FAQ: How do transactions work?

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Charge Transactions: The Charge transaction should add the amount of the transaction to the outstanding balance, and subtract it from the available credit. For example, if your credit limit is $5000 and you already owe $2000, and charge an item for $500, your available credit should change to $2500. If this is not happening, be sure you’re recording the transaction to charge FROM your credit card TO the merchant.

Also, remember that the credit card starting balance should be negative. For example, if you owe Visa $900, enter your credit card starting balance as -900.

Disabled Transaction Buttons: Some transactions require a FROM field, others a TO field, and a few need both. You can only select transactions if you’ve already filled in all the fields they require. See the table just below to see which transaction types require which fields.

Transaction Types: The following table summarizes the transaction types that Keep Track supports. The From and To fields actually determine what accounts the money is subtracted from or added to, and the transaction type serves mostly to describe the transaction. For each transaction type, certain fields may be required, as specified in the table.

Transaction Type FROM req’d TO req’d Description
Withdraw Withdraw cash from account
Deposit Deposit cash or checks into account
Transfer Transfer money from one account to another
Check Write a check from a checking account
Advance Get cash advance from a credit card account
Charge Make a charge on a credit card
Refund Get a refund to a credit card account
Debit Use a debit card
Interest Record interest an account has earned
Payment Record a direct payment from an account
Service Charge Record a service charge for ATM withdrawal or monthly bank account fees

If you have a transaction that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these descriptions, just pick one that seems closest and don’t worry about it. The information is being recorded for your benefit and there are no other implications of the transaction type. You can add something in the Note field if necessary to help you describe the transaction.