A card payment is a transfer — money leaves checking and lands on the card. Record it that way and every number follows automatically.
Recording the payment
- Open Transactions and choose Transfer / payment.
- From — the account you're paying with (checking).
- To — the credit card.
- Enter the amount and date, then save.
You don't pick a category. Both accounts are on-budget, so the payment is budget-neutral — it moves money you already set aside.
What changes
Paying $250.00 from checking to your Visa:
Checking balance − $250.00
Visa balance owed − $250.00
Visa Payment reserve − $250.00 (a "direct payment" in the ledger)
Ready to Assign no change
Ready to Assign doesn't move because the money was already assigned — it was sitting in the Visa Payment category waiting for exactly this.
How much should I pay?
Open the card and read reserve held. That's what you've genuinely set aside, and paying it means the payment is fully funded.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Reserve ≥ statement balance | Pay the statement in full — you have it |
| Reserve < statement balance | Pay the reserve, or pay more and cover the difference first |
| Reserve is $0.00 | Nothing is set aside — see closing the gap |
Paying more than the reserve isn't blocked, but it spends cash assigned to something else. Your budget will show it: the payment category goes negative, and you'll need to cover it from elsewhere.
If your bank sync records it for you
When both accounts are connected, the two sides usually arrive as separate transactions and are linked automatically into one transfer. You'll see a transfer badge on both.
If a link looks wrong, use Undo link on the transaction to separate them.
If they don't get linked — different dates, or one account isn't synced — you'll see two uncategorized transactions instead. Delete one and record a proper transfer, or link them manually.
Automatic payments
Set up a scheduled transfer so the payment is recorded whether or not you remember:
- Open Scheduled and add a scheduled transaction.
- Set the account, amount, and frequency.
Scheduled entries are recorded when they come due. Note the amount is fixed, so a variable statement payment still needs adjusting — many people schedule the minimum and pay the rest by hand.
Common questions
I paid the card but the payment category still shows money. The reserve accumulates. If you funded $600.00 of charges and paid $400.00, the remaining $200.00 is correctly still set aside for the rest of the balance.
I paid and now the payment category is negative. You paid more than was set aside. Cover it by moving money in from another category, the same as any overspend.
Should I categorize the payment? No. A payment between two on-budget accounts carries no category — the spending was already budgeted when you made the original charge. Categorizing it would count the same money twice.
What about paying a loan? Different rule. A loan is off-budget, so the payment does carry a category — the loan's payment category. See transfers and payments.