Using Credit Cards with YNAB: The Complete Guide

Ready to knock out that debt once and for all? Ben will walk you through how to set up a plan to eliminate that dark cloud of debt from your life with practical, tangible steps. Yes, really, it’s possible! We’ll show you the best (and wisest) way to handle credit cards in your budget and, ultimately, how to eliminate all of the stress and uncertainty they can bring.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Intro
0:37 Add a credit card
2:14 How a credit card changes your budget
3:17 Spending with a credit card
6:18 Making a credit card payment
8:38 Paying credit card interest
10:03 Overspending with a credit card
12:16 Adding a pay-in-full credit card
13:35 Cashback
15:56 Refunds
17:43 How to get out of debt
20:13 More resources and support

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[hschwarzwalder]

Do I already have my credit card figured out in YNAB? Yes
Will I watch every single YNAB video anyways? Also yes

[stopit]

I'll be honest, this video was YEARSSSS overdue from YNAB but it finally cleared up 95% of the confusion I had with credit cards on YNAB for years. Thank you!!

[cliffbarr]

YNAB was a God send for my budget. Faithful user 4 years now.

[nigilvalikodath]

Oh man remaking all these classic videos with the new lingo must've been so much work but they're so good, so great refresher too

[alinapritchett]

It's really frustrating how these tutorials never address transactions and payments that are imported in rather than added in manually.

[ramsaymandeel]

Thank you so much. It's like you read my mind from across the country and knew exactly what I needed to finally understand this part of YNAB. Now I feel prepared enough to use credits cards again and up my credit score.

[gbisaga]

This is a really good tutorial. I still don't really understand the "available" column for credit cards, but I appreciate you mentioning that it's hard to understand. I'll have to play with it and go back and watch this a few more times.

[adriancheck]

Just added my CC's back into my budget because of this video! I could never figure this out, but wanted visibility of my cards. Great stuff (both the feature and video)!

[tracystoermer]

This entire tutorial is based on an *unlinked* account, and my whole confusion is because my account is linked😭

[cococomments]

I never carry a balance on my card. I would love YNAB to be able to support adding the statement date + payment due date to the card settings to remove the manual element of having to manage the upcoming payment transaction each month. Presently, I have to manually add the credit card payment amount as an upcoming transaction, and then adjust the balance and any early repayments/refunds. Given the statement date and payment date is consistent month to month, it's a little annoying to have to manually adjust constantly. My bank is not linked and I cannot see any fix for this currently.

[emmamcardle]

This is also really confusing from when you first start the app. I owe money on my credit card which I import but I also have those payments added to the categories, so it's like I'm getting double charged.

[chuckmuysson]

Helpful but difficult. It's difficult to follow and see where you're moving your mouse quickly and it's not highlighted. I'm glad I can hit the "go back 10 second" option but after a while it gets tiring.

[annefeldman]

This is very confusing... Let's say I assign $400 for the month for groceries, and spend all that money from my credit card. When I go to cover the balance, the $400 I set aside is already intended to cover off the credit card payment. Why do I need to add in an additional $400 from somewhere else in my budget to cover this cost? I'm extremely confused by how this works.

[NathanKirton]

We pay off our credit cards every month or at some point right after the month.

We found it much easier to just add our credit cards as a checking account. No need for YNAB to figure out where I want to pay what, it's just another account.

Different things work for different people :)

[TheoRhoades]

Uhmm...I've been doing it wrong this whole time! Thanks man!

[SapphireBlueTravelExplores]

I used YNAB in the original form and pay the one off purchase, when it went to monthly payments I did not upgrade. This week we have jumped back on and love the new features.

[denisea]

I was having such a hard time wrapping my head around how this worked. 4:00 and 6:00 were a major lightbulb for me, thank you so much!!

[sophiamattingly]

I pay off my credit card each month. Can I delete the credit card section entirely? My CC is linked to my YNAB account. It throws off my 'ready to assign' section every time I make a payment right near the end of the month. I have been doing this for three months and can't figure it out. Please advise!

[andrewjolly]

Could you record this again going a bit slower please!

[sammysamsamsammy]

This really helped me when I started my budget fresh after something like 11 months of using YNAB! I didn't really understand the credit card payment category and kept it hidden until now, it makes way more sense now. ty for the good vid! YNAB slaps.