Utilize the information in the Credit Card Payment category details to understand your credit card spending and available cash for payment. Discover the calculations behind your credit card account balance and payment number, and the significance of the Available amount in the Credit Card Payment category. Review your total spending and total activity.

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Credit Card Payment Category Details

When you click or tap on the Credit Card Payment category, YNAB offers some additional information that will help you understand more about your credit card spending. You'll notice a breakdown of the Current Balance for the selected account and the amount that’s Available for Payment in that Credit Card Payment category. If your Credit Card Payment category is Underfunded, you’ll also notice a Total Underfunded breakdown.  

 Where to Find Credit Card Payment Category Details  

 The Three Different Breakdowns  

Total Underfunded

This section will only appear if there is no target on the Payment category and your Payment category is underfunded this month. It shows the sum of the underfunded amount and a breakdown of the source(s) of that underfunding. Learn more about this Underfunded alert ↗️.  

Current Balance Breakdown

The Current Balance breakdown is calculated using the transactions in your credit card account register. Your Current Balance is the sum of three numbers.

• Prior Balance: If you had a balance on the credit card at the beginning of the month, you’ll note that number here. This balance is the sum of all the transactions in your YNAB account register that happened before this month began. This number will be negative if you owed a balance at the beginning of this month. If this number is positive, it means that your credit card account balance was positive ↗️ when the month started.
  
  
• Spending and Outflows: This is the sum of transactions in the current month that have increased the account balance, including all purchases, cash advances, balance adjustments, and any other transaction that is an Outflow in the credit card account register. This number will be negative.
  
  
• Payments and Inflows: This is the sum of transactions in the current month that have decreased the account balance, including payments, returns and statement credits, balance adjustments, and any other transaction that is an Inflow in the credit card account register. This number will be positive.

Available for Payment Breakdown

The Available for Payment breakdown will show you where the funds in your Credit Card Payment category came from. It is the sum of four numbers.

• Cash Left Over from Last Month: If the Credit Card Payment category had Available funds at the end of last month, those funds rolled over into the Payment category this month. If the Available number in the Credit Card Payment category was negative or zero at the end of last month, this number will be $0.
  
  
• Assigned: This number includes funds that have been Assigned directly to the Credit Card Payment category this month. This Assigned number in the credit card payment category may be negative ↗️ if money was removed from the Credit Card Payment category this month.
  
  
• Funded Spending: This number is the sum of money moved into the Credit Card Payment category for funded credit card purchases made this month. If you had any returns this month, that money moved out of the Credit Card Payment category and back to spending categories (returns), which reduces this number. If there are more returns on the card than spending this month, this number will be negative.
  
  
• Payments Made: This number is the sum of all payments made this month. Payments remove funds from the Credit Card Payment category, so this number will be negative.

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Credit Card Activity Window Details

While the most important number in your Credit Card Payment category is the Available for Payment amount, you can get some more detailed information by clicking on the Activity number and reviewing the popup window. This popup window is only available on the web app.

The Activity amount in the Credit Card Payment category is the sum of any money coming into the category through funded spending, minus any money that's leaving through payments. It can be positive or negative, depending on whether you paid more to the card or did more funded spending on the card that month.

 Where to Find the Credit Card Activity Window  

1. In the web app, click on Plan in the left sidebar (located immediately below the name of your plan).
   
   
2. Find the desired Credit Card Payment category.
   
   
3. Click the number in the Activity column to bring up the credit card activity window.

 Total Spending  

The Total Spending section on the left-hand side of the Activity window tracks all activity that affects the credit card account's working balance, except for payments. It includes your spending and any returns on the card. The sum of the Spending and Returns sections makes up the Total Spending figure.

Spending: At the top left is Spending. This tracks transactions that increase your credit card balance—it is the total of all outflow transactions on the card for this month, whether you assigned money for them in the plan or not.

Returns: Below Spending is Returns. This tracks transactions that decrease your credit card balance. If you had any returns, refunds, or statement credits on the card this month, those are tallied here.

 Total Activity  

The Total Activity section on the right-hand side of the Activity window tracks how money moves in and out of your Credit Card Payment category. The sum of your Funded Spending and Payments & Returns sections make up the Total Activity.

Funded Spending: The Funded Spending amount tells you how much money moved into the Credit Card Payment category from regular spending on your credit card this month. If all of your spending was funded in your categories (you don’t have overspending in the plan), this number should match the Spending amount in the left-hand column.

If Funded Spending doesn’t match the Spending amount, it could be because of credit card overspending ↗️ in the current month, or because your credit card has or had a positive balance ↗️ at some point in the current month.

Payments & Returns: Payment & Returns is the total amount of money that left the Credit Card Payment category this month. Money gets deducted from the Credit Card Payment category when returns are entered on the card and when you make a credit card payment. The Payments & Returns number will always be negative.

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Related Resources

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