Question about Mint and tracking CC cards

[Debinnov a]

When I charge something on my credit card, it seems that Mint immediately picks up that charge and adds that charge against the budget? The credit card account is tracked in Mint. The bank just took the monthly payment out of my checking account and Mint has added it against the budget. (Charging it all to Utilities - obviously the wrong category).

Wouldn't that be adding the charges twice? What am I missing? Do I need to remove the overall payment if the individual charges are already logged? How would I do that?



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[erkevin]

yes, it does count it twice against your budgets.
I do this in Trends: Click on the category, next to the cc payment expense, and change it to "hide from budgets". This is found at the bottom of the list. If it is not already there, you may have to add it from the master list

 

[Surewhitey]

+1

yes, it does count it twice against your budgets.
I do this in Trends: Click on the category, next to the cc payment expense, and change it to "hide from budgets". This is found at the bottom of the list. If it is not already there, you may have to add it from the master list

 

[CountryBoy]

I noticed this too, both the item being charged & the credit card payment being counted twice in my budget. But mine always "rights itself" after 1-2 days.

 

[RenoJay]

I end up doing a fair amount of deleting (hide from budgets and trends) in Mint. Mint is far from perfect but is pretty decent overall.


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[BlueAFMom]

If you select "Transfer" from the dropdown menu of categories it gives a subcategory to select 'transfer to credit card' which keeps the payment from counting as another expense. After I did that once, it 'learned' to categorize all of my credit card payments that way.

BlueAFMom

 

[Debinnov a]

Thanks, I knew there must be a way to handle it!

 

[jabbahop]

It took me a while to find that feature too.

One big mistake I made with mint was deleting old bank account when we switched to ally. All of those old entries disappear so spending history is now incomplete. Ughhh


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[Debinnov a]

Oh, I didn't think of that and I'm doing some transfers and closing of accounts. What should I do other than deleting them? Does it give you an option just to have them closed and still keep history?

 

[Dan6912]

All you have to do is categorize the credit card payment as credit card payment (it's in the drop down menu) and it is NOT double counted. This is the CORRECT way to categorize a credit card payment!

 

[wanaberetiree]

@BlueAFMom

it sounds you know Mint well, have you used Quicken? can you share your thoughts/comparison if yes - Mint vs Quicken?

 

[Dan6912]

@BlueAFMom

it sounds you know Mint well, have you used Quicken? can you share your thoughts/comparison if yes - Mint vs Quicken?

I've used Quicken before but ran into big time trouble EVERY time they upgraded the software -- others I've talked to at work had similar problems.

Mint, on the other hand, serves my needs well with no problems and at a fantastic price!

 

[wanaberetiree]

I've used Quicken before but ran into big time trouble EVERY time they upgraded the software -- others I've talked to at work had similar problems.

Mint, on the other hand, serves my needs well with no problems and at a fantastic price!

That's good to know. However Quicken is much more feature rich, so I am looking for someone who used both and compare them from user standpoint.

 

[Debinnov a]

Okay now that I figured out the credit card payment, I have another question. Mint is picking up large transfers of cash where I'm moving money from one bank to another. They are uncategorized and there doesn't seem to be an option for just transfers of money from one bank to another. Do I just leave it uncategorized?

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[Dan6912]

When I charge something on my credit card, it seems that Mint immediately picks up that charge and adds that charge against the budget? The credit card account is tracked in Mint. The bank just took the monthly payment out of my checking account and Mint has added it against the budget. (Charging it all to Utilities - obviously the wrong category).

Wouldn't that be adding the charges twice? What am I missing? Do I need to remove the overall payment if the individual charges are already logged? How would I do that?



Sent from my KFTHWA using Tapatalk

Change the category of the credit card deduction to "credit card payment".
Credit card payment is under the heading of "Transfers".

 

[Dan6912]

Okay now that I figured out the credit card payment, I have another question. Mint is picking up large transfers of cash where I'm moving money from one bank to another. They are uncategorized and there doesn't seem to be an option for just transfers of money from one bank to another. Do I just leave it uncategorized?

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Categorize the bank transfers as "transfer to checking" for instance. You have to use the SAME category on both sides of the transfer for them to cancel each other out.

A transfer to checking, as a for instance, would have to be used for the transaction at the SENDING BANK and at the RECEIVING BANK so that the two cancel out. One transaction will be a negative transaction (the sending bank) and one will be a positive transaction (the receiving bank), cancelling out the value to equal zero.

Example: A $100 transfer would be .... (minus) $100 from the sending bank {Bank A} and (plus) $100 at the receiving bank {Bank B}. minus $100 + (positive) 100 = zero. Everything is in balance!

The key is to to make the complete transaction equal zero. Zero has no effect (affect?) on your cash flow balance or budget.

 

[erkevin]

Quicken vs Mint

That's good to know. However Quicken is much more feature rich, so I am looking for someone who used both and compare them from user standpoint.

I use both; Quicken since the mid-90's and Mint for the past two years or so.
I am not an expert but have decent familiarity in both.
Mint: keeps account balances and updates automatically. However, it does not have access to all banks. I have been trying for months to get the publisher to add GE Capital to no avail. If all of your accounts are added, good snapshot of your finances. Also excellent for budgeting since it tracks cc spending. I am retiring in 2016 and this is my go-to for tracking if we can live within our retirement budget.

Quicken: so many features. Like the planning tool- using it as a retirement planner. Great to have 20 years of expenses and income record. However, unlike Miint, CC expenses are not listed, so I do not use it as a budgeting tool. Once upon a time, I used Quicken to pay all of my bills, but they now have a fee for that. Quicken also does not update account balances automatically, although you can access some banks and do that. I did it with BofA for years until the cost went to $10/month.
Quicken also allows you to track multiple accounts with registers. If you keep up with it, you can get a pretty accurate net-worth.

I use both because neither provides all of the services I require.

Also, like another reported, I have also had upgrade issues with Quicken. AND Ituit likes to find ways to make your older versions of Quicken obsolete, forcing you to upgrade.