I have my student loan on my tiller. I categorize the transaction as it goes out of the bank and then categorize it as it is getting into the Mohela account. Is it netting out to zero because it is the same category? The problem is that my budget isn’t reflecting the amount at all.
So would I need to split into principal and interest in order for it to be properly budgeted?
I’m not wholly certain I understand what you’re describing, but you could maybe try categorizing one of the transactions as a transfer? Maybe the one going from the bank to the other account? I guess I’m not quite sure how you have the other account set up. Could you post a screenshot with more description of what’s happening?
Not sure I entirely understand the question either, but what I do with loans is categorize the outgoing payment in an expense category (e.g., Loan Repayment), and I categorize the incoming transaction to the loan as a transfer in in a different category, (e.g., Transfer - In). Tiller doesn’t require that transfers balance out, so there’s no issue with a one-sided transfer like this.
Just to add a visual aide to what’s being suggested here, these are typical transactions for loan payments, generally.
| Date | Description | Category | Amount | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/1/2024 | Student Loan Payment | Transfer | $1,000 | Mohela |
| 8/1/2024 | Student Loan Payment | Student Loan | -$1,000 | Checking |
Mark has it. I was trying to figure out if it was easier to remove the Mohela account altogether, but was hoping that as I become more advanced eventually I could track the student loan on Tiller, as well, and start understanding how much principal pay down is happening (as I consider that part of our savings goals), for instance.
So I made student loan principal and student loan interest transfers, keeping the student loan as an expense.
PS: If anyone has any more thoughts on the secondary goal of tracking principal and interest monthly amounts, that would be amazing! I’m imagining an “add on” or “alternative view” to the budget view that incorporates principal payments as a savings, and I can just generally see Income, Expenses, Savings.
Have you tried plugging the loans into the Debt Payoff Planner?
