How to Manage Downloaded Credit Card Transactions in QuickBooks Online

Welcome to the Fit Small Business QuickBooks Online training course! In this lesson, we’re going to cover how to manage downloaded credit card transactions in QuickBooks Online.

You can follow along on your own QuickBooks Online account. If you don’t have one already, click here to sign up for a free 30-day trial and follow along below.

To complete this lesson, you can either watch the video below, read through the step-by-step instructions, or do both. Let’s begin!

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Why Is It Important to Manage Downloaded Credit Card Transactions in QuickBooks Online?

When you import transactions from your business credit cards into QuickBooks, they are un-posted. This simply means that you need to review them and provide some additional information before they can be added to your register in QuickBooks. In this lesson, we will show you how to review and categorize your credit card transactions so that they can be added to your register and financial statements.

The Banking Center Layout

At the top of the Banking Center, all of the bank and credit card accounts that you have set up are at the very top of the page as indicated below.

1. If the account is linked to your bank account, the top blue portion of the account box will show the credit card balance as of the date of the last sync.
2. The bottom portion of the account box displays the current balance in the QuickBooks register and the number of transactions in the For Review tab below.
3. If the account is not linked, it will show $0.00 in the top portion of the box.
4. Similar to the linked account, the bottom portion of the account box displays the current balance in the QuickBooks register and the number of transactions in the For Review tab.
5. Bank feed transactions are organized into the following three tabs:
   • For Review – this tab will show all of the un-posted transactions.  For example, when you import transactions into QuickBooks, this is where they will appear until you review them and take action.
   • In QuickBooks – this tab will show all of the transactions that have been matched or added to the register in QuickBooks.  
   • Excluded – this tab will show the transactions that have been removed from the For Review tab by you.

How Do I Manage Downloaded Credit Card Transactions in the Banking Center?

Step 1 – Navigate to the Banking Center

From the Home page, click on Transactions located on the left hand menu bar and select Banking as indicated below.

Step 2 – Review Transactions Tab

You should begin with the transactions that are located on the For Review tab. Within this tab, transactions are categorized into two additional tabs:

• All – this tab will list all transactions (including those on the Recognized tab)
• Recognized – If QuickBooks recognizes a transaction that is already recorded in your register, it will display a green MATCH tag next to the transaction and add it to the Recognized tab as indicated below.  

To add the transaction to the register, just click the Match link located in the Action column indicated below. QuickBooks will add the transaction to the QuickBooks register and include it in your financial statements.

Most people tend to be creatures of habit. Whether you are running out to grab lunch or to the office supply store to get ink for the printer, you will most likely purchase these items from the same retailers. QuickBooks will  recognize vendor names or descriptions that you have previously downloaded and will make suggestions as to which account transactions should be coded to. If you accept the suggested account, QuickBooks will change the account for all transactions of that same name.

For example, if you have previously coded Bluehost.com transactions to your Advertising account (as indicated below) then the next time a Bluehost.com transaction is downloaded, QuickBooks will suggest coding it to the Advertising account.  If you accept the suggestion then QuickBooks will categorize all transactions with the Bluehost.com description to the Advertising account.

Step 3 – Add a New Credit Card Transaction to the Register

Click on the credit card transaction that you want to add to the register.

Complete the following fields as indicated below.

1. Select the vendor from the drop down. If you have not set up the vendor yet, you can do so by clicking Add New from the drop down. Be sure to view our tutorial on Setting up Vendors.
2. Select the account that you want to code the transaction to.
3. Put a brief description in this field of what the expense is for.
4. Click Add to add this transaction to your QuickBooks register and financial statements.

Troubleshooting Downloaded Credit Card Transactions

When managing downloaded transactions in the Banking Center, a couple of issues that you may need to troubleshoot are:

• Transactions that have already been matched
• Sign In Error

Transactions Already Matched

Sometimes a downloaded transaction has been matched to the wrong transaction in the register. This can happen for a number of reasons, but usually because the register transactions are for the same amount and fall within the same date range. To fix this issue, follow these steps, click the In QuickBooks tab in the Banking Center & click Undo next to the transaction as indicated below.

This will flag the transaction as un-posted and return it to the For Review tab where you can match it to the correct transaction.

Sign In Information Error

If you see a red error message similar to the one below, more than likely your user id or password for the bank account has changed, and you need to update QuickBooks with this information. Click on the Fix It link as indicated below, and follow the on-screen instructions to update your user id and password.

Bank Rules Let You Code Transactions Quickly

You can reduce the amount of time it takes to code and record transactions in the Banking Center by setting up bank rules. QuickBooks will use the bank rules that you set up to automatically code transactions to the right account for you. Let’s create a bank rule for the Bluehost transactions. To create bank rules, just follow these steps:

Step 1 – Manage Rules

Click on the drop down arrow to the right of the Update button & select Manage rules, as indicated below.

Step 2 – Click New Rule

Click the New rule button in the upper right hand corner of the screen as indicated below.

Step 3 – Set Up Conditions for Rule

Complete the following fields to set up a bank rule.

1. Rule Name – Give each rule a name.
2. For – Select whether the rule applies to Money in (credit card returns) or Money out (credit card charges).
3. In – From the drop down, you can select which credit card account this rule applies to. The default is All bank and credit card accounts.
4. Conditions – You have the option to determine if the transaction has to meet all or any of the following conditions that you set. When the conditions are met, the rule is triggered.
   • A. From the drop down, you can select any or all
   • B. From the drop down, you can select bank text, description, or amount as a condition.
   • C. From the drop down, you can select contains, is exactly, or doesn’t contain, depending on how you want your rule to work.
   • D. In this field, you can enter the bank text, description, or amount.
5. Transaction type – Select whether the transaction is an expense, transfer, or check.
6. Payee – Select the payee (if applicable).
7. Category – Select the account the transaction should be categorized to. (i.e. office supplies, meals, and entertainment).
8. Memo – Enter any additional information in this field for this transaction.
9. Automatically add to my books – By selecting this option, QuickBooks will bypass putting these transactions on the Recognized tab, which would then require you to review them before they are added to the register. Instead QuickBooks will automatically add them to the register.
   TIP: I recommend that you still review these transactions in the register to ensure that the rule is working as you expect it to.

Wrap Up

That wraps up the section on how to manage downloaded credit card transactions in QuickBooks Online. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course will be How to Record a Credit Card Return. In this lesson, we will walk you through when you need to record a credit card return, how to record credit card returns, and the impact this will have on your financial statements.

To access this lesson or any of the others in the series, click here. Or, click here for a free 30-day trial of QuickBooks Online.

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