Track a credit card

Tavala has no wallet kind called "credit card". You track one in one of two ways: as a Card wallet that goes negative as you spend, or as a Debt wallet that shows what you owe. The difference is when What's Left goes down: when you spend on the card, or when you pay it off.

Option 1: a Card wallet

Add a wallet of type Card (see add a wallet) with an opening balance of 0. Record purchases against it like any other wallet. Its balance goes below zero as you spend, and the Money tab shows the minus.

• What's Left goes down when you buy, because the card is a spending wallet.
• Paying the card is a transfer from your bank wallet to the card wallet. The bank wallet goes down and the card wallet comes back toward zero, so What's Left does not change a second time. See move money between your wallets.
• You can record purchases from the capture bar, and the card appears in its wallet chip.

This fits a debit or prepaid card as well.

Option 2: a Debt wallet

Add a debt for the card (see track a loan or a credit line). On the Money tab tap +, then Debt. A debt may start at 0 owed, so for a card you have paid off you can leave Amount owed empty. The optional fields are Monthly payment and Interest rate (APR, optional).

• Record a purchase in the full form and pick the debt as the wallet. The capture bar offers spending wallets only. The purchase counts as spending in budgets and reports, and the amount you owe goes up.
• What's Left does not change when you spend, because a debt is not a spending wallet. Your net worth does go down, since you owe more.
• Paying the card uses the Pay button on the debt's card. Enter the Payment amount and the wallet it comes From. If you know how much of it was interest, fill in Of which interest. What's Left goes down at that point. See record a loan payment.
• Money out on the Money tab counts the payment, not the purchase, since that is when the cash left your accounts.

If a statement balance differs from what Tavala shows, use Update balance on the debt; the field reads Amount you owe now. See update a balance that does not match.

Which one to choose

A credit card that comes from a bank connection is set up as a debt by default, with the bank's minimum payment, due date and statement balance shown under it when the bank reports them.

Good to know

• Credit limits are not tracked. Tavala records what you owe, not how much you may borrow.
• The kind is fixed. A Card wallet cannot become a debt later, or the other way round. To switch, add the other kind and archive the first; see archive a wallet you no longer use.