A transfer moves money between two of your own accounts. Earmarkr records both sides as one linked pair, so your balances always agree.
Recording one
- Open Transactions and choose Transfer / payment.
- Pick the From and To accounts.
- Enter the amount and date, then save.
Both sides are created together. A half-transfer isn't possible — if one side fails, neither is written.
The rule that decides everything
Whether a transfer carries a budget category depends on one thing: whether both accounts are on-budget.
| From → To | Category? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Checking → Savings | No | Both on-budget — the money is still in your budget |
| Checking → Credit card | No | Both on-budget — this is a card payment |
| Checking → Loan | Yes | The loan is off-budget, so the money leaves your budget |
| Checking → Investment | Yes | Same — leaving the budget is a spending decision |
| Between two off-budget accounts | No | Neither is budgeted |
The principle: money that stays inside your budget doesn't need a category; money that leaves it does. Paying a loan is really spending — it's money you no longer have available — so it belongs to a category. Moving money to savings isn't; it's the same money in a different place.
Card payments
Both accounts are on-budget, so no category. The card's payment reserve covers it — that's the money you set aside as you spent. See paying your credit card.
Loan payments
The loan is off-budget, so the outflow from checking carries the loan's payment category, which Earmarkr creates automatically for every loan and mortgage.
That category behaves like ordinary spending: budget for it monthly, and the payment draws it down. There's no reserve mechanic — your net worth improves as the loan balance shrinks.
Select a loan as the destination and the payment category is pre-filled for you.
Automatic linking
When both accounts are connected, the two sides arrive as separate transactions and Earmarkr links high-confidence pairs automatically — equal and opposite amounts, within a few days, across two accounts, with no ambiguity.
Linked pairs show a transfer badge. Automatically-linked ones also show Undo link, so a wrong guess is one click to reverse.
Earmarkr won't auto-link where the match is ambiguous — two identical transfers on the same day, for example. Those stay separate for you to link by hand.
Deleting a transfer
Deleting one side removes both. The pair is a unit; leaving half behind would break your balances.
Common questions
My transfer shows up as two uncategorized transactions. They weren't linked — usually different dates on each side, or one account isn't synced. Delete one and record a proper transfer, or link them manually.
Why can't I categorize my savings transfer? Because it's still your money, and counting it as spending would understate what you have. If you're saving toward something specific, use a category goal instead — see category goals.
I transferred to an account I don't track in Earmarkr. Record it as ordinary spending with a category, not a transfer. Transfers need both accounts to exist here.