How to deal with the cash flow and the credit card.

[R. Victor Klassen]

Folks, 

I think the original poster is looking at how to forecast cash flow.  Given the credit cards have different due dates, and assuming they are paid on their due date, does the account from which they are paid have enough in it for the coming month?

This is relatively easy once the billing date is past: just enter the transactions with future dates, and you can tell at a glance whether the account from which they are paid will go into the red.   This is relatively manual, and I can think of no report that would give me that projection at a random date before the billing dates have all (three) passed (and before any of their payment dates - which may not include any dates).  

The report, if it did exist, would have to project the balance of the paying account based on knowledge of the due dates, and the assumption that no further charges will be made to the credit cards until their billing dates.  

The closest I can come (and I use this method) is to enter phantom transactions into the main current account with names like “deposit placeholder” and “xxx credit card placeholder” at the appropriate dates in the future, and then correct them as I know the amounts, changing their names so I know they are no longer merely estimates.   This also works for mortgage and utility payments, - the mortgage payment I know the amount, but not the split, since the vaguaries of interest calculation mean my calculation never exactly matches the calculation used by the bank - and pretty much any foreseeable income or expense.


> On Sep 24, 2017, at 7:51 PM, DaveC49 <davidcousens at bigpond.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> The Tutorial and Concepts Guide covers the setup for credit cards in detail
> (https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-guide/chapter_cc.html).  You
> need to create a Liability account as per these instructions for each credit
> card.  There is no specific tool for handling credit cards as such. You
> enter the transactions for purchases (as shown in the guide) when you make
> purchases and the transactions for payments (also as shown in the guide)
> when you make the payments for each credit card. 
> 
> If your bill is due on the same date each month, you could also use the
> scheduled payments feature
> See the Gnucash Help Manual  section 6.12 for details
> (https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?doc=help)
> 
> 
> David
> 
> 
> 
> -----
> David Cousens
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