[GNC] Scheduling Monthly Transactions for Full Credit Card Balances?
R Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Thu Sep 11 10:38:34 EDT 2025
Noted: I'm a bit like that, too... but I still find errors when I
reconcile. Generally, things I miss fall into three categories: (1) someone
in the household loses a receipt, so it doesn't get entered (2) recurring
charges that provide no notice (for example, the yearly charge for Amazon
Prime) (3) receipts with hard to read amounts due to faint or blurred ink.
I'm pleased that you are reconciling (not everyone does). Having the
reconcile auto-prompt for payment may be the best way to go.
Best wishes!
On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi R Losey,
>
> Actually I'm essentially doing both things. I keep track of and enter
> all my charges throughout the month as I incur them. (FYI, I
> self-diagnose myself as obsessive compulsive when it comes to tracking
> expenses; so there's almost zero chance of me missing a charge.) As a
> result, using the CC register balances for the Scheduled Transactions
> are worst-case estimates of what I might end up seeing on my
> end-of-month statements. Additionally, I also go and reconcile the EOM
> statements to ensure that I did get everything entered correctly. And
> finally I adjust the Scheduled Transactions to reflect the actual dates
> and amounts of my payments as I make them. So the payments all get
> entered correctly.
>
> I could try to manually update the Scheduled Transaction amounts with my
> CC register balances as they keep going up throughout the month. But
> doing that manually for each CC register would be horribly inefficient.
> That's why my ideal solution would be to be able to set the formula
> amount in each Scheduled Transaction to the full CC register balance.
> That way GnuCash would do all the work of updating those Scheduled
> Transactions for me in real time. That's pretty much how Quicken worked
> with its "Bill and Income Reminders". I gave up on Quicken once they
> switched over to subscriptions; but I do miss that one feature.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> On 9/10/2025 9:27 AM, R Losey wrote:
> > 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
> > <mailto: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.
> > >
> >
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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
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