My dilemma: I pay my husband's car payment online on his behalf. I don't actually do anything other than make the payment. He gives me the money to deposit in my checking account and I pay it online. (He doesn't like online banking. ha ha)
How do I log these transactions in financial software? The money he gives me isn't really "income" but I want to log the deposit. The money I pay isn't really my "expense" or liability. I face similar dilemmas with my daughter's car payment (for which I am cosigner...never again) and bills my husband pays through my online accounts (like his cell phone bill. He pays for it money-wise, but I make the transaction through my account online).
Am I trying to fine-tune this too much?

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Bedford, VA

i use quicken Moneydance. sometimes i buy instruction books for my students for which i am reimbursed at cost. i have created a category called pass throughs that i use to log these transaction. when i pull a report for preparing my taxes it is not included in the data used for income.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2012 12:45PM by graylocks.

I don't know what software you're using, but this is how I handle things like this in Quicken 2002 (and I manually enter all transactions, nothing downloaded from financial institutions).

I created a separate account in Quicken called "Reimbursable" with a type of "Bank" to track these sorts of middle-man transactions.

When you deposit the check from your husband, for the category, make it a transfer from the Reimbursable account. It will deduct the balance from the Reimbursable account

When you pay the loan online, again make it a transfer from the Reimbursable account, but now it will add it to the balance of the Reimbursable account and you should get back to a zero balance.

An alternate approach is to just create a new category called Reimbursable (or HusbandsCarLoan) and use that for both the deposit and they payment category, and at the end of the year the deposits and payments will balance out and you'll end up with zero.

I've used Quicken for years but haven't used it in a long time. My financial situation has changed so much since I last used it--and so has Quicken--that I'm opting to start over with a new app. I've experimented with several, including iBank and Fortora, but I think I'm going to go with Moneydance.

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Bedford, VA

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CJsNvrUrly
I've used Quicken for years but haven't used it in a long time. My financial situation has changed so much since I last used it--and so has Quicken--that I'm opting to start over with a new app. I've experimented with several, including iBank and Fortora, but I think I'm going to go with Moneydance.

after almost two decades with Quicken the transition to MoneyDance this year hasn't been entirely painless but i think that's more because i'm a creature of habit. i'm still a newbie but it suits my purposes.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

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graylocks

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CJsNvrUrly
I've used Quicken for years but haven't used it in a long time. My financial situation has changed so much since I last used it--and so has Quicken--that I'm opting to start over with a new app. I've experimented with several, including iBank and Fortora, but I think I'm going to go with Moneydance.

after almost two decades with Quicken the transition to MoneyDance this year hasn't been entirely painless but i think that's more because i'm a creature of habit. i'm still a newbie but it suits my purposes.

graylocks, I'm needing to either purchase the new version of Quicken or an alternative...any additional thoughts about Moneydance that may be helpful for another MRF'er thinking about making the switch?

I just use it as a way to track expenses/budget and do simple reports...in case that helps frame your thoughts.

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clay

graylocks, I'm needing to either purchase the new version of Quicken or an alternative...any additional thoughts about Moneydance that may be helpful for another MRF'er thinking about making the switch?

I just use it as a way to track expenses/budget and do simple reports...in case that helps frame your thoughts.

STF for Robert M's posts on various money apps including Moneydance as he has gone to great lengths in testing them. i will say that my needs are very similar to yours and Moneydance has been fine so far. intuit has jerked mac users around so much that i decided to move away and be done with them. when i looked at quicken essentials it seemed like they had trimmed it down to much. i think they finally did make a fuller featured upgrade that would work with mountain lion (which i've yet to migrate to!) but by then it was too little too late for me.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Let's see if I've got this...

My husband gives me $300, for example, for a car payment.
I systematically create a deposit to fake account ABC (Reimbursable/Pass-thru/Whatever) for $300.
I physically make a $300 deposit to my BANK account.
I systematically transfer $300 from ABC to BANK, then pay the car payment online?
(Thinking out loud...)
That can't be right. Then it looks like I'm the one paying the car payment.
Hmmm...If I make the car payment directly from ABC account, the deposit doesn't show--therefore reconcile--with my BANK account.

What am I missing?

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Bedford, VA

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CJsNvrUrly
Let's see if I've got this...

My husband gives me $300, for example, for a car payment.
I systematically create a deposit to fake account ABC (Reimbursable/Pass-thru/Whatever) for $300.
I physically make a $300 deposit to my BANK account.
I systematically transfer $300 from ABC to BANK, then pay the car payment online?
(Thinking out loud...)
That can't be right. Then it looks like I'm the one paying the car payment.
Hmmm...If I make the car payment directly from ABC account, the deposit doesn't show--therefore reconcile--with my BANK account.

What am I missing?

From what you described originally, YOU are the one PAYING the car payment, using money that was deposited in your account.


When you record the Physical Deposit of $300 into your BANK account, you do it as a transfer FROM the fake account.

When you record the $300 payment of the car loan, to do it as a transfer from the Bank Account TO the fake account.

When you reconcile your BANK account, you will see the $300 from your husband being deposited on whatever date that occurred, and the online payment of the loan being deducted whenever that occurred.

If your husband is tracking his finances separately, then he should record the $300 payment to you as if it was the loan payment.

In the end you never really owned that $300, you were just laundering it.

At least this is how it works for me, doing everything manually in Quicken. If you're downloading transactions from your bank, then I have no experience in how that might mess things up.

Set up a category called "non-event" and just classify both the income and expense as "non-event".

If everything balances, your cash flow statements should show "no-event $0.00".

Use the memo to be more specific about the transaction so you'll remember a few years from now. Something like "car payment for hubby".

* From what you described originally, YOU are the one PAYING the car payment, using money that was deposited in your account. [yes]

* When you record the Physical Deposit of $300 into your BANK account, you do it as a transfer FROM the fake account. [but then the fake account becomes negative 300?]

* When you record the $300 payment of the car loan, to do it as a transfer from the Bank Account TO the fake account. [then the fake account balances to 0?]

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Bedford, VA

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CJsNvrUrly
* From what you described originally, YOU are the one PAYING the car payment, using money that was deposited in your account. [yes]

* When you record the Physical Deposit of $300 into your BANK account, you do it as a transfer FROM the fake account. [but then the fake account becomes negative 300?]

* When you record the $300 payment of the car loan, to do it as a transfer from the Bank Account TO the fake account. [then the fake account balances to 0?]

That's correct on all three, the fake account will essentially show how much money you owe your husband (and you could use it for other things). You'll "owe him" $300 when he gives you the check (negative 300) and you'll "pay him back" $300 when you pay his car loan (zero balance).

I got it! Thank you for the solution!!!

(I purchased Moneydance this morning. If you 'like' them on their Facebook page, it unlocks a code for 20% off.)

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Bedford, VA