Credit cards are similar to regular accounts with some additional features.
Each card is associated with an account responsible for settling the card's outstanding balance.
This guide does not address "debit cards." You should use a regular account for debit cards.
To ensure accurate expense tracking, card transactions appear on the date they occur, even if you pay them later.
E.g.: transaction list or charts by category.
Anyway, your card balance impacts your total balance only when a manual or automatic card payment is made.
E.g.: graphs of changes in total balance over time.
Limit
A credit card limit is the maximum credit amount granted by a financial institution to a cardholder.
Once this limit is reached, you won't be able to make additional card purchases.
You have the option to count also the scheduled transactions in the card limit. Only the repetitions that fall in the current period are counted.
Credit card types
You can create two types of credit card.
- Monthly card
The credit card cycle spans one month. The card's spending limit is applied within this timeframe, and the card amount due is paid in full the next month.
You have the flexibility to specify the cycle's starting day, typically set on the 1st of the month.
- Accumulation card
This credit card type has no period. The limit is reset only when the card is paid.
Automatic/Manual payments
The credit card outstanding debt must be paid with a specific payment.
On the "Credit cards" page, press the second button under a card to execute a manual payment.
If an interest rate is set, the interest will be added to the monthly payments performed.
Monthly cards can automatically pay the card's amount. The payment will be created on the selected payment day.
Card creation: initial value
When you create a card, you must choose how to start with the expenses already in the card but recorded in Fast Budget.
This is essential to accurately manage the first month of your card.
1) You can input all transactions from the beginning of the period (Monthly cards only).
2) You can enter a single expense with the actual card balance, which consolidates all expenses incurred from the start of the period.
In either case, the card's value in the app should align with your actual card balance.