It is possible that the breakdown of a payment into principal
and interest that Microsoft Money makes will be incorrect.
Rounding errors, payment delays, and perhaps even a bug in
either Money's or the bank's calculations may mean that the loan
balance that Money shows for a loan or mortgage is incorrect.
Understanding the problem
When the ending balance that Money shows is incorrect, it simply
means that Money has incorrectly split one or more loan payments
between principal and interest. What you need to do, in this
case, is adjust the ending balance and categorize the adjustment
as falling into the same interest expense category and
subcategory as you are using to track the interest component of
the loan payment. To make this sort of adjustment, display the
account register for the loan or mortgage that you need to
adjust. Then click Update Amount Owed in the list of common
tasks. Money then displays the Adjust Loan Balances dialog box.
Fixing the principal balance error
To adjust, or correct, the loan balance, enter the correct
ending balance in the New Ending Balance box and the ending
balance date in the As Of Date box. You should be able to get
this information from the end-of-year or end-of-month loan
statement that alerted you to the loan balance error.
Fixing the interest expense error
To fix the interest portion of the loan record-keeping error,
enter the interest category and subcategory you used in the
Category For Adjustment boxes. For example, if you used Loan as
the category and Mortgage Interest as the subcategory, enter
this category and subcategory in the two boxes.
While it might seem curious to use the loan interest categories
for categorizing an adjustment to the loan balance, remember
that loan payments are split between principal and interest.
Therefore, if you overstate the principal components of a loan
payment, you implicitly understate the interest components--and
vice versa.
In effect, adjusting the loan ending balance is the same thing
as adjusting the cumulative principal payments made on the loan.
And that means you need to also adjust cumulative interest
payments made on the loan.
About the author:
Seattle
CPA Stephen L. Nelson is the author of Quicken for Dummies,
The Microsoft Money Guide to Personal Finance, and more than 100
other books as well. Nelson holds an MBA in Finance and an MS in
taxation. His web site is
http://www.stephenlnelson.com
