Budgeting loan payments

This section answers common questions about budgeting mortgage and loan payments in Quicken.

Why doesn't the transfer portion of my loan payment show up in my budget?

When you record a loan payment as a split transaction, the principal portion is entered in the transfer column, pointing to your linked loan account. That transfer keeps your loan balance and net worth accurate elsewhere in Quicken, but transfers are excluded from budgets by default, so that portion disappears from your budget view even though the money left your account. Loans (Detailed Payments) exists to solve this.

What is Loans (Detailed Payments)?

Loans (Detailed Payments) is a special budget category that tracks your entire scheduled loan payment as one line, instead of tracking the individual pieces of the payment separately.

How is it different from budgeting my mortgage expense categories directly?

When you budget individual categories like Mortgage Interest or Escrow, Quicken tracks each split line of your loan payment separately, and the transfer portion (principal) is left out for the reason above. Loans (Detailed Payments) instead tracks the scheduled loan payment transaction as a single whole, giving you one number that matches the full amount that actually left your account.

What does the budgeted amount include?

The full scheduled payment amount, including principal, interest, escrow, and any additional principal added to the payment. All of it rolls into one number automatically.

Do I need a linked Loan account to use this?

Yes. Loans (Detailed Payments) tracks a scheduled loan payment reminder tied to a linked Loan account. To find it:

From your budget, click Edit Budget.
Click Select Categories.
In the search field, type the name you gave the loan account in Quicken. The entry appears as Loans (Detailed Payments), with each loan listed underneath as Loan Payment to [your loan account's name].

Note: The search matches the name of the loan account as it appears in Quicken, not necessarily your lender's company name, unless you used that name when you set up the account.

Are extra principal payments included?

Users who have tested this report that extra principal is included in the Loans (Detailed Payments) amount, as long as it's entered as part of the scheduled loan payment itself rather than as a separate, one-off transaction.