Hey, folks! We're introducing a simpler, built-in way to handle credit card interest.

The Problem

The recommended way to handle credit card interest in YNAB has worked, but it’s not intuitive. We taught YNABers to create an Interest & Fees category, then either assign money to that category to cover interest or assign money directly to your credit card payment category to cover at least the minimum payment (interest included). It worked, but it had to be taught, and too many people never got that teaching.

The Solution

We're automatically creating a Credit Card Interest category for everyone with a credit card account. You'll only see it in the category picker when you enter a transaction in a credit card account. It won't appear in your plan.

When you select Credit Card Interest, YNAB handles the rest. Your card balance increases, YNAB tracks the charge in your credit card payment category, and (if needed) that payment category turns yellow to remind you to assign money for the new interest.

You'll also see a new "Interest Charges" row in the credit card balance breakdown under category details. It shows the total interest charged on that card this month.

What if you already have an interest category?

If you're happy with an Interest & Fees category you created yourself, feel free to keep using it. It will continue working the same way.

If you opt to use the new category going forward, data will be split between the two categories. If you'd like to consolidate, recategorize transactions from your old category to the new one, move any leftover available money elsewhere, and then delete the old category. Our support team can help you with this process if you have questions. 

Rollout

This update began rolling out to all platforms yesterday (10/7). It will be available to everyone next week if all goes according to plan. Testing on this update was very successful, so I don’t anticipate any snags.  

I’ve included a few screenshots below. ~BenB

The new Credit Card Interest category will *only* appear in the category picker when categorizing a transaction in a credit card account.

New interest charges line on category details for a credit card payment category on mobile...

...and on web

Hey, folks! We're changing how auto-categorization works so a one-off purchase can't override a payee's established category.

Previously, YNAB auto-categorized based on the last category used for a payee. That's a problem when a payee has an established pattern that gets temporarily interrupted. Say your "Grocery Store" payee is almost always "Groceries," but one time you buy a gift card there and categorize it to "Gifts." Next time a Grocery Store transaction imports, it defaults to "Gifts," following the last pick even though that's not what's typical.

So we’re changing that behavior. Now, the default category only changes when 2 of the 3 most recent transactions agree on a different category.

This should stabilize auto-categorization significantly so one-off exceptions don’t change the default. In our Grocery Store example, since only 1 of the last 3 transactions was Gifts, the default stays Groceries.

For payees with fewer than 3 transactions, the default will be the last category used with that payee.

As part of this change, we’re adding some more options in Manage Payees (see screenshot).

1. Let YNAB auto-categorize based on payee history (shows an explanation and the current default category)
2. Always use my choice. (Set a default that never changes.)
3. Do not auto-categorize [payee name].

This release began rolling out on all platforms on August 17 and should be out to everyone soon if all goes well.

https://preview.redd.it/nojnngc4o5kh1.jpg?width=1218&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d5557ed4b80a12c4f26f450c2f72076f9f565f9