I think that it would be possible to use the loan wizard to build a Scheduled loan payment Transaction pointing to an Unallocated Funds account that could be used just as Michael suggested, adjusting for the correct interest amount when the value is known.
I need to try that. On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 12:55 PM Stephen M. Butler < stephen.m.butle...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 12/16/21 10:05, Michael or Penny Novack wrote: > > It might perhaps be better to describe WHAT you want to accomplish > > instead of asking about possibilities for the first HOW that came to > > your mind. Why? Because there might be other "hows" even simpler. > > > > > > On 12/16/2021 2:25 AM, AC wrote: > >> > >> For example, I have a couple loans that are paid fixed amounts each > >> month but the split of principal and interest varies (of course). I > >> have automatic payments at the bank set up to pay those fixed amounts > >> regularly and I have a matching scheduled transaction in GnuCash that > >> is a placeholder for it so I know how much comes out of my checking > >> account. What I don't know at that moment is the split between > >> principal and interest. > > I'll reword that -- you don't have access (in advance) to the > > amortization schedule and even if you did, would not help with an > > automated transaction (but would if a manual transaction_ > >> > >> When the payment has gone through I will check the loan records > >> wherever the loan is held to see how they distributed the payment and > >> then go back and update the splits to reflect that. > >> > >> I do a similar thing for my paychecks, setting up a scheduled > >> transaction with an estimated amount across splits and then go back > >> to update the splits with the various amounts withheld from the check > >> (I mark these as "Deposit"). > > > > Let's stop here for a second to describe your PROCESS. In either case, > > you first need to be able to have an automatic transaction (unsplit) > > that you later need to go back to in order to split once you have the > > information to do that. You think you need a "marker" of some sort to > > find the transaction later, to mark the ones you have not yet done. > > > > But what was the other side of the transaction?. Let's do the loan one > > first. That was an automatic (scheduled) transaction, credit to your > > bank account and debit to (there are always tow sides in double entry > > bookkeeping) what? Let's say for am moment you had an account under > > Expense with a name like "unallocated loan payments". > > > > Every so often you look. Is the balance of this account zero? No, then > > you have a loan payment you have not yet allocated to principle and > > interest. Assuming enough time has passed that you have that > > information, Enter split mode. Change the account "unallocated loan > > payments" to "interest" and the amount to what that portion is. The > > remainder will now have an account Imbalance which you change to "loan > > principle". > > > > Now THAT transaction will no longer appear in "unallocated loan > > payments" << and if there are no other payments still not allocated > > the balance of the account will be zero >> > > > > In other words, the very presence of a transaction in "unallocated > > loan balance" can serve as your "marker" and is the transaction you > > want to split. You can do the same for your paychecks, except you > > would use an account under Income "unallocated paychecks". > > > > Michael D Novack > > > > Why not point to the loan wizard and how it can setup an automated > transaction schedule? Sure, it is off a few pennies every so often but > if a person is looking at the loan details a their bank (or get a > monthly statement) it is easy to adjust the existing transactions. > > Once you understand the resulting schedule formula, you can modify for > extra monthly payments and won't need the wizard to setup the next loan. > > -- > Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM > stephen.m.butle...@gmail.com > kg...@arrl.net > 253-350-0166 > ------------------------------------------- > GnuPG Fingerprint: 8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8 > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > -- David Carlson _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.