I had this problem when I started up with Money last year.

The answer is that Money is looking at budgeting from an actual expense
perspective, while you're trying to look at budgeting from a cash flow
perspective.

From Money's perspective, a $600 purchase today at Best Buy for 6 months at
0% is an actual $600 expense you're incurring today. The fact that you're
choosing to pay for this expense by paying $100/month for 6 months to
Citibank is a cash flow detail - tracked as a transfer between your two
accounts.

I've found that this actually helps me by including all recurring and
discretionary spending in the budget (and paying them in full every month),
allowing me to plan larger purchases by watching the cash flow over time.

Budgeting should help show you where you're money's going. In the larger
picture, your money's going to Best Buy in a $600 lump, since that's the
obligation you assumed. The 6x$100 transfers to Citibank doesn't really
help determine where it's going - they facilitate HOW you spent that money
at Best Buy...if you "get" it, looking at it this way can be useful - it
took some getting used to for me.

Hope this helps - John


"Susan" <anonymous[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:f91a01c3f197$56d08e10$a501280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

I have a question regarding Money 04. I have set up my
checking acct, and charge accts and a budget where I put
my minimum payments due on the credit cards. When I enter
a payment in the checking acct, the only way it shows up
in the credit card account is to do it as a transfer but
then that doesnt show up in the budget planner. If i put
it in the budget category it doesnt enter in an the cc
accounts. If I then try to enter a payment on the acct it
shows up again in my checking register. Help please if
you can. I found a similar question in the FAQ but am
still confused, really new to this arena.