Question

Linking Multiple Credit Cards to One GL Account

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 27, 2021
10 replies
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I have four separate credit cards issued by the same bank. I want to link all four credit cards into one GL account within the QBO file, as the bank issues one statement for all four cards (and applies all payments to the one master account, rather than to the four individual accounts). How do we do that? We do not want subaccounts.

QuickBooks Online

AlexV

Hi JLW10!

Thank you for reaching out to us again. Let me help you in linking your credit cards.

You only need to set up and link the account where the transactions are downloaded. You don't need to link all four credit card accounts.

Please follow these steps on how to set it up on your Chart of Accounts:

Go to the Accounting menu and select Chart of Accounts.
Tap the New button. Select Credit Card as the Account Type.
Enter a Name, then click Save and Close.

Once done, you can follow the steps in this article on how to connect it to your online banking: Connect bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online.

Also, you can review this link: About bank or credit card subaccount setup. The Connect the accounts to Online Banking section will explain more on how to link multiple subaccounts in QuickBooks Online. The last section will show you the step-by-step guide in balancing your accounts.

Comment below if you need more help with banking. Take care!

J

JLW10Author

Hi - when we do this, it only imports one of the four credit cards. We need activity from all four cards going into one GL account. How do we do that?

R

rvrfrf

Thanks for following up with the Community, JLW10.

Before connecting accounts to your books, you'll need to know how the bank sends your downloaded records. If transactions download to one account, you'll only need to connect its parent account. In the event that transactions download to each individual account, you'll want to connect every subaccount instead of their parent account.

If you try to connect both a parent account and its subaccounts at the same time, QuickBooks will notify you that your account's already connected. When initially connecting the account(s), your same opening balance transaction may download to all subaccounts. You must delete all but one of these balances when reconciling.

Some banks may show an overall bank balance at each subaccount level. This is because financial institutions provide Intuit with a static balance of accounts in their entirety, instead of the balances of each subaccount.

I've included a tutorial video on how to go about connecting credit card accounts which may come in handy moving forward:

Please feel welcome to send a reply if there's any additional questions. Have a lovely day!

B

BishopKJB

I'd love to be able to do this with AMEX but it seems like there is a ton of confusion about what we're asking.

What makes this even more frustrating is that I have one client where this works and I can't figure out how we pulled it off. Still AMEX too. There are 5 different company cards and they all roll into a main GL account. The description says who made the charge, but they're all happily lumped together.

Other client - Two AMEX cards and the only solution I can get to work is subaccounts.

N

nate the great

I have the same issue, and I'm surprised the QB has not had a fix for this. We have two cards on our AMEX statement, but only one of the cards transitions download into QB. I can set up a subaccount that downloads transitions from the second card on the account, but this creates another problem as I'm only receiving one statement from AMEX. Is QB going to solve this issue?

katherinejoyceO

Thanks for following this thread, @nate the great.

I understand you want to download the transactions from the second card. Since you're receiving one statement for both cards, you'll only connect the parent account as stated by my peer Rose-A in her post.

Then, the other card will e set up as a sub-account. Here's how to add your second card as sub-account after connecting the parent account:

In the Settings menu, select Chart of accounts.
Click New. Depending on your account view, you’ll either see a panel labeled New account or New category.
Select the Save account under dropdown to choose an account type.
In the Tax form section dropdown, choose the detail type that best fits the transactions you want to track.
Enter a name in the Account name field. If you choose a Bank, Asset, Credit card, Liabilities, or Equity account, make sure your account in QuickBooks matches your actual bank or credit card account.
In the Starting date and opening balance section, click the dropdown to choose a date to start tracking this account in QuickBooks, then enter an opening balance in the Account balance field.
Select Save.

For more insights, you can check out this article to learn more about creating subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online

For future reference, keep this article for a step-by-step guide in reconciling your accounts in QBO.

Feel free to visit again if you have more questions about managing your bank and credit card accounts. I’d be right there to help you again.

N

Non profit business

Chase CC: (parent) card one (sub), card two (sub) etc... then connect subs to the bank and reconcile only Chase CC(parent).

the only downside: the balances on banking tabs will never match to GL balances... but it will be correct on the Balance Sheet

R

RhRo1234

I don't know if anyone has found this solution or not. But, I just happened upon it while trying to figure this out. I set up a sub account for the credit card. When I attached the main credit card account to the sub account, all of the other cards came through the bank feed under that one sub account. They wouldn't come through when I attached the credit card account to a parent account. But, for some reason, they all came through when I used a sub account. Hope that helps someone.

C

CLB hauling

I also was having the same issues. I now have the main card linked to the two cards in sub accounts. My problem now is on the register I have double entires for everything. Unfortunately I must have reconciled one of the sub account when I first started, I’m a newbie, so my bad but now it seems to have made everything off balance when reconciling. I only want to reconcile the main cc. I’m in some sort of crazy duplicate transaction maze when trying to reconcile the main account. So my question is this- 1. Is there a way to delete the sub account reconciliations 2. It appears that the sub accounts are throwing off my actual numbers because of the duplicates, for example in my expense account for fuel. Since I have a trucking company and fuel is the biggest expense it is making it look like I’ve paid twice as much for fuel than I actually have. This is due to the sub account having a fuel transaction and the main account having the same duplicate transaction as well. I’m wondering if there’s a way to possibly remove the sub accounts transactions since they are being recorded twice. This is making the entire process extremely time consuming and confusing. TIA for any assistance

F

FateCandylaneT

I appreciate you for joining in on this thread, CLB hauling.

I'll share information to help you correct the reconciled subaccount and ensure these balances are zeroed out.

You'll need to undo the reconciled subaccounts and reconcile only the main account. This way, reconciliation for the subaccounts won't cause discrepancies when doing the reconciliation process. With that, I'd suggest consulting your accountant to guide you with the best appropriate approach when deleting reconciled accounts.

Also, to manually undo the reconciled subaccount transactions, you may follow the steps below.

Go to the Accounting menu and select Chart of Accounts.
Find the account and select View register.
Locate the transactions you want to unreconcile and click to expand.
Repeatedly click the box with the letter R until it's blank. Then, click Save.

After ensuring the subaccounts are recorded correctly, you'll want to reconcile the main account. You can refer to these articles to guide you further about the reconciliation processes:

Moreover, you can print or export a reconciliation report once you've finished reconciling your books. It includes a summary of your beginning and ending balances and lists of transactions that were cleared and left uncleared when reconciled.

Keep us updated if you have further clarifications about reconciliations. We'd be delighted to assist you. Have a good one!

L

Lyndarc

your answer is on youtube Qb tutorial. " how to set up and reconcile credit card sub-accounts". I had the same issue and have been searching for days....finally found this and although it does set up sub accounts it all ends up running through the main one.

Hope this helps

A

AD71

I spent hours on chat and on the phone with QB last week for this same Amex issue. I had to manually exclude hundreds of transactions and QB is still not downloading transactions from the second card. I spoke with management and he was of no help. Tried to upsell additional features of QB. When someone is frustrated with a product that is not working as it should, the last thing you. need to be doing is trying to sell them additional options. Quickbooks, you need a simpler fix for this issue.

K

KMK5

I have the same question as JLW10- how to link multiple credit cards into one GL account in QBO. The responses didn't seem to provide a resolution. Our business has three credit cards. Please advise.

M

Maybelle_S

Thank you for joining the thread, KMK5. Let me share information about linking multiple credit cards to a single General Ledger (GL) account.

At present, setting up multiple credit cards for the same General Ledger (GL) account isn't available. You can create a parent account and set up each credit card as a subaccount under it.

However, If you don't want to use subaccounts, you'll have to set up each card and connect them to your bank. Then, every time transactions are downloaded to each card, you'll have to manually exclude those that aren't associated with the specific credit card. Apart from this, there's a possibility that you'll have to transfer and adjust balances to correct the individual account balances. But I still recommend reaching out to your accountant for other ways you can link your credit cards.

In addition, QuickBooks downloads the latest transactions automatically and matches them with those you've already entered. Go through this article for your guide: Categorize And Match Online Bank Transactions In QuickBooks Online.

Fill me in if you have any concerns about linking credit cards. I'll always be here to help you anytime.

C

CamelleT

Let me share some information about the error message you received, RedTopConstruction.

This message means that transactions are stored individually for each of the accounts. You need to set them up as separate accounts. You can connect the parent account with all the flowing transactions. Then, the others, as subaccounts.

In your situation, you can't set up the other accounts as sub-accounts under a parent since they're already connected for online banking, and each reflects individual transactions.

For further information about parent and subaccounts, check out this link: About bank or credit card subaccount setup.

Additionally, I'll add this article to help you keep your accounts balanced and accurate: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop.

Comment below if you have additional questions about managing your bank accounts. I'll be around to help.

K

kylee2

I have this same issue still. It's an issue with how the credit card posts transactions, but I think QB should offer a solution for this. Here's what I know-

We have 2 company credit cards, both with multiple cards issued to employees (aka sub accounts).

With our capital one, I can connect just a single account (main parent account) to QB and it will download all transactions from every single card holder into the one parent account, SO NICE! Then you only have to reconcile the one account and don't have a mess of sub accounts.

Then, we have a Chase card, which will only report transactions from the main parent account when I connect it, so then I have to connect each card holder separately as its own account in QB to get the transactions off of those cards. Meaning the only way to connect all of them into one account is by creating the parent account (which is not connected to the bank), and then put all the connected accounts for each card holder as sub accounts under that parent. Then reconcile just the parent account only.

Yes this solves the main issue, by putting all the charges into one place, but it's still annoying to have so many accounts for just one credit card!

I used to just leave each card as its own account and then use a journal entry to move the balance from the sub users into the main card account every month, but that's more work than it's worth and more room for error I feel.

I hope QB creates a solution to this, they would have to create some kind of tool that allows you to combine multiple bank connections into a SINGLE account.

K

kylee2

I have this same issue still. It's an issue with how the credit card posts transactions, but I think QB should offer a solution for this. Here's what I know-

We have 2 company credit cards, both with multiple cards issued to employees (aka sub accounts).

With our capital one, I can connect just a single account (main parent account) to QB and it will download all transactions from every single card holder into the one parent account, SO NICE! Then you only have to reconcile the one account and don't have a mess of sub accounts.

Then, we have a Chase card, which will only report transactions from the main parent account when I connect it, so then I have to connect each card holder separately as its own account in QB to get the transactions off of those cards. Meaning the only way to connect all of them into one account is by creating the parent account (which is not connected to the bank), and then put all the connected accounts for each card holder as sub accounts under that parent. Then reconcile just the parent account only.

Yes this solves the main issue, by putting all the charges into one place, but it's still annoying to have so many accounts for just one credit card!

I used to just leave each card as its own account and then use a journal entry to move the balance from the sub users into the main card account every month, but that's more work than it's worth and more room for error I feel.

I hope QB creates a solution to this, they would have to create some kind of tool that allows you to combine multiple bank connections into a SINGLE account. QB is amazing but also so frustrating sometimes lol

J

jefgiraf

I have the same issue--2 Chase business cards, one is the master card, and the other is an employee card; both have separate feeds. Apparently there is no option for QBO to combine the two transaction feeds under one master feed?

M

Maybelle_S

Hello there, jefgiraf.

I understand the importance of linking multiple banks in QuickBooks Online (QBO). However, combining numerous banks is currently unavailable.

Each bank and credit card account needs a specific GL account for accurate tracking and reporting. Consider creating a parent account and setting up each credit card as a subaccount under it.

If you prefer not to use subaccounts, you can set up each card and connect them to your bank. Then, manually exclude transactions not associated with the specific credit card when downloaded.

Additionally, you may have to transfer and adjust balances to correct individual account balances. I recommend consulting your accountant for alternative methods to link your credit cards.

Furthermore, QuickBooks downloads the latest transactions automatically and matches them with those you've already entered. Go through this article for your guide: Categorize And Match Online Bank Transactions.

Let me know if you need more help handling your bank account. I'm always here to help. Take care.

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