Credit Card Accounts

Credit Card accounts are used to keep track of your current balance on a single credit card.
The balance on a credit card represents your current debt on the credit card.

You can create a credit card account via Account > New Account.
 

A credit card account can store information such as card number, expiration date, interest rate (labelled APR), and bank name for your convenience. However, these fields are not required.

None of these values, including the interest rate, affect the operation of the account.
 

Rather than the Initial Balance field, you'll see "Initial Debt".


 

Credit Card accounts usually have negative balances.
This account type represents money that you owe and has a negative effect on your net worth.
 

The fields in a credit card account register are very similar to fields in a bank account register.
The only difference is the Payment and Deposit fields in a bank account.
In a credit card account, these fields are named Charge and Payment.

  • A charge is a payment made using the credit card account.
  • A payment is a transfer of funds, reducing the account balance.
     

Purchase transactions are entered into a credit card account just as they are in a bank account - with a description, category, amount, etc.
Purchases are entered as "charges" that decrease the balance (and represent the increase of debt).

Credit card payments are recorded as a transfer of funds from a bank account (often a checking account) to the credit card account.
This reduces the balance of the checking account and also reduces the debt on the credit card.