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A credit-card payment is money moving from one of your accounts to the card. In Budget Bandit you record it as a transfer — two linked sides, one out of checking and one into the card. You do not assign money to make a payment; you already did that when you funded the spending.

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How much to pay: the safe-to-pay number

Open the card account and look at its Payment budget. The key figure is Available to Pay — the amount you have set aside from funded spending. This is your safe-to-pay number: pay this much and you are covering spending you already budgeted for, without disturbing the rest of your budget. You will see a few numbers on the card:
  • Balance Owed — the full balance on the card.
  • Available to Pay — cash reserved in the Payment category, ready to send.
  • Underfunded — any balance you have not budgeted for yet.
When Available to Pay is at least as large as Balance Owed, the card is fully funded — you can pay it off in full and your budget stays balanced.

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Record the payment

1

Open the card account

From the Accounts sidebar, open the credit-card account you are paying.
2

Choose to make a payment

Use the payment button on the card. Budget Bandit pre-fills the amount with what is safe to pay — the smaller of your Available to Pay and the full balance.
3

Confirm the from and to accounts

The payment is a transfer: from your checking account, into the card. Adjust the amount if you want to pay more or less.
4

Save the transfer

Both sides are recorded at once. Your checking balance drops, the card balance rises toward zero, and the Payment category is drawn down by what you paid.
Because a payment is a transfer between two of your own accounts, it is not spending and does not need a budget category. It moves money you already have from one place to another.

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Paying more than is safe to pay

You can pay more than your Available to Pay — for example, to get a balance down faster. When you do, the Payment category goes negative, which reads as cash overspending: you sent out cash you had not reserved for the card. The budget stays honest about it rather than hiding it. To avoid this, budget for the extra in the Payment category first, then pay.

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If something looks wrong

If the Payment category is short before you even pay, that is unfunded card spending, not a payment problem. See The Payment category is red.

Set up a card

Add a card and meet the Payment category.

Payment category is red

Fix unfunded card spending.

Transfers

How transfers work between accounts.

Debt payoff

Pay down a carried balance over time.