Credit card charges and credits

What this does

Money Out → Credit Cards records what happens on the shop's credit cards: a Charge (a purchase) or a Credit (a refund from the merchant). It's the card twin of the Checks screen and works the same way, including paying a vendor's open bills by card. Most card activity reaches the books through the Transaction Inbox from card alerts and receipts; this screen is for entering one by hand and for finding one later.

Before you start

accounting.manage. The card set up under Banking → CC Accounts and the vendor in the list (create either inline).

Steps

1. Choose Charge or Credit at the top of the form.
2. Pick the Credit Card Account and the Date. Ref # is optional (the last digits of an authorization, a receipt number).
3. Purchased From (or Refunded By on a credit): the vendor. Picking one fills the memo and usual expense account from the last transaction to them, and shows their Open Bills if any.
4. Lines: Account, Amount, Description, until they total the receipt. Or tick open bills to pay them by card. A bill in approval isn't payable yet.
5. Save & New or Save & Close.

Batch mode takes a grid of rows (date, vendor, account, memo, amount, Charge or Credit) and posts them all.

The sidebar lists the card's transactions for the last 90 days with search by payee, reference, or amount and Load older for more. Click a row to open it; a voided row is badged.

Void posts the reversal dated to the original transaction, so a June charge voided in September still comes out of June. To change an amount or account instead, Edit from the account register.

Memorize turns a saved charge into a monthly reminder.

What happens in the books

A charge posts Dr the expense line(s) / Cr the card's liability account. A credit posts the reverse: Dr the card / Cr the expense it refunds. Paying a bill by card posts Dr Accounts Payable / Cr the card and records the bill payment, reducing the bill's balance.

Paying the card itself (the monthly payment from checking) isn't entered here; it's a check to the card issuer categorized to the card's account. See Credit card accounts.

Common problems

I entered a charge on the wrong card. Void it and re-enter it on the right card. Editing can change everything but the account.

The refund didn't reduce the expense. It was saved as a Charge. Void it and re-enter it as a Credit.

The vendor's usual account came in wrong. It's the account from the last charge to that vendor; change it on the line. Payee rules in the inbox are separate and don't feed this screen.