I like to over-pay my credit card by a bit so I don't have to think about it for a while. I mostly developed this habit of overpaying my credit card so that I don't have to think about paying it for a while... but I see that that's silly. Some users … In retrospect, this is silly... and I intend to stop doing it. Check over your categories to make sure that your Available amounts reflect your priorities. Thanks. Don’t worry! The company claims the typical user saves an average of $600 by the second month of using the app, and $6,000 over the course of the first year. Bought this in the steam sale and have started setting up my budget, have added in a current account and credit card account. Once you've rolled into the next month though the only way to see it will be the discrepancy between the CC balance and the available amount and you don't want those to get out of sync unless you are deliberately and knowingly using the CC to carry debt*. The issue is that for my bank, this means that the bank owes me 854.07. This could resolve all the cc negatives through the months. If you can’t budget for the entire balance, set a goal for what you cannot pay off right away. What that is telling you is that you have paid the CC $854.07 more money than you had budgeted for it. You Need a Budget, often referred to as just YNAB, is a premium budgeting app that has a primary mission of helping you get control over your budget and finances. This actually seems consistent with what was shown in the video above, but it doesn't make any sense. 2. Just wondered how it works with the credit card payments? And, obviously, we know you need a budget. If you continue to spend what is available you will eventually have a negative bank account unless you have more income come in. My To Be Budgeted is showing as negative by almost $1600 for this month, despite my budget and credit card on budget totals being less than I have in my on budget accounts ($4964 budgeted, $760 on credit card owed, total of $6020 in accounts). Once the balance is negative, YNAB will start moving money for budgeted purchases to the Credit Card … This is an amount that updates automatically every time I log a transaction on my credit card (ex. The Credit Card Float Sometimes, when you get started in YNAB, it can reveal to you that you’ve been operating in the credit card float—waiting on money to come in so you can pay the credit card bill for past purchases. Now, here’s the cool part. If you’re just getting going with your credit cards in YNAB, check out Credit Cards: The Basics first! For some months this fix makes the CC "Payment" Field go negative (which is otherwise 0 or positive). ... Credit Card Emoji. I know some people like to overpay credit cards, I'm just saying the logic doesn't work for me and it's not necessary particularly once you're managing things properly through YNAB. Nothing like making a zero percent interest loan to a mega financial institution. So you had a 0 balance on the card when starting YNAB? That is why BoA shows the balance as negative. For example, I buy 99% of my fuel and food on credit card, but any spend in one month won't be taken out of my current account until the following month when the credit card … Snikanes Is it possible that you moved funds from your payment category to another category at some point? If you don’t have any dollars To be Budgeted, you'll need to move money from other categories. If you use YNAB effectively, you will have the money available to pay the credit card when it is due so that money might as well stay in your bank account. For full details on my … ... A discussion subreddit for popular budgeting software You Need A Budget. On your credit card budget line, you should see negative activity, but not negative available balance. Plus, you’ll also get a Credit Card Payment category added to your budget itself with a monthly target amount of $300. All reallocations have consequences. Personally, I pay the statement balance only as again I don't see the point of paying before I need to. "It's possible that the payment amount wasn't included in your starting balance. Helps them become more of an eyesore so you want to get rid of them! You want to … Your payment category should always match the opposite of the current balance of the card for a paid-in-full credit card. But YNAB seems to be doing this the opposite way... Green Cartridge Then that is weird. The issue here is only in my answers to Q2 and Q3. Negative means that I have paid it off, not that I owe the bank the money. I have just recently started using my credit card to pay for daily expenses. [This not advisable but still allowed because sometimes there’s no other option but add debt to a credit card.] / 2. Did you make the payment before or after setting the card up in YNAB? Related to personal finance, budgeting, … I see. If you have an outstanding balance on a credit card when you set it up in YNAB, and you plan to pay that in full, you’ll need to budget for it in the Credit Card Payments category. Pro Tip: When you add a credit card, and the payment category is created, budget for the starting balance on your card. 2) Set your credit card up to autopay the statement balance and stop handing money to the credit card company before you have to. Decide what you want to do with each dollar that comes into your bank accountbefore you spend it. I agree with Monkeyhanger and Nolesrule - I wouldn't purposefully overpay that account going forward. It showed up in YNAB as green on the card. meanwhile.... 1) Change the starting balance transaction from an outflow to an inflow. Your future transactions should still import correctly. 3. When assigning categories to the expenses paid with the credit card, I always assign them as if they were paid using my checking account or debit account. I just checked. Did you budget for your original credit card balance when starting YNAB? Move money to the category to make it so once, and then you won't have to fiddle with it (barring certain special circumstances, like a positive card balance). "Did you make the payment before or after setting the card up in YNAB?" But the issue is in what this MEANS to YNAB and what it means to my bank, as explained in my answer to the previous question. So, since we are all on the same page—let’s do … Briefly MasterCard owed me 37 quid which I made sure to spend quick. monkeyhanger I just joined YNAB today and imported my accounts from Bank of America. For YNAB though, this seems to mean the opposite –– it seems to mean that I owe the bank 854.07 (which is NOT true.). You’ll be set up correctly from the start, and the more detailed information on payments here will be a breeze! So, if your credit card currently has a 0 balance, then the payment category should also be 0. A step-by-step guide to handling credit cards inside YNAB. Technically you pay the statement balance off each month, but you have to wait for income first. Go back to the first month, and whatever your negative amount in the cc payment line is for that month, add that amount to the budget cell for the cc. If it has a -1000 balance then the payment category should be +1000. In this world nothing is certain, except death and taxes … and paying credit card payments. Whenever you make a budgeted payment … They figured out how to make budgeting fun. I always make sure my payment amount matches and all transactions have been added to YNAB. Would a solution to this be to make sure both my credit card balance and the category balance is 0 at the same time, and then make sure to never transfer funds from the category in the future? I've already paid this 854.07. I personally don't understand why you would overpay your credit card at all, let alone by such a large amount of money. Whenever you make a budgeted payment on a credit card, YNAB should transfer that amount to your payment category. Feel free to post any news, questions, budget strategies, tips & tricks and advice related to YNAB. YNAB offers a free 34-day trial – they don’t even collect your credit card info during that time. I'm referring to balances that you couldn't pay in full at that moment in time. The video seems to imply that a negative balance on a credit card is equivalent to me owing money. I direct imported from Bank of America. ... turn my negative net worth into a positive one and so much more. I have paid off my credit card in full and more (i.e., I paid BoA 854.07$ more than I was supposed to), and now my credit card account appears as "-854.07" on YNAB, and YNAB is forcing me to budget these 854.07 to pay to BoA. Because no... this is not what I'm supposed to do. CNBC Select can help you decide if it's right for you. Superbone Now that I think of it, I may have transferred some funds from the credit card category to another category a few months ago. You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a very competent personal finance package that is reasonably quick and easy to use with a raft of features that let you keep tabs on incomings and outgoings. This is obvious in the month you overspend as the amount in the available column will be -ve and highlighted in orange with a credit card icon next to it. Changes the round borders on all negative numbers to square. "Why would you make a payment that would result in the credit card company owing you $854.07?" Snikanes The solution is to make sure that the  CC category available balance is always the absolute (positive) value of the (negative) balance on the card. I believe YNAB calculates the payment as everything you owe up to that exact point in time. YNAB. To preface, I have gone through and read multiple posts on this forum about how YNAB works with credit cards. So you had a 0 balance on the card when starting YNAB? These rules are the basis of YNAB’s whole system. That’s what lets the budget know you plan to take some of the money you have and use it to pay off that existing balance. You'll just need to enter that $854.07 as an Inflow instead of an outflow. If you pay in full, budget until the Available amount matches the account balance; if you carry debt, set a goal to pay it off over time. 1. When you added your new transactions to the credit card account, YNAB automatically moves the dollars in your budget: $23.00 are moved from your “Fun Money” category to the “Acme Credit Card” category, and. Superbone Thanks to all of you, this makes it a lot clearer. And how did you record the payment or was it via direct import? That’s because YNAB is smart enough to know you don’t have to pay back that spending on the card. When you set this up in your YNAB budget, you’ll see a new account listed with a negative balance of -$2,400 showing up in red text. YNAB says the balance is "-845.07". Is it your credit card account in that accounts sidebar that is showing negative or the credit card category in the budget screen? $1.03 is moved from your “Dining Out” category to the “Acme Credit Card” category. ... you know you need a budget. After you set it up, YNAB will put all of your purchases in a budget category. Green Cartridge I wasn't saying it was silly, I was just saying it isn't necessary and worse, if you use the normal credit card handling in YNAB it can mess things up. Was the payment pending when you set it up?" What did it look like before you made the payment? If To be Budgeted is negative, remove money from your categories until the To Be Budgeted balance is back to $0. The budgeting software that forever changed our budgeting is called YNAB (pronounced “why-nab”), short for You Need A Budget. You Need a Budget. Anyway,  YNAB accounted for it correctly. Personal Budgeting Software for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android All of them. Am I supposed to assign categories differently when using the credit card, or have I just misunderstood what this category balance means? You are excited that you can have an awesome, functional budget and still have the perks of credit cards. 2 Budget for your gum (using money you already have!). That’s long enough to build a monthly budget, give tracking a go, and see how you feel at the end of the month. And it … I'm not sure I understand your question. Embrace your true expenses. Do not put the money back into the CC Budget for these months (as I was creating a CC debt by not paying back on time). Your payment category should always match the opposite of the current balance of the card for a paid-in-full credit card. So how did YNAB become one of the best budgeting software, rivalling even Mint? No need to have a 0 category/card balance. This site includes select affiliate/referral links, including You Need a Budget (YNAB). Snikanes What Move Light Sound Life said. I don't understand. I've watched the following video https://vimeo.com/youneedabudget/review/166968946/32454794b0. It may be at some point that maintaining your debt is less important than something else that needs more money, in which case pulling from Payment category is a viable option. I don’t know if all banks work like this or not... but for BoA, for credit cards, plusses means ‘I owe the bank’ and minusses means ‘I paid the bank’. 5. Green Cartridge OK well that changes things. I made this payment around 15 days ago and set up YNAB today for the first time. I do this extra check because if you overspend in a category using credit card spending, YNAB's default position is that you intended to create extra credit card debt (which is indeed what you've done unless you cover that overspend from elsewhere). monkeyhanger I'll call it silly if you won't. Why would you make a payment that would result in the credit card company owing you $854.07? See what that looks like in the video below: How to add a credit card in YNAB and pay off the amount over time. That is the issue. My actual balance on my credit card is "-854.07" on my bank and on YNAB. I will point out though that overpaying can do odd things to credit card management generally. 1. That may have further consequences with interest, but I'm sure you get the point. Then, when you make your first payment, make sure you have that same amount available in your payment category. 3 When you use your credit card to buy gum, enter a spending transaction in your credit card account. Some expenses are fixed: utilities, rent, cable. If you reallocate from the Vacation category, you can't spend as much on vacation. 4. So, if your credit card currently has a 0 balance, then the payment category should also be 0. For full details on my position on affiliations, referrals, and advertising, see my Giving Credit and Full Disclosure … nYNAB. Others are v… Budget for every dollar with this detailed app from You Need a Budget. Give every dollar a job. I’ve had a recurring issue regarding my credit cards on YNAB the past few years and I am finally bored/thinking of it currently to make a post asking about this now. Master Credit Cards with your Budget Start Here! Our Verdict. 1. Starting Balances do show up incorrectly every now and then but this doesn't necessarily indicate there will be any issues moving forward. 2. negative available will only (ok maybe not only, but it's how I've seen it) happen on CC when you pay more in June than you had available to pay at the end of May. Follow YNAB to get support and lots of great ideas on budgeting, https://vimeo.com/youneedabudget/review/166968946/32454794b0. I'm somewhat confounded by the category belonging to my credit card (Bank Norwegian). ... including You Need a Budget (YNAB). The Highlight all Negative Category Balances Red setting changes this default behavior. Once that $854.07 is spent, YNAB will help you keep track of what you have available to pay (as long as all of your credit card purchases are budgeted for). Here’s how to do that last one in YNAB. As you can see from the attached image, this category is in the red even though I just paid down the credit card debt in full. nolesrule Well that's why I never pay what YNAB tells me to pay either ;-). All of my credit cards are paid in full but rarely do I have a 0 balance. Due to the grace period, I almost always have at least 20 days of expenses on the cards even the day after paying the statement balance. ... Makes the budget rows skinnier than the default YNAB style so that you can fit more on the screen. What is the balance of your credit card payment category? A Brief History of You Need A Budget (YNAB) ... Handling credit cards and debts with YNAB is where many people get stuck. I agree with Monkeyhanger and Nolesrule - I wouldn't purposefully overpay that account going forward. It's possible that the payment amount wasn't included in your starting balance. The solution (), regardless of the cause, is to budget directly to the Credit Card Payment category. It seems every time I make a credit card payment, it brings my balance for the discover account down to zero, but on the budget screen, it shows a negative number. This tutorial will walk you through every single detail of using credit cards with YNAB. Let Kelly show you all the *principles* you need to know. "What is the actual balance of your credit card?" Since your credit card has a positive balance, YNAB will include that $854.07 in your To Be Budgeted, because it's essentially cash - money you can spend without creating debt. I don't use direct import for any accounts - I grew up on YNAB4, prefer manual input and it's not available for most accounts in the UK anyway - so I can't comment on why it's imported your starting balance incorrectly. Was the payment pending when you set it up? That's not the way Bank of America works at least. It's set up as a direct debit to pay the full statement balance and I don't need to think about them. But I do try to understand why people might have done that or the save your pennies type things before they found YNAB. Green Cartridge Faness Actually I recently had a refund to a credit card which had zero balance. None of this helps with the incorrect import though! Reduce the equivalent amount from the categories. The problem is that under the Credit Card Payments Category Group, where my credit card payment budget category is, YNAB said I only owed $701.65 (a difference of $72.01). What is the actual balance of your credit card? It's like that YNAB just assumes the starting balance to be debt and not credit. 2. You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a budgeting app that helps users control their spending and plan ahead for bills, holidays, insurance and the unexpected. But I have the cash in my budget for those expenses. All I do at the start of the month is check that the -ve account balance equals the +ve amount in the available column on the budget and we're all good. This happens every month for some reason. Snikanes Hmm. "What does YNAB say your balance is?" When you add a credit card to YNAB, a credit card payments category is automatically created. I’m sure you’re full of *interest* on how to budget for credit cards in YNAB. I'm assuming it is the latter. Square Negative Mode. if I spend $50 on groceries, $50 is automatically added to the credit card payment category). Hides the Age of Money calculation. Since your credit card has a positive balance, YNAB will include that $854.07 in your To Be Budgeted, because it's essentially cash - money you can spend without creating debt. It’s not just software, but a philosophy and method that will shift your budgeting paradigm. The interface isn’t as sleek as other apps, so there’s a bit of a learning curve. In other words, every time you reallocate, make sure the consequence is in line with your priorities. The CC Payment category is no different, so moving money from the payment category means you can't pay as much toward debt reduction. The budget software tracks your finances, helps you create financial goals and enables you to track credit cards. My age of money is showing as 31 days. My credit cards all show as -ve in the sidebar when I owe the credit card money. Any category with overspending, no matter the funding source (cash, credit card, future), is highlighted red. I had not used any credit at the time I started YNAB. I just pay the statement balance when it's due (automated) and always have the cash on hand to pay off the entire balance. YNAB revolves around 4 easy-to-understand rules: 1. Hide Age of Money Calculation. This will cause problems with credit card management in YNAB. monkeyhanger it is the former. Because this account is now behaving like a cash account, when you make a purchase on a card with a positive balance, no money will move to the Credit Card Payment category. negative: Credit Card Life of Credit or Other Credit: Mortgage Other Loan or Liability: Table 3: distribution of YNAB4 named Account Types according to 4 differing properties. Follow YNAB to get support and lots of great ideas on budgeting, Now that I think of it, I may have transferred some funds from the credit card category to another category a few months ago. You Need a Budget combines easy software with Four Simple Rules to help you quickly gain control of your money, get out of debt, and save more money faster! It'll get used in step three below. * Obviously anything spent on a credit card is debt until you've paid for it. If it has a -1000 balance then the payment category should be +1000. Okay, well that is a problem with YNAB that needs to be fixed. Move money around if needed. 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