How do I clear a refund on a CC?

Merlot10

New to Simplifi. Coming from YNAB. I'm struggling a bit converting from YNAB mindset. I've been using YNAB from the 'on-prem' days. I love the software and find it very logical and easy to use but the cost spike for legacy users broke my trust.

Enter Simplifi...

On 12/31/22 I created a refund for an item I returned. The transaction still shows 'past' and I cannot find a way to clear it.  There's no 'clear' option available.  In YNAB I would record the transaction in the CC register as in inflow and click the clear icon.  Done. Simple and easy.

I'm using Simplifi manually. 

Thank you in advance for grace as I adapt :-)  

DannyB

Hi @Merlot10 Welcome to Simplifi.

Yes, you will need a shift in mindset to make the shift from YNAB to Simplif... of course that will be true for any other personal finance management app you try upon moving away from YNAB's philosophy, environment and architecture.  

Here are three Support articles that I think will be helpful for you.  First to have to do with Simplifi's refund tracking feature.  The 3rd article is an intro to using Simplifi manually.

Web App: http://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4606217-using-the-refund-tracker
Mobile App:  http://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4731806-using-the-refund-tracker-on-the-mobile-app

However, Simplifi does not currently provide support for refund tracking when used manually.  See this Support article for a quick overview of using Smiplifi manually: http://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4739597-manual-transactions-101

Is there a particular reason you have decided to use Simplifi manually?  This certainly limits the possible benefits of any digital financial management app.

Again, welcome to Simplifi and I hope you hang around for a bit to learn it's strengths, quirks and weaknesses, 

Coach Natalie

Hello @Merlot10,

Thanks for posting your inquiry to the Community!

As @DannyB mentioned above, the ability to link a manual transaction to a refund is not currently supported in Simplifi; linking to refunds is for downloaded transactions only. To vote on the ability to link manual transactions to refunds, please see our Idea post here. 

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause!

-Coach Natalie

Merlot10

Hi Danny - thank you for the quick reply.  I track manually because I feel it makes me more accountable for my spending. 

I still do not see how to clear a refund transaction manually.  This is basic functionality. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

DannyB

Hi @Merlot10

I'm going to do some brainstorming here with no real experiences like what you want to do.  Please accept this as random thinking from a fellow user and if anything looks like something that will get you what you want, great.

• First, I would strongly encourage you to consider connecting Simplifi to your bank and cc accounts. The way Simplifi works, I think you will find that your accountability will remain high due to the way Simplifi is set up to work.
• It seems to me you would enter the refund in the same way a payment is entered but you would assign the transaction to the same category the original purchase was assigned to instead of treating it as a transfer as a payment will be treated.
• You don't really "clear" transactions in Simplifi and for manual accounts all transactions default to a "cleared" status. I'm basing this observation on what is stated in the third Support article I listed above:

  "Status:

  When adding a manual transaction to a connected account, the transaction's status will automatically default to 'Pending.' For the pending status to be removed from that transaction, you'd have to manually change the status to "Cleared."

  When adding a manual transaction in a manual account, such as a cash account, the status will automatically default to 'Cleared'"

• When connected, Simplifi works with the actual bank balances day-by-day and has chosen not to include an account reconciliation process.  This is also why you won't see a running balance in the account registers.  When entering data manually, Simplifi will consider your inputted data as cleared since it has no way to know the status of that transaction with your actual bank.

• I suppose, as I'm thinking about it, for manual accounts, Simplifi is a glorified checkbook register and must some how be treated as such.  Simplifi does provide a "Reviewed" feature that you could use for reconciliation purposes.

• OK, what I just said isn't exactly true... Simplifi will provide certain data crunching once our data has been inputted whether by download or manual entry.

• For me the main value of Simplifi is the Spending Plan and the Spending plan needs data whether manually entered or automatically downloaded.  For me the Spending Plan is where I find my accountability.  Unlike YNAB, Simplifi doesn't focus on "giving every dollar a job."  Instead, Simplifi focuses on this month and how one's spending matches up with ones income.  The Spending Plan is a great tool to track this and with it's breakdown of Income after bills & saving (all those fixed expenses) Planned spending (all those flexible recurring expenses) and Other spending I get a great picture of my month and what I need to do to keep things financial in alignment.

OK, enough with my random thoughts.  I don't know if any of this is useful for what you are looking to do and much of it is just "advertisement" 

Merlot10

DannyB - thank you!  I appreciate your helpful insights :-)