Moving money between your own accounts is different from earning or spending it. A credit card payment is a good example: the card purchases are spending, but paying the bill moves money from chequing to reduce what you owe. The category controls how Finnomia reports a transaction. The bank’s description can help you recognize it, but does not set the category or create a link to another account.
Which category should I use?
For a $5,000 payment from chequing to a credit card, categorize both the $5,000 leaving chequing and the $5,000 arriving on the card as Credit Card Payment. Keep the purchases previously made on the card in their usual spending categories, such as Groceries or Travel. If a payment entry is already categorized as Transfer, it is also excluded from income and spending, but Credit Card Payment makes the history easier to recognize.
For a move between chequing and savings, or a transfer to an RESP, use Transfer on both entries. A loan or line-of-credit payment can include interest, which is spending. Categorize or split principal and interest separately; see How do I split a transaction?.
What changes in Dashboard, Trends, and budgets?
Entries categorized as Transfer or Credit Card Payment are excluded from income and spending totals, spending charts, and ordinary budget spending. That avoids counting a card purchase again when you pay the bill and avoids treating the credit on the card as new income. Your connected account balances still reflect the payment. If only one account is connected, categorize the visible entry correctly even though Finnomia cannot show the other side.
How can I find the other side?
A bank may call the withdrawal “Internet Transfer” and the card credit “Payment.” Finnomia can sometimes categorize likely matching entries, but that alone does not create a visible link. If you turn on Transaction Review, possible transfer pairs appear there for you to confirm or dismiss. Automatic linking is a separate setting and starts off. A confirmed link shows the destination account; it does not change the original bank description. You can Unlink later; unlinking leaves the entries’ categories as they were.
For an older payment, compare its amount and date across the likely destination accounts. Open either transaction to read its full bank description and category. If the other side is not connected or cannot be matched, you can enter a destination label such as “Visa ending 1234” for your own reference. This label does not verify a link or change reporting; the category controls reporting. Loan and investment pairs may be linked from Review without changing their categories, so check principal, interest, and investment activity separately.
What does “Other spending” in Cash Flow mean?
In the Cash Flow Sankey on Trends, Other spending adds up spending categories that the chart does not draw individually because it shows only the largest items. Uncategorized is shown separately when spending entries lack a category. Click either node to see the relevant transactions. The chart calls income left after spending Remaining, or Deficit when spending exceeds income. Transfers and card payments excluded from income and spending do not create an Other spending slice.
If your totals still look wrong, check large transactions in the same date range and the categories on both sides of a transfer. You can send support the dates, amounts, and account names for a specific example; please leave out full account numbers.