Maybe I didn't understand what kinds of accounts you have here (though my
advice regarding downloaded transaction data would likely be the same).

There are two real world accounts involved here? I read your first post to
indicate that you had a fixed payment first mortgage loan (a Loan Account in
Money) and a fixed payment second mortgage home equity loan (another Loan
Account in Money)?

Were that the case, I'd think these should both be Loans with fixed payments
and simple interest on an amortization schedule. In this case, the P/I split
should be calculated by Money as to be Close Enough to not further worry
about. Yes, there will likely be some rounding error accumulated over time,
but it should be "in the noise". In this scenario, downloading the P/I info
won't change much but will just create work chasing pennies.

But I read this post and re-read your original to say that it's one
account--or at least it's downloading as one account--and that you have to
wade through LOTS of information to get to four numbers. So, I'm wondering
if this is really a fixed payment first mortgage and a revolving equity loan
that has new real transactions--which I would think you could enter as the
spending occurs during the month, either by downloading or the old-fashioned
way. If this latter is the case, then I think--no matter how your bank
downloads transactions--that it really is best to handle it as two separate
Money accounts, one a Loan and the other some type of credit account. The
Loan should still be calculating on its own pretty close to the point of
only needing hand tweaks annually or so.

Directly to the subject of your post: if this is just a mortgage, the best
type of account is a Loan. It sounds like this is more than just a mortgage.

<anonymous[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:a93101c4885b$fa89e8c0$a501280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

If the payment transactions are taken out of a credit card or checking
account, set them up to post automatically to that account in Money. Don't
download the mortgage transactions from the bank, but do download the credit
card/checking transactions.

Having the transactions post automatically from mortgage to checking posts
them as unreconciled. When you link to the bank to download the checking
account transactions, make sure the downloaded mortgage payment links to the
one Money posted automatically. Once you do that, it will be marked as 'E',
i.e., electronically cleared.

Unlike Dick, I download everything possible. I've been doing this for years.
It works fine for me. YMMV.

Once a year, as the bank changes the escrow amount, I may not revise the
mortgage account in a timely manner. If so, the loan payment entered by
Money differs from that downloaded from the bank into my checking account. I
have to manually 'change' the link. That's also a reminder to me to update
the loan account to reflect the current escrow portion. Future transaction
downloads link automatically again because the payee and amount match.

I reconcile my mortgage statements to the loan account once a year, to make
sure the annual interest paid balances with that filed with the IRS by the
bank.

Not using a credit card account for my mortgage payments, I've never
experienced the tax reporting problem described by Art.
--
Chris Cowles,
Gainesville, FL

"Sharon" <anonymous[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:a8d801c48852$5b1b2d20$a501280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

Some of the older versions of Money did not correctly handle TAX related
transactions when they were matched to a credit account. I am not
certain what the current status is as I quickly gave up on using them as
credit accounts after problems with 2003 and exporting tax data did not
show up my Mortgage interest payments.

anonymous[at]discussions.microsoft.com wrote:
- quote -

Well, I can enter them by hand. That's what I have been
doing for years until I discovered I could download them
if they were matched to a credit account.

But ONLY entering all the data by hand means waiting until
the paper statement comes at the end of the month (10-12
pages) and wading through all the information to find just
how much was principal and just how much was interest. So
it just seemed easier to download them as they become
available and they copy the amounts to the Loans and
Liabilities Account. But that still leaves me with TWO
accounts for the same Loan.

Everyone on this forum has been so creative, I thought
there might be a better way to handle this. Just looking
for ideas.

Thanks.
Sharon



- quote -

Enter transactions by hand and don't download transaction data?

"Sharon" <anonymous[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:a8d801c48852$5b1b2d20$a501280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

For years I have listed my Home Mortgage and my Home
Equity Loans as Account Type "Loan and Liability". They
were set up this way thru the wizard and the pros of doing
this is that I can look long term to see how many payments
are left as well as some other advantages.

HOWEVER, when I download transactions from my bank, these
accounts are not listed as matches to the bank accounts.
BUT, if I create a new Account under Credit Accounts, then
I can match them and I receive the transactions downloaded
just like I do from my checking accounts.

So, as of now I have these two accounts set up BOTH WAYS.
So the bank downloads the transactions to Home Mortage
(Credit Account), and then I manually copy the information
to the Home Mortage (Loan and Liablity Account). Any ideas
on how to simplify this process?

Thanks,
Sharon