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why is ynab asking me to assign money to my credit...
# budgeting
h
why is ynab asking me to assign money to my credit cards? everything i spend on is categorized so it's already assigned?
h
Hi Rachel! Let me explain this in a super simple way. When you spend money using your credit card in YNAB, the app moves the money from the category you assigned (like 'Groceries' or 'Fun Money') into a special 'Credit Card Payment' category. This is because even though you already decided what the money was for, you still owe it to the credit card company. YNAB is just helping you set that money aside so it's ready to pay off your credit card bill later. Think of it like moving the money from one envelope to another to make sure you don’t accidentally spend it on something else. This way, you’re always prepared to pay your credit card without going into debt. Cool, right?
h
so ynab handles the transfers automatically? but still keeps a record of what was originally in each category before it was moved to the credit card?
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b
Can you clarify your scenario? You shouldn't have to move money to the credit card itself if you've already assigned the money to the category. The only times I think you'd have to assign directly to the card is from refunds (never understood why they enforced that if you assigned the refund to the correct category)
This clarifies the refund scenario:
Help! My Credit Card Payment category went negative after this.
If your Credit Card Payment category goes negative after entering a return, move the money back to the Credit Card Payment category from the spending category. This can happen if you've paid your card off between the original purchase and the return.
For example, let's say you get a $10 refund for a clothing return, and you've categorized the inflow back to the initial spending category (Clothing). $10 will move from the card's related Credit Card Payment category down to the Clothing category. If you've already used the $10 from the original purchase to pay down the balance, that move may make the Credit Card Payment category go red and negative. You can resolve this by moving the money from the Clothing category back up to the Credit Card Payment category. This will ensure you still have enough set aside to make your payment.
h
i want it to be that if i add up the totals of each group, it would equal my total monthly spending but the credit card category is not fitting in with that wish because the numbers here are really all included in the categories below. it's just confusing me pretty much, i don't want to see the cards listed as categories at all
d
Right, you shouldn't include the Credit Card categories in your total. That's just money set aside to cover your credit card bills from previous spending (assuming you pay you CC in full)
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And yes, YNAB automatically moves assigned money into those CC categories as you spend money on other categories with your CC. It considers the money "spent" for the other categories, but it really just moves it to your CC categories. They're special categories
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i want it to be that if i add up the totals of each group, it would equal my total monthly spending
Also what total are you referring to? Assigned? That's not the same as spending
r
if you're CCs are yellow, it usually means you're living on CC float using the envelope moshol you have an envelope called groceries with $500 you spend $600 on the credit card ynab moves $500 out of your groceries envelope, and into the CC envelope and then writes for you an note on the envelope that you need $600 in there, but are missing $100
m
@high-scientist-15078 resolved?
h
yes, thanks
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