Decide how to track credit cards in Quicken

Quicken provides several ways for you to track your ongoing credit card expenses; the recommended method is to set up a credit card account. Regardless of the method you choose, you should also set up your credit card payment as a bill reminder (see below).

Set up a credit card account

Tracking credit cards as accounts most closely models the real world situation where a credit card is issued by a financial institution.

Simply activate the account for online account services, and then download the transactions and balance from your financial institution. Because Quicken automatically suggests categories, downloading transactions provides full category detail without tedious manual entry. To learn more, see Working with categories

After your account is set up, click the Spending tab or create spending reports to learn where your money is going.

•   Is there another option?

  Alternatively, you can:

  • Only track the credit card payment (for example, as a payment made from your checking account). This method is very simple, but doesn't capture any category detail so Quicken's reports and spending analysis tools will be less than accurate for any items you purchase with this card.

Set up my credit card payment as a bill reminder

Quicken can better help you meet your goals if you track your credit card payments as bill reminders. Reminders form the basis of the projected balance and spending analysis tools in Quicken.

•   Tell me more

  Quicken bill reminders help you plan your expenses and pay your bills on time. When you create a bill reminder, you enter the details of the bill and tell Quicken when to make the next payment, the amount due, and how often to make future payments. Do this for your income, too. Quicken will then have the information it needs to accurately project your account balances. This is one of the coolest features in Quicken!

Notes

•   What are the different ways I can pay the bill for my credit card?

  If you're tracking this credit card only as a bill, then making the credit card payment is the same as paying any bill in Quicken. If you're tracking this credit card in an account, you can record the credit card payment as a transfer from your checking account to the credit card account.

•   What if I want to pay a different amount on my credit card, or I want to make the payment from another account?

  When you add a bill reminder to Quicken to remind you when a payment is due, you can enter an estimate for the payment amount. If you decide to pay another amount when the bill comes due, or if you want to make the payment from another account, you should editthe transaction before you enter it.

•   What if I added my credit card as a bill, and now I want to track it as an account?

  Bills and accounts are separate things in Quicken, so adding one won't negatively impact the other. Any time you want to start tracking a credit card as an account in Quicken, simply follow the instructions in the Track credit cards in accounts section above.