Debt Reduction Software
I had set up a debt plan in Money 2002 using the Debit
Reduction Planner. Now I'm trying to use the budget
capabilities and when creating the budget, a single line
item entitled "Debt Reduction Planner" appears as part of
the general category "Expenses." I do not want to
include this in my budget because it includes items that
are normally part of my 'Recurring Bills' - in essence,
it's double counting so my total expenses appear higher
than they really are. I tried removing everything from
my debt reduction plan, but this single line item still
appears in the 'Expenses' portion of the budget wizard;
I've tried starting a new budget but that 'Debt Reduction
PLanner' still appears. I think this is a technical
problem with the software but before I go to Microsoft I
thought I would start here. Thanks in advance
A couple of issues are combining here, from the sound of things.
First, there's an apparently-known bug in the interaction between the
Debt Reduction Planner and the Budget Planner. Once you change your
debt reduction plan, you generally have to exit and restart Money
before the Budget Planner's figures will reflect the changes. So that
may explain some of the 'I changed my plan but the budget didn't
budge' issues you're seeing.
Second, the "Debt Reduction Planner" entry in your expenses may not be
double-counting -- in fact, it probably isn't. Let's say that you
tell the Debt Reduction Planner that you want to spend a total of
$1000 a month on your debt payments; you also specify a total of $400
in "Estimated Spending" on the cards in your debt plan. (You set the
"Estimated Spending" figures using the "Edit Debt Info" button in the
"include debt accounts in your plan" screen of the Debt Reduction
Planner.) So this means that you're really paying down your debt by
$600 a month (the difference between the $1000 in payments and the
$400 in spending). Money won't create any budget entry for that $400,
because that $400 is current expenses--things you've already budgeted
for in the other categories. But it will create a "Debt Reduction
Planner" expense of $600, because that represents a real, separate
expense of paying down your debt.