
Silly question about credit cards
I am always getting tripped up inYNAB with my credit cards. I know basically how they work as you spend. We Pay our credit cards off every month so that part isnt a problem. What is the difference between statement balance and current balance. ?? For some reason I get mixed up with this. I just want to know what I owe on what day. Don’t show two different amounts please LOL. I have over paid on some credit cards because of this. And my available to be budgeted on my credit cards never match the balances in my YNAB register. I have taken the workshops before so I do have a bit of knowledge there.
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Your statement balance is what normally needs to be paid.
At the end of your billing cycle, when the card provider sends the bill for X amount, that is your statement balance.
Your current balance will include that X amount, plus anything you've spent since, so it will be the total owed.Did you budget for your starting balance when you set the cards up first?
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YNAB doesn't show two different amounts. It shows you two pieces of separate, but related information.
Your credit card company tells you what the statement balance is because they are the ones that generate the statement. YNAB will never tell you this information.
The credit card payment category available balance tells you how much you have allocated in your budget to pay your credit card.
The credit card account balance in YNAB tells you how much you owe on your credit card. That may or may not be different than the statement balance because the YNAB account balance will display charges that happened after the statement closed.
Ideally the credit card payment category available balance will match that YNAB credit category balance except the category balance will be positive and the account balance will be negative.
In order to avoid paying interest, you must pay at least the statement balance on or before the due date.
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Lee2lee said:
What is the difference between statement balance and current balance. ??The entire statement (including the statement balance) is just a snapshot of the account *as of the closing date*. The account balance, of course, will change as you make additional purchases.
Two things to remember:
1. Pay the statement balance by the due date to avoid interest.
2. Keep the YNAB CC Payment category Available equal with opposite sign to the current account balance to maintain paid-in-full status.
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Lee2lee said:
I have over paid on some credit cards because of thisThey sent you a bill. Why are you paying them anything other than what they requested? You don't always give the grocery store the entire contents of the Grocery category, do you? 😉