How to Enter Credit Card Account Payments and Purchases in Registers

Applies to Excel templates: "Georges Budget for Excel", "Georges Excel Checkbook Register", "Georges Excel Checkbook for Mac"

(back to All Support Topics)

 

Why track credit card accounts?

Tracking and recording credit card account transactions in a register is just as important to keeping a checkbook and making sure you record all your bank checking account transactions in a checkbook register. Many people use credit cards for making purchases instead of making the purchase out of a checking account because off the credit card rewards they may receive or other credit card perks offered for making credit card purchases.

How to add / delete a credit card account?

In the "Accounts Summary" worksheet, use the "A/E" buttons to add, edit, or delete an Account Name and Account Type. For Account Type use Liability since the credit card balance is something that you owe. For Account Name, you can use a descriptive name, but be careful not to reveal full account numbers.

If you want to delete an account and all the transactions in the register of that account, first delete all the transactions in the corresponding register by selecting all the transactions in that register and then press the Delete key on the keyboard or by using the Clear Contents command.  Then go to the "Accounts Summary" sheet and click the appropriate "A/E" button and clear  the Account Name and Account Type fields and press OK.

How to enter credit card purchases and credit card payments

• For "Georges Budget for Excel": The New Transaction button at the top of a Register will take you to the location to start entering a new transaction unless there are error(s) noted in the Balance column or all 4000 rows have been used in the Register. Clicking the New Transaction button will first remove any applied Filters in the Register and then go to new transaction.
• For "Georges Excel Checkbook Register" and "Georges Excel Checkbook for Mac": The New Transaction button at the top of a Register will take you to the location to start entering a new transaction unless there are error(s) noted in the Balance column or all 1500 rows have been used in the Register. Clicking the New Transaction button will first remove any applied Filters in the Register and then go to new transaction.
• For "Georges Budget for Excel", in the register of a credit card account, you can create a separate transaction for each credit card purchase and categorize each credit card purchase into an appropriate expense category (or categories if splitting the transaction), so that the credit card purchases will be reflected in the income and expense reports and charts. Since you are going to categorized each credit card purchase into an expense category in the register for the credit card account, the credit card payment is recorded in the registers and categorized as a "Credit Card Payment" that is listed under "Other Categories" in the Category List & Budget worksheet. The "Other Categories" listed in the Category List & Budget worksheet do not impact the income and expense reports and charts. You have to record the credit card payment in both the checking account register that you paid the credit card from and the credit card account register that you made the payment to.

 

 

• For "Georges Excel Checkbook Register" and "Georges Excel Checkbook for Mac", you can follow the same process as for "Georges Budget for Excel" if you use the optional category field. There is no centralized "Category List & Budget" worksheet, since those Excel templates are just simple checkbook registers and not personal budgeting software with actual vs budget reporting, but you can use the filters in the registers to filter the transactions by the different register columns and get a subtotal of the filtered items, thus creating a simple report right in the registers. Also you can only split transactions in "Georges Budget for Excel"

 

 

Enter credit card transaction amounts as positive or negative?

Transaction amounts are entered in the Amount column in the Excel Credit Card Registers.

• Enter credit card purchases, credit card charges, credit card fees, and interest expense as negative amounts in the Excel credit card account register.
• Enter credit card payments as positive amounts in the Excel credit card account register. (Note: if you paid your credit card with funds from your checking account, you would also have to record the credit card payment in the Excel checking account register and enter the amount as a negative amount in the Excel checking account register since the credit card payment is decreasing your checking account balance)

(back to All Support Topics)