The credit card in the budget, one purchase at a time
With a credit card you spend now and pay later. Allotti records it straight away: the purchase comes out of its envelope the moment you make it, and the card balance becomes a debt that you will pay from the linked account.
The sentence that defines it
Credit card: Spend now and pay later: the balance is what you owe.
The negative balance of the card is what you still have to pay. It is not money you have: it is the sum of the purchases made with the card that you have not paid yet.
A worked example with the November numbers
| Day | What happens | The card | The budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 November | A €140.00 shop at the supermarket with the card | The balance goes up by €140.00 (it is a debt) | Groceries goes from €600.00 down to €460.00 |
To assign does not change: the money to pay the card was already in the Groceries envelope, and now it is spent. The card debt takes it out of the money on your accounts: the liquid total, that is the money on your accounts minus the card debts, goes down by €140.00. You do not need an extra envelope to pay the card.
Edge cases
- The payment. When you pay the card, the debt goes down and the linked account loses the same amount. The budget does not change again: the purchase was already counted on the day you made it.
- An account to pay from. If the card does not have a linked account yet, the account's page asks which account pays it, in the field "Pay from".
- Closing the card. To close the card the balance must be zero: pay off the debt first.
- Changing type. If an existing account changes type, its transactions stay and the balance does not change.
Where to see it in the app
On a computer, open Accounts: the card shows its negative balance and, when you open it, you see the purchases made and the account it is paid from.