by Ben Spencer on 10 Oct, 2009 08:34 PM
Hi David
There is an existing ticket for this suggestion in our issue and suggestion tracking system. Here is the link:
http://moneydance.com/trac/ticket/2029
If you register and log into trac you can vote on tickets. We use the number of votes tickets get to help us prioritise development.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
3 Posted by ds4854 on 10 Oct, 2009 11:47 PM
Hi Ben,
Ok, I voted for it. Given that I have to edit my "automatic" monthly mortgage payments anyway because MD is messing up the principal/interest split (see my other ticket http://help.infinitekind.com/discussions/problems/358-loan-account-... ), maybe I will just cancel the scheduled transaction through the loan account and set up a standard scheduled transaction for the payment. At least it will have the right number of splits.
David
4 Posted by Linda on 10 Apr, 2011 06:04 AM
I agree with Ben. I'm trying to convert to MD from MS Money now that I'm on a Mac. Between the loan and the paycheck, I'm finding the conversion incredibly frustrating.
5 Posted by Linda on 10 Apr, 2011 06:05 AM
I agree with David. I'm trying to convert to MD from MS Money now that I'm on a Mac. Between the loan and the paycheck, I'm finding the conversion incredibly frustrating.
6 Posted by paleolith on 15 Apr, 2011 03:28 PM
At least in the US, the OP's problem statement is incorrect. While I have no objection to additional splits on mortgage payments, the US IRS is very explicit that property tax is deductible in the year that the escrow account pays the taxing authority, NOT when the homeowner pays the escrow account. Even if the mortgage servicer separates the tax, insurance and reserve on the statement, this is FYI and is not how the escrow account works legally.
The correct way to handle this in MD is to set up the escrow as a separate account in MD (type bank), split the entire escrow part of the month payment into the escrow account, and then record tax and insurance payments from the escrow account when the mortgage servicer notifies you that it has paid them. (You'll probably have to consult a statement, as they won't provide a separate notification.) This results in the MD representation of the escrow being exactly how the escrow account is really handled, despite the splits shown on your statement.
Edward