I’ve been using Rocket Money, but I decided to try out YNAB to see how it compares.
Does anyone who uses YNAB also pay for everything with a credit card? If so, how do you correctly track credit card payments?
Right now, YNAB seems to be counting both my credit card payments and the expenses I put on the card as spending. For example, if I pay off $1000 on my credit card and then use it for $1000 worth of groceries, utilities, and other expenses, YNAB makes it seem like I’ve spent $2000, even though I only have $1500 in income.
This is making it look like I don’t have enough money to put towards loan payments. How do I fix this?
Edit: I figured it out! You need to use the working balance to make the funds available for spending.
Definitely check out r/YNAB—they’re great with these types of questions.
But in short, a payment to your credit card isn’t actually an expense, it’s a transfer between accounts. YNAB should be handling this automatically, but it sounds like your transactions might be getting miscategorized.
When you make a credit card payment, make sure you record it as a transfer from your checking account to your credit card account. That way, it won’t show up as extra spending.
Instead of looking like you spent $2000, YNAB will correctly show that you spent $1000 on your credit card and then moved $1000 from checking to cover that balance.
It sounds like your payment is being logged as an expense instead of a transfer.
When you pay your credit card, use the ‘Make a Payment’ button inside the credit card account in YNAB. That will treat it as a transfer instead of an expense. If it’s set up correctly, your budget won’t double-count your spending.
Hazel said: @BillSmith
That makes sense! I’ll go back and fix how I’m recording my payments. Thanks for the help.
You’re welcome! The easiest way is to do it from the credit card side, not the checking account side. Just click ‘Make a Payment’ in YNAB, and it should work correctly.
YNAB tracks credit card spending by automatically moving funds from your spending category to your credit card payment category. That way, when you pay your card, the money is already accounted for.
Your issue might be that your credit card payment isn’t set up as a transfer. If your credit card payments are showing up as expenses, that’s what’s throwing things off.
@Jovi
That’s exactly what’s happening! I was categorizing my payments instead of treating them as transfers. Now I just need to figure out how to fix that in YNAB.
Hazel said: @Jovi
That’s exactly what’s happening! I was categorizing my payments instead of treating them as transfers. Now I just need to figure out how to fix that in YNAB.
When entering your payment, make sure the payee is set to ‘Transfer: [Credit Card Name]’ instead of assigning it to a category. That should fix it.
I use YNAB and put all my spending on my credit card. The way YNAB handles it is:
When you buy something on your credit card, YNAB moves that money from your spending category to your Credit Card Payment category.
When you pay your credit card, the money already set aside in Credit Card Payment is used, so your budget doesn’t change.
If your budget isn’t working this way, it’s probably an issue with how your credit card payments are recorded. They should be marked as transfers, not expenses.
Where is the money coming from? If you have $2000 in your checking and spend $1000 on your credit card, the money doesn’t leave your checking immediately but gets earmarked for paying your credit card.
If your budget isn’t lining up, you might need to check how your payments are being categorized in YNAB.
@Chin
It’s essentially just a transfer—I’m moving money from my checking to my credit card, but it’s showing up as an expense instead of a transfer. I need to fix how I’m logging payments.