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

[Kalpesh Patel]

Just a reminder that the CoA is capable of displaying account total value as of "present" (up to today which does NOT include future transactions), "cleared" (as of when it was last reconciled) and "total" (which includes all future transactions) at the same time. 

My work flow is to create the transaction dated in the future for CC bill due date in the checking account against the CC account when it arrives, then look at that "total" not to be negative which tells me that I have sufficient funds to cover all the bills in there. If details are needed as to what balance needs to be when, then I go into checking register to look at it and then set up appropriate transfer between saving and checking account if needed. I think this keeps it simple and understandable IMHO. When I enter the future dated transaction in GNC for this, it also tells me that I have scheduled the payment with CC issuer to be withdrawn as well, which acts as a cross-check so the reconciliation is strait forward.

-----Original Message-----
From: R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 11:27 AM
To: Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com>
Cc: Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) <stan+gc at fastmail.fm>; GnuCash User List <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Scheduling Monthly Transactions for Full Credit Card Balances?

Even if there was a function to get the current balance of a credit card, I would be opposed to using a Scheduled Transaction for this -- what if you neglected to enter a charge? Assuming you reconcile credit card statements, turning on the prompt to enter a payment after you reconcile may be an excellent way to go.

On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 4:01 AM Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Stan,
>
> I think your solution here may hold the most promise if I can't find 
> something that works better.  I especially like the fact that the 
> checking account balance on any given date matches your actual (real) 
> checking account balance -- unlike R Losey's method.  That's important 
> to me.  And then you're entering future transactions in the register 
> to keep track of what your checking account balance will be on any 
> given future date as those payments become due.  So that makes good 
> sense to me as well.  The one thing that I don't like though is that 
> GnuCash already includes the concept of Scheduled Transactions. It 
> seems like there should be an easy way to tap into that feature to 
> keep track of how large a checking account balance will be needed -- 
> in real time -- to pay off those upcoming credit card bills.  And I'd 
> like to be able to do that without having to enter future transactions 
> into the checking account register to keep track of that.  Still, I 
> might end up going with your method if I can't get Scheduled 
> Transactions to work the way I'd like them to work.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> On 9/9/2025 9:14 PM, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote:
> > On 2025-09-09 18:39, 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.
> >
> > I do it a bit differently -- as the saying goes, there are many ways 
> > to skin a cat. My practice doesn't need extra accounts or 
> > transactions that don't reflect an actual movement of money. It took 
> > me about seven years to come to the realization that the answer that 
> > works for me is future transactions, as opposed to scheduled transactions.
> >
> > I'm not arguing against R Losey's approach, just offering mine as an 
> > alternative that works in a different way to accomplish the goal.
> >
> > In Edit » Preferences, I have ticked Register » "Future transactions 
> > after blank transaction" and Numbers » "Display negative amounts in red".
> >
> > I'll explain my process by example. Let's suppose that my checking 
> > balance on 10 May is $450.
> >
> > On 12 May I get a credit-card statement showing a balance of $200, 
> > and payment is due on 7 June. In  my checking account register, I 
> > enter a payment of $200 to that credit card, with a date of 
> > 2025-06-07 not 2025-05-12. In the Description field I include the 
> > date I entered this transaction, just in case I need to go back and 
> > check anything. (Unless it's autopay, pulled from my checking 
> > account by the credit-card account, I also initiate a bill pay to 
> > that credit card on my bank's website, to take place on 2025-06-07.) 
> > The transaction appears below a blank line in both registers. I 
> > still see the current checking balance of $450, but I also see the future balance of $250.
> >
> > On 18 May another credit-card bill comes in, for $300 due on 13 
> > June. I enter the $300 payment with a date of 2025-06-13, the date 
> > the money will come from my checking account. Now I see these 
> > balances in my checking register:
> >
> > 2025-05-10 (present) $450
> > 2025-06-07 (future) $250
> > 2025-06-13 (future, in red) ($50)
> >
> > At a glance, I see that I need to transfer at least $50 from savings 
> > to checking by 06-13. So I schedule a $60 transfer with my bank for 
> > 06-12, to keep at least $10 in checking. Now my checking balances 
> > are
> >
> > 2025-05-10 (present) $450
> > 2025-06-07 (future) $250
> > 2025-06-12 (future) $310
> > 2025-06-13 (future, in black) ($10)
> >
> > The only scheduled transactions are my Social Security benefit 
> > (changes only every 12 months) and my annuity (never changes). The 
> > SX are dated the dates payment will be received, but I have the 
> > transactions set to fire well in advance, so that those payments are 
> > also visible in the future section of my checking account. Thus I 
> > don't arrange for unnecessary transfers from savings, if incoming 
> > payments will cover the future outgoings. (If I were still working 
> > I'd do the same thing with salary payments.)
> >
> > I've been doing things this way since late last year, and compared 
> > to my old method it gives me much greater confidence that I'm not 
> > going to overdraw my account or transfer money from savings when I 
> > don't actually need to.
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>


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