Use credit cards

A card purchase records spending now and money owed to the card provider. line-budget.com also tracks the cash set aside to pay that debt.

The distinction matters: owing $200 and having $200 ready to pay are two different facts.

Read the payment summary

On the budget screen, expand Credit card payments and select a card name to open its payment breakdown.

Amount	Meaning
Ready to pay	Cash currently reserved for paying this card.
Owed	The current card debt recorded in your accounts.
Still to cover	The part of that debt without reserved cash.

Expand an envelope under Where the money comes from to inspect its outstanding charges and cash backing. Money set aside directly for the card is shown separately and is included in the summary.

Start with an existing card balance

When adding a Credit card account, enter the existing debt as a positive Amount owed. The account ledger shows it as a negative balance.

An opening balance creates debt without automatically reserving cash. To cover part or all of it:

1. Open the card's payment breakdown from Credit card payments.
2. Select Set aside money.
3. Choose From: either Available funds or an envelope with enough money.
4. Enter the Amount you want to reserve.
5. Select Set aside money.

The amount cannot exceed the source's funds or the card's Still to cover. After saving, check Ready to pay and review the source envelope's plans if you used envelope money.

Setting aside money changes the budget assignment. It does not send a payment.

Record a card purchase

Choose Spend from in an envelope's timeline menu, or Spend on its details page, and choose the card under From Account. Enter the purchase and its envelope splits as positive amounts. The saved ledger entries are negative.

You can also use Add on the card account; that form takes negative spending amounts and splits. If a planned expense covers the purchase, reconcile that expense instead, entering positive amounts in the reconciliation form.

For example, suppose Groceries contains $100 and you make a $40 card purchase assigned to it. With no other card activity:

• Groceries falls to $60.
• The card has $40 owed.
• $40 is set aside for payment.
• The bank-account balance stays the same until you pay the card.

If the envelope does not have enough funding, the purchase can leave an envelope deficit and card debt still to cover. Review both the envelope and the payment breakdown. A credit limit does not fill that gap with cash.

Record a card payment

Make the real payment through your bank or card provider, then record it here:

1. Open the credit card account from Accounts.
2. Select Pay Card.
3. Choose Pay from asset account to match the account used.
4. Check Date, Payment amount, and Memo against the actual payment.
5. Select Pay Card to save the record.

This creates the outgoing bank entry and incoming card entry together. It reduces debt and consumes applicable payment reserves. Do not add a second spending entry to Groceries or another purchase envelope: the purchase was already counted when you used the card.

The form limits the payment to the amount owed and the selected account's cash balance. Its suggested amount is based on those figures, not solely on Ready to pay. Review the reserve before accepting the suggestion. A payment beyond reserved cash can reduce money available for other plans.

Correct a mistaken card payment

Open either the card account or the bank account used for the payment. In the payment row, select Undo payment. Review the two balance changes and the reserve amount, add an optional reason, then confirm Undo payment.

This corrects your records; it does not cancel a payment with your bank. The app adds the amount back to the bank ledger and subtracts it from the card ledger. It restores the cash reserves still needed for card debt, accounting for later payments and refunds. Spending envelopes are unchanged.

The original row is marked Payment undone, and a linked Payment reversal appears in both accounts using the original payment date. View payment shows the original payment details. A payment can only be undone once. Use Pay Card to record the correct amount, date, or source account afterward.

Refunds and corrections

Once a merchant's refund appears on your card, open the card's account ledger and select Refund beside the original purchase. Enter the refund date and amount as a positive number, add an optional memo, then select Record refund. The refund date must be on or after the purchase date.

You can record a full or partial refund, including after paying off the purchase. For a purchase split across envelopes, enter the amount returned to each original envelope; enter zero for anything you are keeping. The form limits each amount to what has not already been refunded.

The refund restores the original envelopes and reduces the card balance owed. If it leaves a positive Credit balance, that value stays on the card and is used by later purchases on that card. It is not a deposit into your bank account. Refund entries offer View purchase to return to their source.

An unassigned purchase produces an unassigned refund. Refunds do not restore a previous Reduce next target adjustment; review that target separately. Opening balances, payments, and other refunds cannot be refunded. General statement credits and cash-back rewards are not supported by this workflow.

The browser currently calculates available funds from bank and cash balances, without adding positive card credit. Nightly funding includes that credit as prepaid value, so its available amount can differ from the browser's forecast. Review both the card ledger and your bank cash before assigning or spending money; see Credit card accounting.

Card payments, linked refunds, purchases made using a card credit balance, and charges already involved in a settlement cannot be edited or deleted through the ordinary entry editor. Check the details before saving.

For worked examples, see Credit card accounting.