Spreadsheet To Keep Up With Accounts

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I use Bank Of America's "My Portfolio"

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Thank you! I have CCs & a checking account with BOA but had never thought to click on that tab until I read your post. This will be a big help. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention.

I have a question for anyone with an Alliant CU CC who's using this: how did you get "My Portfolio" to connect with & track your Alliant CC?

I use my account # & password to log into Alliant's web site & access all 3 - savings, checking & Visa - of my accounts. But "My Portfolio" only picks up my 2 Alliant bank accounts. It can't find my Visa, even though BOA lists Alliant credit cards as eligible for "My Portfolio".

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[DI]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I use to use MINT but i was having issues with it so i started using my own simple spreadsheet that works better.

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I use to use Mint too.  It couldn't handle updating accounts without having problems with the passwords and security questions.

[IsItaGoodSpend]

I took over paying the bills 3.5 yrs ago from DH when it became to much for him to juggle with work/travel. 

I use Excel and think it works well.  If we have a storm and the cable goes down (and it does happen lots in the summer) I can still work without being online.   I keep all financial info under one file name and just insert a new worksheet for each new year.  Each section is broken up into House, Utilities, Insurance, Credit Cards/Car, Church and Misc. DH gets paid 2x per month, so I have the bills color coded in two different colors so I can tell which bill gets paid in which half of the month.  I have columns with the name of the company, the due date it is due, the monthly budgeted amount (average), and each month of the year.  I can see a whole year's payments and see what was paid in prior months.  I put bills yet to be paid in hot pink and black when they are paid.  That way if I can't sit down and pay them all at once, I know what's left to pay.  The bills that have to be paid by snail mail(and yes, some of them have not caught the techno wave yet!) I bold so it reminds me to do them quickly.  I also put our montly income in by paycheck and total all the bills by which part of the month they are paid so I can see if I am under or over budget.  This helps to show how much extra is "left" to pay down bills or save for upcoming expenses or property taxes.

Hope this helps! 

[Macroman]

Right now I don't think it's good to count on CC keeping the same due date. I know one of mine changed by a few days and I have heard of a few other cases.

Myself I find that I am a little obsessive checking CC around the closing date and trying to pay right after statement close. I do find that this lowers my ADB and saves a little interest and avoids the possibility of a late. This is important to me as I am still carrying balances on several cards and trying to get the paid off as best I can.

[MattH]

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@Karatz wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I have a Total of 13 credit cards an it's kind of hard to keep up with my due dates. Someone suggested i make a spreadsheet to keep up with my accounts so i did that an it helps out allot. I get tired of logging into all my account so this really helps me keep track. Thanks to whoever suggested this i can't remember the users name.

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Here's how I do it:

I have a Microsoft Access Database. Easy to setup. I could sent you a copy if you want and you can just copy the fields, rename them, reorder them, or whatever you feel you like to do. Be ready, it's not me, but I'm forced myself to incorporate that into my life.

Field 1: ARCHIVE Y/N - allows me to see closed accounts, or only open accounts

Field 2: Account number...(I assign my own) I use 1100+ for checking, 1500+ for credit cards all personal...2100+ is for business checking. 8100+ is for my dad. It allows me to sort by type and groups similiar accounts by similar numbers. Checking Savings, Investment, Bills, etc etc.

Field 3: Account Name

Field 4: Account Type (Checking, Savings, Investment, etc...)

Field 5: Owner (Me or my business, I also help my father with some of his accounts since he's old and poor)

Field 6: PDF Start Date (wait read on)

Field 7: PDF End Date (wait wait read on)

Field 8: PDF Months (number of months PDF file is available online)

Field 9: File This is an attachment file where I have every statement of every account since it was first opened. I name the PDF with the Field 2 plus STA plus the statement ending date. I use the PDF start date and end date to remind me which accounts need the statement downloaded and when.

File 10: File This is also an attachment file where I can in all my STUFF from the account. Balance transfer aggreements, everything...Takes only a 20 seconds for me to scan a document in, 60 seconds to name it and attach it...takes no space, no skin of my back and I'm good come any surprise

Field 11+ Is just stuff like the website URL that I can click which opens that site in my brower, login and password fields, pin numbers, account numbers, routing numbers, card numbers, expiration dates, a task field that opens a small notepad file with things to do, due dates, amounts due, goals, everything...I often add a field which reminds me if I changed my phone number with the account, or email address, anything that I have to remember...You can right click on the top column and sort by whatever you want, see the due dates, see the accounts you haven't added your new number to, see the accounts with tasks in them, see when your nearest due date is, possiblities are endless.

I have probably over 10,000 documents in here, just one account is over 500 documents and it takes a total 124mb at this time. I back it up to a SanDisk Micro which I keep somewhere else. I use the filename Finance_yymmdd (which shows the date I archived it) I built a few querys that show just info for things I want immediately like due date and amount due, also have a few that serve as a check list when I go in quarterly or every six months and download the statements, save them, and input anything new.

I know that portfolio thing on BofA looks pretty good, but I don't like having one bank having the capability of seeing each and every transaction and balance that I have everywhere else, and what if something changes and I'm relying on BofA to give me the information? 

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Sounds impressively detailed.  I'm a little more primitive: I regularly download PDFs of statements which I save to a folder on my computer (and of course regularly BACK UP to external hard drive in case of computer trouble).  Anything that's not in PDF format (like my credit reports pulled online) I convert to PDF format.  That way I can use Acrobat's search feature to search all the PDFs in this folder.

I do most of my banking online, but for certain things where I might require proof of payment I use a paper check, so that when the check clears my account I can view it online via my bank's web page.  I pick "Print Front And Back" and use a PDF driver to save the print image as a PDF, so I have an electronic copy of BOTH sides for documentation if needed.

One little trick I use: if in a given month I happen not to owe one of my regular creditors anything, I make an online payment for exactly five dollars.  That will simply get credited toward the next bill, and because actual balances never seem to be exactly five dollars when I review my online bill pay transaction history such payments stand out: I recognize those as meaning "I didn't owe them anything last time."  The main purpose of this is that I find it easier to keep track if I pay EVERYBODY something each month without fail, because then if it has been over 30 days since I last made a payment to somebody I know I must visit their website and find out what I owe them.

So there are four possibilities when I review my transaction history:

1. I paid them something like $767.31 over 30 days ago but less than 40 days ago: I paid them last month and it's about time for me to pay them again.
2. I paid them something like $767.31 less than 30 days ago: I paid them recently
3. I paid them exactly five bucks less than 30 days ago: I don't owe them anything this billing cycle
4. It has been over 40 days since I last paid them: I had better visit their website immediately and find out what I owe them.

Usually I pay the full balance on each credit card well before due date, but occasionally for cashflow reasons I'll want to delay paying the full balance until close to due date (I always have more than enough in savings but I dislike dipping into savings unless I absolutely have to).  In this case I'll make an immediate payment of $100, because once again that's a round number that never comes up as an actual balance, but is usually more than the minimum payment.  In this case when I review my recent transactions a recent payment of $100 to some credit card reminds me that I still need to pay the rest of the balance before the due date in order to avoid paying interest.  Maybe once a year I'll slip up and pay interest on one card for one month, but making that $100 payment on receipt of the bill ensures that I won't pay any late fee or collect a baddie on my CR.

Message Edited by MattH on 08-09-2009 10:39 PM

[Anonymous]

I had the same issue with Chase, CC and checking.  I had to add them seperatly with the same username and password; one was added as a CC and the other as checking.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I had the same issue with Chase, CC and checking.  I had to add them seperatly with the same username and password; one was added as a CC and the other as checking.

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Thanks for the suggestion, which, unfortunately, didn't work for me. I'll ask customer service for help with this. 

[musikklvr]

I never knew about MyPortfolio. I have seen this but never clicked on it. I checked it out yesterday and it is Awesome!!

I will still use my Excel spreadsheets but I love MyPortfolio for the reports. This is great!!