[GNC] How to setup a Scheduled Transaction for full current Credit Card Balance?

[Kalpesh Patel]

To add note to that, CoA has ability to display different types of totals (Present, Total, Cleared, Reconciled, etc) which gives good picture of balances .. not so nice "at a glance view" but it does the job ...

-----Original Message-----
From: Sherlock <sh025622 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2025 3:05 PM
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] How to setup a Scheduled Transaction for full current Credit Card Balance?

Hi Tom,

We were never a fan of Quicken showing the reminders in account registers.  As I recall, there were numerous issues when the functionality was introduced.  Instead, we relied on the Quicken's "projected balances" views, which is why I favored using the Balance Forecast report in GnuCash when we migrated.

Regards,

Sherlock



On 12/2/25 1:58 AM, Tom Route36 wrote:
> Hi David,
> 
> I just want to clarify how Quicken's Bill Reminders actually work. 
> Quicken doesn't PREDICT anything.  What it does is it sets the amount 
> of each Reminder to be the CURRENT balance of each Credit Card 
> account. The current balance is exactly that -- it's the balance of 
> the transactions that have actually been ENTERED into the Credit Card 
> account -- nothing more.  It doesn't predict future transactions that 
> haven't yet been entered.
> 
> When a user creates a Bill Reminder in Quicken, only three basic items 
> are needed (although there are several other optional bells and 
> whistles if a user wants them).  The three basic items are: [1] The 
> PAYER account (e.g., Checking), [2] The PAYEE account (e.g., The 
> Credit Card company), and [3] The payment DUE DATE.  That's it. Nothing more.
> 
> When the user opens the PAYER account register, there's a list there 
> of all upcoming Bill Reminders, typically (depending on user 
> preference) for the next 7-10 days.  Each Reminder lists three key 
> pieces of
> information: [A] The payment DUE DATE (same as item 3 above), [B] The 
> PAYEE account (same as item 2 above), and [C] the CURRENT AMOUNT of 
> the Payee account.  That item C here is exactly as described in my 
> first paragraph above.  It's simply the current account balance of the 
> Payee account, updated in real-time.  Nothing more.  And it's the key 
> piece of information that's not available for Scheduled Transactions in GnuCash.
> Yes it's available when looking at the balances on the Accounts tab.  
> I know that.  But what's missing is that the current real-time account 
> balance isn't available as a variable for the Scheduled Transactions.
> 
> I understand that there are workarounds, and that the info is 
> ultimately available.  But the Bill Reminders in Quicken are much more 
> user- friendly and keep the amounts up-to-date in real time; whereas 
> the amounts for Scheduled Transactions in GnuCash are static and don't 
> show a true picture of what will be due to each payee as the due date 
> approaches.
> 
> I hope this helps clarify the Quicken vs. GnuCash differences here, as 
> well as what I'd hope to see available someday in GnuCash.
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
> On 12/2/2025 1:19 AM, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
>> This was what I was proposing with the reconcile/pay process.
>>
>> Quicken apparently predicts how much money a user plans to spend and 
>> tells you what it thinks you are going to owe based on the scheduled 
>> (i.e., hypothetical) transaction. GnuCash, however, follows a more 
>> traditional accounting path and only tells you about transactions 
>> (past, present and future) that you have entered into the books.
>>
>> Personally, I don't need that Quicken-type of prediction; if I need 
>> to project my accounts in the future, I will create the necessary 
>> transactions (past, present and future) to allow me to adjudge the 
>> financial status. It might be in the OP's best interest to look at 
>> some of these other suggestions to achieve their goal, albeit in a 
>> different manner than Quicken's.
>>
>> On 12/2/2025 7:35 AM, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote:
>>> On 2025-12-01 18:00, Sherlock wrote:
>>>> The running balances in the account don't include scheduled 
>>>> transactions and the only known date of a balance on Accounts tab 
>>>> is today (present).
>>>>   So, No.  In my opinion, they don't suffice.
>>> But do they need to be _scheduled_ transactions? When my credit card 
>>> statement comes in, I check it against my records, then enter a 
>>> transaction dated on the day the payment will be made, since I now 
>>> know the exact amounts. That keeps both my checking account and my 
>>> credit card account up to date for all past _and_ known future 
>>> transactions. So I can look at either account's register and see 
>>> what the balance will be on any desired date.
>>>
>>> Stan Brown
>>> Tehachapi, CA, USA
>>> https://BrownMath.com