Recording Mortgage Payment

[Mike or Penny Novack]

>
>Home Mortgage account
>
> Increase
>
>Decrease
>
>
>
> I enter the full payment amount as a decrease from the asset:Checking
>account. Then I click SPLIT and Repeat this step
>
>
>
> I enter the liability account Loan:Home Mortgage in the decrease column.
>The amount I enter is the principal portion of the payment
>
> I then enter the Interest portion of the payment as an increase using the
>Expense:Mortgage interest account
>
>  
>
Wrong (which is why you are getting the imbalance). You need practice 
with splits. Please note that I am going to refer to debit and credit 
(left column and right column) instead of the particular supposedly 
"user friendly" column titles.

a) You begin entering the transaction in the checking account (right so 
far -- whenever a split is on only one side always easiest to begin with 
the unsplit account).
b) You hit split. You get a different "picture" of the transaction, a 
first line for the checking account with the amount in the credit column 
(decrease if an account of type asset) and on the line below an amount 
in the debit column (increase) but as yet no account specified.
c) You CHANGE the amount to the amount correct for the liability account 
Mortgage and enter that account in the account column and hit enter.
d) That shows up and on the line below the remaining amount still in the 
debit (increase) column with the account "imbalance". You change that 
account to "interest", hit enter again, and all should be well.

Michael