Q05 Setup for Daughter?

Define "interactive accounts" (Don't cha just love the way people invent their own terms?)

What's "cross checking between accounts" mean? Do you mean transfers?

Although programs like Quicken can help people manage their finances, there is no substitute for real effort. Not everything can be automated. Your daughter need to learn that managing her finances takes involvement from her (or hire somebody else to do it). This is symptomatic as you say that the credit union does all her paying for her. What, might I ask, does she do? Or does she just expect magic or others to do it for her?

BTW I would recommend not having a credit union that does all of your paying for you. Instead bank with a bank that provide direct integration within Quicken where the payments emanate from within Quicken by actions by her. Then slowly automate by scheduling that which can be scheduled.

Thanks for the reply. I define interactive as when I *manually* make a

*checking* account payment to a *credit card account* it appears in Quicken. thus the is reflected in both accounts, AND the mathematics assures that the debit in one equals the credit in the other. It appears that in a 100% on-line update situation, there doesn't appear to be a computer mathematical relationship between the two accounts. I apologize that I am having difficulty in explaining this...

I can't deny that a hands-on (real effort) approach is better, but with her commitment to her son and her job she is trying to minimize her prep time.

That's called a transfer (how long have you been using Quicken anyway?). Why would you call it anything else? That's what the Quicken online help calls 'em. That's what the manual calls them. Even Edit: Go to matching transfer is a clue.

Here's some things that I do. First off get a bank that knows how to directly download to Quicken. Also, they should allow you to send online payments - from Quicken itself! Next set up the appropriate credit card accounts, loans, assets or whatever. Next generate payments from within Quicken to pay your debts. Such payments are set up as an online check that transfers to the credit card account. There! That's taken care of! Make these payments scheduled payments. If the payment amount remains the same (e.g. car payment, rent payment) then make it an online repeating payment. Then you don't have to worry about those anymore.

When statements come in, balance them! Where you can also choose credit card companies that also download directly into Quicken. This helps during reconciliation time.

You can automate, to some extent, some of Quicken's transactions. However you do need to set it up and there is occasional care and feeding.

I have some 60-80 active accounts. I balance every one of them to the penny - always! I have about 7-9 of them as online accounts. I schedule whatever payments I can. I have online repeating payments where I can. I schedule downloads for my online accounts 5 days a week (Mon-Fri @ 5 Pm). I find that the amount of time I spend on average per day on doing Quicken is less than 5 minutes. I bet your daughter spends way more than

5 minutes putting on her make up!

I know you love your daughter and wish the best for her etc., etc. Hey I have a daughter too. However this is life pal! The rest of us face the same sorts of issues of work, family, financial life and other commitments. And, I'd argue that a commitment to the grooming, care and feeding of her... finances will do wonders for her kid, let along someday teach them the importance of such things. (BTW: Where's the dad of that kid?)

Look we all have hardships, but Quicken can make things a bit easier. Yes some initial investment in sweat is required and yes you should try to automate things where possible, but you (your daughter) gotta put in some effort!

Good luck.

There is really no way for the financial institutions to know that you have both the credit card account and the checking account in Quicken ... and what specific accounts they are. Even if the accounts are at the same financial institution, there is no mechanism, at present, for the financial institution(s) to download what is, in effect, a transfer.

Many users enter the transfer payment in their Quicken register before they accept the downloaded transaction(s). Doing so insures that both halves of the transfer are already in your Quicken registers, so the downloaded transactions will "match" existing Quicken transactions and not create new Quicken transactions. You can enter the transactions ahead of time manually, or have them entered using Quicken scheduled transactions.

But if you have not already entered the transfer transaction into Quicken before the download, then when you receive the first half of the transfer (probably the credit card transaction) and you accept it into your register, change the category to be the name of the other account in square brackets, as in [Checking Account] (if the transaction is in the credit card account). When you later accept the downloaded checking account transaction, it will match the transaction already in your checking account ... created by you making the credit card transaction a "transfer" to checking.

It doesn't matter where the payment originates, you can have Quicken help you by filling in the category; it's called QuickFill. You "memorize" payees; then when you enter, or accept, transactions for that payee, Quicken will fill in the category (and memo and amount, if you specify) for you. You need a memorized payee (transaction) and you need QuickFill turned on. Turn on QuickFill in

Edit > Preferences > Quicken Program > QuickFill

Check the boxes "Complete fields ..." and "Recall memorized payees ...".

Andrew & John, Thanks to both of you for your thoughts. This old geezer switched from Managing Your Money in 1999 to Quicken. Back then, the online portion was, as I recall, minuscule, and had lots of problems, so I learned to do everything manually and never changed. I have multiples of each type of accounts; investment, checking, credit, cash and loan accounts and am sorry about the 'senior' moment and not using the correct *transfer* terminology. I understand and use the brackets in the Categories for the transfers etc.

So where this has evolved, is that for daughters benefit, I have to climb the learning curve for online use, which I have never done. Downloaded the Users Manual today and reading up. Her credit union (CU) does have downloading capability for Quicken and I have set that up. I have also successfully tested my Q05 and was able to make an online transfer between her checking and saving at that credit union. Now trying to see if her CU will accept online payments to third parties and how to set that up. A call to the CU did not get me a firm answer so I emailed their technical department. 'Used to be that you needed a bunch of routing numbers etc, but I know I'm behind the times, so I'm not sure how this is set up. I'm also a bit nervous messing around with her account. The nice thing about her CU is that all is free ;-)

A strange thing I haven't figured out yet, is that I downloaded her separate Discover Card account into Q05 and I don't see any interest charges anywhere. The exact amount of her checking payment is the exact amount that is credited by Discover...???

This will keep those aging neurons firing, not good to let them get old, lazy and out of shape. :)

There are two basic "providers" of billpay that are able to interact with Quicken; your financial institution, and Quicken Billpay.

If your financial institution offers billpay (seems to me most do), there are two ways to use it: at the fi's web site (always available) or by transmitting instructions from Quicken (which is not Quicken Billpay). Some fi's do not accept billpay instructions from Quicken, they require you to initiate billpay from their web site.

Both the providers may be available in Quicken, but you can only use one in Quicken. If you can transmit billpay instructions from Quicken to your fi, I think you should see an Account Attribute named "Online Payment through My Financial Institution". Beneath that (or standalone, if billpay not available via Quicken to fi), you should see "Quicken Bill Pay" (for which you have to pay), if available.

Discover doesn't download interest charge transactions. True for, at least some, other credit cards as well.

Did an online check using Q05: Online; Participating Financial Institutions. Daughters CU shows *supported services* as *banking account access* and

*credit/charge card access* but conspicuously missing is *payments* Ouch. She struggling to get by as it is, I hate to add extra cost of using Quicken billpay. BTW, how does Quicken billpay get access to your checking account funds? Do you set up an authorization for Q to debit the checking?

On the credit card interest charges not being downloaded, how do most online advocates find and enter the interest? Thanks

I think that only means you can not send the billpay instructions from Quicken. I have at least one fi who offers billpay but not via Quicken and their Participating Online Financial Institution page does not list "payments" either.

You may still be able to do the payments from the fi's web site.

I have never used Quicken Billpay, but my guess is that you are right. I suspect you have already looked at Intuit's product web site

Others here who use Quicken Billpay can also help you with that info.

Pay in full each month? :)

I am usually holding my credit card statement when I do my reconciliation and that is when I enter the interest, (which I try to never have). I could get the data earlier from the cc web site, but usually do not need it that quickly.

Yea, me too, but this is a new generation for the kids. I guess that she has involved me into helping her get set up with quicken to help her get a decent budget and try to get financial control of her life. Maybe then she can work on getting rid of the nasty interest charges on these cards. Biggest problem is that she and her 4 year old son live near Washington, DC and I am 2-1/2 hours away near Harrisburg, PA. It sure will be tough to teach her Quicken when I get more up to speed. Besides, at years end, I will hop into my RV and head for Florida to keep warm.

She can do payments on the fib's site now. In fact they have their own Bill, that can be used for regular or irregular payments, again for no charge. But that's a bit of a pain to have to manage that separately from Quicken. I was hoping to consolidate it all in A.

Understood. This should only matter for non-recurring payments, as recurring payments can be handled with one session at the web-site and scheduled transactions in Quicken.

One thing to look for is an e-bill/e-pay (billpay) capability. If your fi offers that (it is rare I think, and there are not enough billers signed up, but that is another story); you can, for instance, authorize the fi to pay, via EFT, bills like utilities which are regular in frequency but unequal in amount. The fi presents you with a notification from the biller of the amount each month and if you have no objection, you need do nothing and the bill gets paid automatically. If you dispute, the bill is not paid. The nice thing is that you do not have to go to the fi's web site (except to establish a relationship with the biller) and Quicken is not needed.

And if you can't get the e-bill/e-pay, you can still have many companies (electric, phone, cable, etc.) take their payments from your account automatically each month via EFT; all you do is setup a scheduled payment in Quicken to "remind" you and when the actual payment is downloaded, modify the "reminder", enter it into your register, and "Accept" the downloaded "match"ing transaction. (You still get billed the same way you always did, you just do not have to write a check; they take the money automatically on/after the date they state on your bill).

It's about 80 in Pensacola today; I haven't had to put on long pants since last winter.

This credit union of hers is more remarkable the more I study it. Their Billpayer will send electronic payments or mail (USPS) a check-free, up to

80/month. Each billpay can be set for fixed or adjustable amounts, different intervals, or On demand. I have utilities automatically debited from my account, so I suppose her CU can too. This type of stuff is what lets me travel the country and not have too many bills to worry about. But the more I see about her CU, I may join for there are some benefits that I might be able to integrate into my systems.

As I've said in this NG ad nauseum, I don't understand why ANYONE has bank accounts for personal use at anything other than a community-based Credit Union.

Well, I'm learning! thanks

Maybe you should teach your daughter about newsgroups... This one, in particular. Then, *she* could ask questions, rather than relying completely on you for the answers!

Notan

I have been a member of the country's largest credit union for over 40 years; they do not show me anything great. They just have barely acceptable service and slightly higher interest on deposits and slightly lower interest on loans.

The only reason for the existence of credit unions is the "special favor" legislation by the federal government which give tax benefits to credit unions. And the reason for the relatively recent upsurge in credit union expansion (especially including those "local" credit unions) is the even more "special favor" rulings by the courts, which broadly expanded the rules for counting those who are eligible to be members of credit unions ... now if you are breathing, you are eligible to be a member of a credit union with any other member of any species that is breathing.

I don't have any greater intrinsic love for banks than for credit unions; but my banks offer me pretty much as good a service as the credit unions I read about ... and better than most (much better than my credit union). And I didn't, and won't, ask for any special favors from the government.

I can't argue your point, Notan. I guess that since I'm retired, and she is a single Mom trying to hold down a job and raise a son (no excuse, as she made her own bed!), I'm trying to run point for her to at least get something set up for her. She runs from dawn to well after dusk. As well as I'm trying to find her money management failures and guide her before the big crash. I do hope to leave her with some knowledge of NG's and you all as a great bunch of helpers. You know, it is amazing of how many people I run into that have never heard of NG. Thanks...

It sounds like she's lucky to have you as a father!

Take care!

Notan