Convert Reminders to a Transaction on the day they occur [edited] (1 Merged Vote)

cwebbs60
cwebbs60 Member
edited December 2021 in Feature Requests

Move recurring transactions to their appropriate accounts in order to track accurate balances. I'd rather not be surprised at a balance once a transaction has match vs one than I know is anticipated, but not accounted for in the actual account.

9 votes

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  • cwebbs60
    cwebbs60 Member

    Specifically, move them to their appropriate accounts on their due dates.

  • Coach Tappan
    Coach Tappan Retired Coach ✭✭✭✭

    @cwebbs60 Thanks for your comments. If I understand your concern, you'd like any recurring transaction listed as recurring to be removed from the calendar list on or immediately after its due date, whether or not Simplifi correctly matches it to a downloaded transaction, rather than staying in "Waiting" status. Would that address the issue you're raising here?

  • cwebbs60
    cwebbs60 Member

    Well, for accounts that were manually added, Simplifi won't be able to match any downloaded transaction, so those recurring or pending transactions just get stuck there showing as "waiting". So my suggestion is that once the due date hits, it should move that transaction to the appropriate account, but still show as pending until it is manually cleared or Simplifi can match it.

  • Coach Tappan
    Coach Tappan Retired Coach ✭✭✭✭

    That makes sense. Another way to handle that would be to move that kind of transaction into the account once the due date passes, but put a different flag on it than "pending" or "waiting," to alert the user that it is still "unreconciled." Thanks for the suggestion!

  • cwebbs60
    cwebbs60 Member

    The only way I've found to do that is to delete the instance under the "Upcoming" transactions list, then manually enter them into the appropriate account, which defeats the whole purpose of the recurring bill feature. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see other way to do it. When I enter a future transaction into an account I added manually, it automatically goes into the upcoming transaction list, so unless I enter it the day of, it gets stuck there. Another option, which would help me and potentially other users out, is to add Varo Money and Discover Loans to the list of connected accounts, and it would make this suggestion moot.

  • Coach Nicole
    Coach Nicole Administrator, Moderator admin

    You are correct @cwebbs60 -- the only way to enter the recurring transaction into the register on a manual account is by deleting the instance from the Upcoming list and manual creating the transaction in the register. Simplifi is intended to be used with connected accounts, not manual accounts. So, by design, it is meant to match the recurring transactions to a downloaded transaction. At which point the transaction is moved into the register. If you intend to use manual accounts, Simplifi might not be the best option, unfortunately. However, we do appreciate your feedback! Thanks! :smiley:

  • cwebbs60
    cwebbs60 Member

    :( Well that's a bummer. I really love the interface and navigation. I was hoping this would be my alternative to using Quicken, which is very clunky software. Thanks for listening to my suggestion though. Maybe you could include it in the future.... :)

  • I have just begun using this application (in Canada) it seems to be working just fine . . . with a couple of notable irritating items. In this category "Recurring Transactions" I cannot seem to find a way to save the necessary "Splits" that I want to record each month. i.e. Mortgage pmt includes: Credit - Bank Account (Asset), Debit - Mortgage Payable (liability), Debit - Mortgage Interest (expense), Debit - Mortgage Insurance (expense). So fare I need to edit this "auto entry" each month . . . not exactly automatic.
    In a tangentially related category, once I have the entries tagged and edited appropriately how does one extract a specific P&L between specific dates for a specific tag?

  • Coach Nicole
    Coach Nicole Administrator, Moderator admin

    Hi @mikeL -- Welcome to Simplifi! Currently, we don't offer the ability to add a split to a Recurring transaction. Once the transaction is downloaded and matched, you can update it as needed. However, we've had other users request a similar ability. I recommend checking out our discussion Using Splits (Multiple Categories) in Recurring Transactions and cast your vote to see this added.

    Regarding a P&L, we don't currently offer this as an available report. However, if you've tagged each transaction, you can run a report based on those tags or categories through Insights > Income by Tag or Insights > Spending by Tag. I hope this information helps. Please let us know if you have any further questions. :D

  • @mikeL said:
    I have just begun using this application (in Canada) it seems to be working just fine . . .

    Are you able to connect to Canadian banks?

  • SamM
    SamM Member ✭✭
    edited December 2021
    I have a manual cash account, and want to set up a recurring transaction for my kids' allowance, which I pay them in cash every week. I can set up a reminder, but there doesn't seem to be a way to convert this reminder into a transaction without linking it to another transaction that I have to enter by hand. I don't want to have to create a new transaction  and enter the payee, category, and amount by hand every week. Since it is always the same there should be a way to automate this. I think the ideal way to do this would be to set up a reminder and have an option to convert the reminder into a manual transaction without linking it to an existing transaction. If that's too hard, I would settle for just setting up a recurring manual transaction that's not linked to a reminder, or even being able to duplicate an existing manual transaction so I don't have to enter all the details every time.
  • I have the same need. I pay my landscaper in cash every week. So I have to manually enter the exact same cash transaction, and then delete the reminder. This is silly.

  • RobWilk
    RobWilk Superuser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @gsherman I think a while back I recommended having a type of account for 'cash' (a manual account) which would help with this, but it does require you to track all the cash you would spend.. I don't know how that would handle reoccurring cash transactions. Consider voting for it.


    Rob Wilkens

  • Wooloomooloo2
    Wooloomooloo2 Member ✭✭✭

    Hi - so I know Simplifi is not really intended for lots of manual entries, but I have one credit card where I have a lot of manual entries (Apple Card) because you don’t allow downloads yet. I have a number of Apple subscriptions as well as monthly Apple Care, plus every MTA swipe in NYC is Apple Pay. All of these get 3% cashback because of Apple Pay so I am not going to switch cards.

    I set up all of my subscriptions and known payments as recurring as it helps planning, but this makes for an extremely painful experience in Simplifi. After setting up the recurrence, I have to manually enter every transaction manually still, and even worse have to then manually match it to the expected recurrence. This is really inefficient and counter to how most other apps work or have worked. Can they just auto-post once and be done with it?

  • RobWilk
    RobWilk Superuser ✭✭✭✭✭

    I prefer even manual linking (which i do often), because I don't want a scheduled credit card payment to look like i paid it before i paid it for real. If you could do this in a way where you can flag transactions to auto-enter (such as recurring automatic charges) I'd be okay with that.


    Rob Wilkens

  • Philk
    Philk Member ✭✭✭

    I can't believe another no-brainer suggestion is nearly 3 years old.

    I voted for this suggestion, but I'm not very optimistic…what is the likelihood Simplifi is even listening to this community?

    The once mighty and dominant Quicken Desktop has been around for nearly 40 years, they too have a list of bill reminders. However, unlike Simplifi…you have an option to enter the reminder to obtain a future balance in the affected account.

    Simplifi should implement the ability to record reminders as a pending transaction, and mark it cleared when a matching transaction arrives.

    -Phil-

    Former Quicken Desktop user 1984 -2023. Currently Testing Simplifi as its replacement.