[GNC] Scheduling Monthly Transactions for Full Credit Card Balances?

[R Losey]

While it is true that the checking account register won't show the "true"
balance, it DOES show how much is remaining with the credit cards paid. One
could argue that this is the "true" balance.  However,  the "accounts" page
does show the bank balance, should I need to know that.

Moreover, like anything else, if you adopt the practice, you'll get used to
it. I've used sub-accounts ever since I've had GnuCash, and I used them in
Quicken before that, so I'm used to it.

I wanted to ensure that I can always pay off the credit cards, so you have
accurately summarized this solution. Best wishes -- I hope you find
something that works for you.

On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 3:57 AM Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi R Losey,
>
> I think your suggestion here is certainly one way of keeping track of
> how large a balance is needed in your checking account.  Essentially
> your "Credit" sub-account is keeping a running balance of the upcoming
> scheduled transactions that will be needed to pay off your credit cards
> each month.  So I can see how that can be useful for ensuring you keep a
> high enough balance in your checking account.  What I don't like about
> that though is that the checking account balance in GnuCash no longer
> matches the actual checking account balance.  And that's too confusing
> for me.  So I need a different solution.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> On 9/9/2025 7:39 PM, R Losey wrote:
> > Sometimes you can come to a solution by looking at it another way.  How
> > about this solution (which I use):
> >
> > Create a "Credit" sub-account under the checking account. Whenever you
> > enter transactions (I enter them weekly, but some people enter them as
> > they occur, and others enter them every day or two). Anyway, after
> > entering my credit transactions, I then look at the current "credit"
> > sub-account balance, and the credit card balance, and transfer money
> > from the checking account to the "credit" sub-account. The amount is
> > "Current Credit Balance" minus "Credit sub-account balance". For
> > example, if my "credit" sub-account has $85, and my credit card shows a
> > balance of $114.68, I need to transfer $29.68 from the checking account
> > to the credit sub-account. It will then show $114.68, and my checking
> > account register will be lowered by $114.68.
> >
> > By doing this, you effectively move money out of the checking account
> > register (so it shows what you have left), and there should always be
> > funds in the credit account to pay the credit card.
> >
> > When you pay the credit card off, you then transfer funds out of the
> > credit sub-account and into the checking account.
> >
> > This solution does not use scheduled transactions, but it has worked
> > very well for me.
> >
> > (Note: I keep any sub-accounts to an even dollar amount, so if my credit
> > card balance needs $30.58, I transfer $31.00 to the credit sub-account.
> > This is just so that I don't have to mess around with cents in the sub-
> > account).
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 9, 2025 at 8:08 PM Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com
> > <mailto:tom.route36 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     Hi all,
> >
> >     This is a follow-up to my earlier email question here.  I really
> would
> >     like some way of creating ongoing monthly Scheduled Transactions for
> >     each of my credit card accounts that will always default to the full
> >     credit card balance each month.  What I'm trying to do is to be able
> to
> >     look at a list of Scheduled Transactions for my checking account; and
> >     from that list know each month how high a balance my checking account
> >     needs to be in order to pay off all those credit cards in full.  It
> >     seems like no one has been able to come up with an answer though.  So
> >     let me ask a more specific question.
> >
> >     When creating a Scheduled Transaction, the splits for each
> transaction
> >     include two columns labeled Debit Formula and Credit Formula.
> >     Typically
> >     (for say an Internet provider or a Phone carrier) I'd enter whatever
> >     fixed amount I get charged each month as a FIXED dollar value.  But
> >     since these columns are labeled "Formula" that also implies that I
> can
> >     enter a mathematical expression (i.e., a formula) that results in a
> >     CALCULATED dollar value.  There is some bare bones documentation
> about
> >     formulas at this link:
> >     https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Scheduled_Transactions <https://
> >     wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Scheduled_Transactions>.  But I don't see
> >     any info there on how to query an account to get its current balance,
> >     which is what I need.  Does anyone know how to grab an account
> balance
> >     so that it can be included as a variable in a formula?  If anyone
> >     has an
> >     idea about how to do that please let me know.
> >
> >     Tom
> >
> >
> >     On 9/8/2025 4:04 PM, Tom Route-36 wrote:
> >      > Hi all,
> >      >
> >      > Does anyone know if there's a way in GnuCash to create monthly
> >     Scheduled
> >      > Transactions for a checking account to pay a credit card account
> >     where
> >      > the formula for the monthly transaction amount is always equal to
> >     the
> >      > current monthly balance of the credit card account?  What I'm
> >     hoping to
> >      > do is to have something functionally similar to "Bill and Income
> >      > Reminders" in Quicken.  Please let me know if there's some way of
> >     doing
> >      > that.
> >      >
> >      > Tom
> >
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> >
> > --
> > _________________________________
> > Richard Losey
> > rlosey at gmail.com <mailto:rlosey at gmail.com>
> > Micah 6:8
>
>

-- 
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8