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Certain transactions always come auto flagged as "exclude from spending plan" (edited)

nrp06

Hello everyone.

Need help.

Simplifi has recently started to classify some credit card cashback (for which I have a rule, if description contains X change category to cashback) as "out of spending plan".

If there a way to tell Simplifi not to do that? I don't understand why the system does it, to begin with.

Thanks for any guidance.

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Spending Plan

Transactions

Exclusions

Comments

UrsulaA

Simplifi excludes transfers between accounts and balance adjustments from the spending plan by default. Also, can you share some screenshots for us to understand your question better and help you?

nrp06

Thanks @UrsulaA . However, these cashback and neither transfers nor balance adjustments. These are credits that come from the credit card itself. Please check below.
They come all excluded from my spending plan and I don't believe that is correct.

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/55149#Comment_55149

I agree this behavior is odd. Hope the coaches can help. I am at a loss as to why the transactions come in this way.

Coach Jon

Hello @nrp06,

Thanks for reaching out! I agree with @UrsulaA that this is odd behavior. I believe from your screenshot, "Cashback" is a custom category. Did you assign this category, or is this how the transaction came in? Additionally, is this a subcategory of another category? I am wondering if these credits you are referring to are being categorized as a type of credit card transfer and are being excluded from the Spending Plan by default, because of this, but that would usually be excluded from Reports as well by default. Let us know!

-Coach Jon

DannyB

@nrp06 Yes, curious.

Are these cashback payments a "reward" based on the amount charged to the card and not refunds for returned purchases?

Is your "Cashback" a subcategory of Income? (That may be what Coach Jon is asking.)

Based on how you phrased the questions this sounds like a new behavior. Did QS leave the exclusion options blank in past cashback transactions?

Is this set up as a recurring series?

Just trying to think of ways I would try troubleshooting this issue.

nrp06

Hi, @UrsulaA, @DannyB and @Coach Jon , thank you for your replies.

Let me try to address your questions. Before I do, just a quick note: I'm happy to share more with your support team, including logs, if that would help them figure this out more quickly.

Yes, "Cashback" is a custom category under Income. I have a rule that categorizes any transaction with "real time rewards" in the description as Cashback.
What are real time rewards? US Bank offers this feature on one of their credit cards. If you have enough points and make a purchase in a qualifying category (like Uber rides), they immediately credit your account using points. For example, I spent $11.95 on Uber, and a few minutes later US Bank credited the same amount back to my account. I prefer to track these as Income/Cashback, and that's how I’ve set it up.
I only recently started seeing this behavior. I don’t recall it happening in the past. It seems to have started a couple of months ago.
@DannyB , as mentioned above, these are not refunds for returned purchases. And yes, in the past, the “exclusions” fields were left blank.
This is not part of a recurring series. It only occurs when two conditions are met: (1) I use the card for a qualifying purchase (e.g., Uber), and (2) I have enough reward points to cover the cost. For example, I could take an Uber tomorrow and not get a cashback if I don’t have enough points in my rewards balance.

Thanks again for your replies.

Coach Jon

Hello @nrp06,

Thank you for the reply. Can you provide a screenshot showing the custom category in Settings > Categories & Tags? Does the behavior with the exclusion automatically being selected happen every time for this type of transaction, or is it random?

-Coach Jon

DannyB

@nrp06

I'm going to keep an eye on my own transactions. When I first saw your post, it made me think that this had happened to me at least once recently. What I remember doing was to simply uncheck the exclusion and then forgot about it. If this did happen, it must have been a one off, and I haven't seen it happen again.

I'd suggest following through with @Coach Jon to troubleshoot this.

nrp06

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/55244#Comment_55244

Hi @Coach Jon , lately it has been happening every time.

Screenshot is below.

Coach Jon

Hello @nrp06,

Thanks for the reply and the requested screenshot. Can you also provide a screenshot of the rule you mentioned previously? I am not sure why it would affect the exclusion settings of a transaction in this way, but it would not hurt to verify. How often do these "Cashback" transactions come in? If you remove the rule and wait for another one of these transactions to come in without being changed by the rule, does the same exclusion issue occur?

-Coach Jon

DannyB

@Coach Jon

Ah ha, yes, this has happened to me also. Here is an example of a deposit to my checking account that QS marked as "Exclude from: Spending Plan."

I made this deposit yesterday via mobile deposit through my banks mobile app.
This is not a credit from a credit card account into my checking account.
The deposit was processed overnight and landed in QS this morning with the "Exclude form: Spending Plan" checked.
There is no reason for this deposit to be excluded: No rules, not recurring, no identifying data from the bank beyond "Mobile Deposit: Ref Number: xxx…"

Coach Jon

Hello @DannyB,

Thanks for the information. Have you noticed any other recent transactions where this issue has occurred, or is this a one-time issue? I am trying to find a link between what you shared and what the original user shared, besides the exclusion from the Spending Plan option being automatically checked.

-Coach Jon

DannyB

@Coach Jon

As I mentioned above, I have a vague memory of this happening at least once before but didn't think much about it and made the correction.

The only commonality I can see is that these transactions are deposits.

I'll keep an eye out for any other incidences and pass them along.

nrp06

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/55277#Comment_55277

It is happening on several deposits. Deposits like the one I showed you, but also on regular/standard deposits. Very strange.

Please see below the requested screenshot.

Coach Jon

Hello @nrp06,

Thanks for the reply and screenshot. Can you provide screenshots showing the other deposits this issue is occurring with as well? This will help us determine a pattern going forward. Do they all have attached rules as well?

-Coach Jon

UrsulaA

I see this same issue with deposits in June and May that I downloaded within the past week. One example.

I am going to uncheck the exclusion and monitor the transaction downloads.

Coach Jon

Hello everyone! @UrsulaA @nrp06 @DannyB,

We did verify with our product team, and they confirmed this was a recent, intentional change, and that all non-recurring income will automatically be set to exclude from the Spending Plan by default. We are working on a redesign for the Spending Plan, and this new design will have a setting so users can decide the default exclusion settings for non-recurring income.

-Coach Jon

UrsulaA

Thanks for the clarification. This change should have been rolled out together with the new spending plan. Having income not in a series or auto matched to a series excluded makes the spending plan less useful without the rest of the changes rolled out. I will keep monitoring the transactions and including non recurring income back in the spending plan as needed.

EL1234

Seems like a mistake to roll that out without notifying everyone about the change in how things work or letting it be an opt-in feature.

DannyB

Good to know, thanks, @Coach Jon

DryHeat

@UrsulaA

This change should have been rolled out together with the new spending plan.

Speaking of which, is there any indication of when the new Spending Plan might be to users (other than new users)?

The design looks more organized and informative and I think it would benefit some of my family members who find the current design a little opaque.

nrp06

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/55573#Comment_55573

I agree 100%.

EL1234

I just found a transaction that I had linked to a recurring income series, but was still marked to exclude from spending plan for some reason. Is it because it didn't link to the series automatically?

Coach Jon

Hello @EL1234,

Thanks for reaching out! I think we will need more information to determine what is happening with your situation. Can you provide screenshots showing the Transaction detail window as well as how this transaction appears in your register? Are you able to unexclude the transaction from the Spending Plan?

-Coach Jon

EL1234

I was able to unexclude it. Do you still want screenshots of it? It was a split transaction if that makes a difference @Coach Jon.

Coach Jon

Hello @EL1234,

Thanks for the reply! If you were able to unexclude the transaction from the spending plan, then it may have been a one-off thing. I would keep an eye out in case this happens again, and let us know if it does.

-Coach Jon

EL1234

Good idea, I'll be in touch if it comes up again. Thanks!