Deduct credit card transactions from my checking account's "available balance" (edited)
Just coming from YNAB, one feature that was really cool was their credit card feature. I don't believe it pulled any additional data from credit card companies.
Basically, the app already knows the current credit card balance. As new transactions hit under that credit card account, the app subtracts that transaction amount from your primary checking account "available balance".
This would happen for every credit card account, automatically adjusting your "available balance" in your primary checking for each transaction regardless of credit card. This provides a much more real time of how much cash you really have "available" at any given point in time.
I find myself looking at my credit card balances, and constantly having to do math in my head (always dangerous) in order to make sure my "available balance" can cover my credit card spending.
May not be a big deal for those that have their spending 100% under control, but for those of us who are still working on getting to that level this automated tracking can be super helpful.
Even if you didn't change the "available balance" field, maybe there could be another field that displays "available balance after credit" or something.
Comments
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This is an excellent idea! I approve!
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The app would need to know about credit limits, then that's an easy calculation.
This idea already exists, I voted for it a while back but over 3-4 years it got relatively few votes:
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Rob Wilkens0 -
You haven't voted, you need to (if you want) click the up arrow to vote for it, it's below the number of votes in the yellow area on top (first) message of topic.
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Rob Wilkens0 -
For what I'm proposing, I'm not sure why the app would need to know credit limits. It's just continually subtracting individual transactions from your available cash / checking balance. When a credit card payment is posted as a "transfer" then the amount in the transfer would be added back to the credit balance. Easy peasy :)
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"available balance" is amount of credit remaining.
"Balance" is equivalent to what you call available balance, they're the same. You start with the bank balance and apply pending/manual transactions to get the balance simplifi gives you. If it's wrong, you're experiencing a bug.
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Rob Wilkens0 -
@robwilk I believe he's taking about the checking account's available balance, not the CC's, which would mean this is not the same idea as the one you posted. The suggestion is for those who intend to pay off their CC in full every month, to have each CC charge reduce the balance of the account you plan to pay the CC bill with.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye1 -
This may be an OK idea, but this information is already available in Q-Simplifi on the Dashboard page and the Transactions page in the Accounts column. Under Banking all my cash and credit card account balances are updated daily and at intervals throughout the day giving me a real time picture of what is available after taking into account all available cash and today's CC balances.
As CC charges are added to my CC accounts, my available total banking cash is reduced accordingly on a real time basis. By simply glancing at the Banking total I know how much cash I have available AFTER CC charges are deducted. Given, this total includes both checking account and savings account totals, but another couple of glances tells me whether my total CC balances are greater or lesser than my checking account balance(s). If my CC charges exceed my available cash I imagine that will be indicated with a negative Banking balance.
In addition, you also have the information available in the Spending Plan but in a different presentation. In my Spending Plan I have accounted for all my expected recurring income, all my expected recurring expenses both fixed (bills & subscriptions) and flexible (Planned Spending) including anticipated savings goals contributions and Spending Plan visible transfers. While I'm setting up my plan, I have a running tally of my available cash for the month based on my anticipated recurring income and any additional non-recurring income I may be expecting and I can plan my expenditures accordingly. If I follow my plan and spend within the confines of my plan and any CC charges are to cover Spending Plan expenses, I will have all the cash I need to pay off the balance of my CCs.
Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer0 -
Yes - checking accounts available balance!
It "sort of" is already available.
Under "Banking" you have "Cash & Checking" and the "Credit". So, from that perspective you are correct. However, the "Cash & Checking" also includes my savings goals $$ amount. What I'm proposing is that under "Cash & Checking" you have "Savings Goals" and "Available Balance". That "Available Balance" would be updated as Credit transactions hit allowing you to see how much cash you actually have available after account for your savings goals and credit balance.
This is certainly a "nice to have" and not a dealbreaker. Just something to make the user experience that much more streamlined in accounting for those of us who use credit cards for everything and like to see that we are spending smartly / seeing the available balance updated to account for that total credit balance. It was super helpful how YNAB had implemented this same feature, and I assume they have access to all the same credit data that Simplifi would have access to.
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