Understand transfers, card payments, and loan repayments

Moving money can create two bank transactions without creating a second expense. Fireball separates the thing you bought from the later movement of money between accounts so spending and income are not counted twice.

The basic rule is:

1. A purchase or interest charge is spending.
2. Moving money between your own accounts is a transfer.
3. Paying a credit card, mortgage, or loan from another account is normally a transfer that reduces a liability.

Common examples

The amount leaving an everyday account is not automatically spending. Fireball also considers where the money went and whether it is the other side of a movement between your accounts.

Credit card purchases and payments

Suppose you make these transactions:

1. $120 of groceries on the card.
2. $60 at a restaurant on the card.
3. An $800 payment from your everyday account to the card.

Fireball should show $180 of spending from the purchases. The $800 payment moves money from one account and reduces the card balance, so it should not add another $800 of spending or income.

The card payment can be larger than the purchases in the current period. It may be paying purchases from an earlier statement, and it still remains a transfer.

Interest and fees charged by the card are costs. Categorise a missed card purchase, interest charge, or fee by what it represents rather than treating it as part of the card payment.

If you carry a credit card balance

Paying the card reduces the balance. It does not tell Fireball how much of the payment was principal, interest, or spending from the current period. Card purchases and interest rows provide the spending evidence, while the connected or manually updated balance remains the source for how much debt is left.

Debt Planner may ask whether the card is paid in full or carried from month to month. Repeated matched payments that clear the reported balance can provide evidence, but incomplete history may still require confirmation.

Cash advances and balance transfers

Cash taken from a credit card and money moved between debt accounts are not ordinary income. Review these transactions carefully. Use the appropriate cash advance or transfer category, and categorise any separate fee or interest as a cost.

Mortgage and loan repayments

A mortgage or scheduled loan repayment can contain principal, interest, and fees.

Principal reduces the debt and increases your equity. It is not ordinary household spending. Interest and eligible lending fees are costs.

Fireball may receive the repayment as a debit from your everyday account and a credit on the loan account. It treats the matching movement as a transfer so it does not count both bank rows. Loan account interest and fee rows provide the cost information separately.

Activity can hide loan side accounting rows from a daily cash flow view when showing them beside the repayment would make the mortgage appear twice. The loan balance still reflects the debt after the bank updates it.

Include loan costs in Budget

Open Budget Settings and review Include loan interest/fees. When it is on, eligible loan interest and fee rows can count as budget spending. The loan repayment itself remains a transfer.

A confirmed recurring mortgage or loan repayment can still be set aside in a budget as a required transfer. That reserve plans the cash needed for the payment. It does not turn the full repayment into spending.

Link a recurring repayment to its debt

Open Activity, then Recurring, and review the mortgage or loan transfer. You can choose the debt it pays when the option is available.

The linked repayment can appear in Goals, then Pay down, and helps Budget recognise that the regular payment is already covered. Linking it does not update the loan balance or decide how much was principal or interest.

Transfers between your own accounts

Moving money between your own everyday, savings, or other tracked accounts is normally a transfer. It changes where your money sits, but it creates no new income or spending.

When both sides appear, Fireball may match them automatically even if they post on different days. Weekend and bank settlement delays can cause one side to arrive first.

If only one account is connected, categorise the visible side as Transfer when the money really moved to or from another account you own. A one sided transfer can remain visible while staying outside income and spending totals.

For manual accounts, choose Add Transaction, then Transfer. Select different From and To manual accounts that use the same currency. Fireball creates two linked entries that net to zero cash flow.

A transfer to another person may be spending

Do not use Transfer simply because the bank description says transfer.

Money sent to a landlord is Rent. Money sent to a shop is a purchase. Money sent to a friend for your share of dinner is Dining or takeaway. These payments leave your finances and should use the category that explains their purpose.

An incoming payment from another person may be income, a reimbursement, or a transfer depending on why it was paid:

The sender's name does not decide the category. The reason for the payment does.

What transfers do to Budget and Safe to Spend

Transfers do not count as ordinary spending or income, but some transfers still need planning.

Fireball can reserve cash for a confirmed recurring mortgage payment, loan repayment, savings transfer, or investment contribution. This can reduce Safe to Spend before the payment happens because the money has a planned purpose.

The later transfer should fill that commitment rather than create a second expense. If the same payment appears twice in the plan, review the recurring item, debt plan, and transaction classification before changing budget amounts.

Moving money into savings does not by itself create a Save up goal or prove that a goal was funded. Goal funding and linked goal activity are managed from the goal.

If Fireball classified a transaction incorrectly

Open Activity, then open the transaction and review its category.

If a real purchase or income was labelled as Transfer, select the category that describes the payment. If movement between your own accounts was counted as income or spending, choose Transfer.

Check both visible sides before changing anything. One side may have posted on a different date or may be in another account. Correcting only one side can make reports harder to understand while the other side still has the wrong classification.

A linked manual transfer keeps its Transfer category while the pair is valid. Edit the linked transfer itself if its accounts, amount, or date are wrong.

If only one side has appeared

Wait for pending transactions and recent bank activity to finish syncing. A card or loan payment can post to the two accounts on different days.

Do not create a duplicate manual transaction just to supply the missing side of a connected account. If a posted transaction remains missing after a refresh, follow the bank data troubleshooting guide.

If the other account is intentionally untracked, one Transfer category entry is enough to keep that movement outside income and spending.

If the amounts do not match

Fireball cannot safely pair two transactions as the same transfer when the amounts differ. Check for a fee, foreign currency conversion, several payments, or a partial payment.

Categorise the actual transfer amount as Transfer. Categorise a separate bank fee, card fee, or loan interest charge as the relevant cost. Do not change the transaction amount to force a match because the bank record should remain unchanged.

Common questions

Why did my account balance fall if the payment is not spending?

The balance of that individual account fell because money left it. Your total position also considers the destination account or the reduction in debt. Spending measures consumption and costs, while balances measure where money and debt are now.

Why does my card purchase count before I pay the card?

The purchase is the point when you spent the money. The later card payment settles debt created by earlier purchases.

Is paying mortgage principal saving?

It reduces debt and can build home equity, so it improves net worth. Fireball does not treat principal as ordinary spending or as an investment contribution to your FIRE portfolio.

Is a transfer to savings an expense?

No. You still own the money. Fireball may reserve a planned savings transfer in Budget, but the movement itself does not become spending.

Does categorising something as Transfer move money?

No. Categories change Fireball's organisation and calculations only. They do not send money, modify the bank transaction, or change an account balance.