Paid 2 credit card bills and checking balance projection DOES NOT CHANGE

Chrobrego

My checking account balance says $4318.95 and my actual balance says $4417.99.  I made two payments to credit cards totaling roughly $1600. I entered them as pending since they hit tomorrow. My projected balance never adjusts nor do the payment show up as future payments in the projection graph.  I then make the two transactions 'cleared' thinking that would help.  My projected balance for today stays $4318.95 even though I just spent $1600.   What is going on with this software????

RobWilk

Simplfi starts with a bank balance and subtracts pending transactions to get current balance.  If you mark a transaction as cleared, it won't subtract them from the bank balance, so the current balance won't include those transactions.

As per why 'when they were pending it didn't update' sometimes i find I need to refresh the browser, though i know that's not great.

Disclaimer: I am not simplifi support, just another user, the pros may have a better answer

Flopbot

@Chrobrego If the CC payments are pending, one-time transactions (transfers?) - on a future date - then they should definitly affect the Projected Balance chart in your account register. This would also be the case if they were recurring, upcoming transactions/transfers.

I have seen this before - more in the past than recently - where I either create a pending transaction for a future date or edit one that already exists and the Projected Balance chart doesn't immediately update itself. Like you said, the $1,600 CC payment doesn't show as a credit to the CC Account and a debit to the Checking Account. In troubleshooting this, I've logged in to Chrome Incognito, Edge, & Firefox - I mainly use Chrome - and the chart is always correct there. It is just that, for whatever reason, it doesn't immediately show up in Chrome. That said, I haven't noted this recently (in the last few months) and it ALWAYS seems to resolve itself, eventually (usually within 5-10 minutes).

If your Projected Balance is correct now, this is likely what you're expeirencing. If not, then um…

Chrobrego

Hi,

Yes, the projected balance still does not update in Safari. I've seen other users issue the same concern. It doesn't appear to matter whether a transaction is pending or cleared. In any event, if I enter a transaction in the future with an amount that is coming out of my chequing, the projected balance should adjust itself — being cleared or pending shouldn't,in my head, matter.

Chrobrego

Hi, I took your advice and tried to use Chrome on Mac. No difference. The balance is correct at $4318 but I have two transactions listed for around $1600 that isn't affecting the projected balance.

I ended up deleting both transactions and re-entered them in Chrome, and they worked this time.

This is a bit scary for me because it means that I can't trust the projected balance. Financial accuracy should be the #1 development priority for this app I would hope.

Flopbot

@chorbrego That definitely sounds like a bug to me. I've never seen a transaction like that; where a single transaction needs to be deleted in order for the Projected Balance to work properly. @Coach Natalie have you?

RobWilk

@flopbot i have.. it's because you can only change from "cleared" to "pending" by deleting and recreating a transaction.

Flopbot

@RobWilk am I correct in understanding that your saying you can only change the state of a transaction from Pending to Cleared and not visa versa?

RobWilk

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/13820#Comment_13820

That's been my experience, yes.

Coach Natalie

Hello All,

Although it wouldn't matter whether a future-dated transaction is entered as ‘Pending’ or ‘Cleared’ for the Projected Cash Flow graph, it sounds like what @Chrobrego experienced was a one-off situation, and I'm glad to hear that it was subsequently resolved.

To clarify, ‘Pending’ transactions only affect the current balance of the account, and they must be entered into the account register to be counted toward the balance. The only time you would not see pending transactions that are in the account register be counted toward the balance is if the ‘Balance with Pending’ option has been disabled.

Since future-dated transactions become a part of the ‘upcoming’ modal, you would see them as Reminders instead of transactions. Therefore, just like any other Reminder, they would be counted toward the Projected Balance for the date of the Reminder accordingly, regardless of the status.

When it comes to the ability to mark ‘Cleared' transactions as ‘Pending’, although this is not currently available in Simplifi, we do have an existing Idea post available here that can be voted on.

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

RobWilk

@Coach Natalie “Pending” versus “Cleared” transactions, like you say, affect the current balance - but the current balance affects the projection because the projection starts with the Current balance (which would be different).

Coach Natalie

@RobWilk, that is absolutely true if the ‘Pending’ transactions were entered into the account register. However, it sounds like @Chrobrego was referring to future-dated transactions specifically. Though I could be completely mistaken now that I've re-read the original post. 😅

At any rate, it sounds like the issue is now resolved. 🙂

-Coach Natalie