How to Enter Credit Card Charges, Reconcile, and Apply Partial Payments in QuickBooks Online

If you use a credit card in your business, there are three things that must work together for your numbers to make sense:

1. Credit card charges need to be entered correctly
2. The credit card must be reconciled regularly
3. Payments (including partial payments) need to be recorded properly

When even one of these steps is off, balances stop making sense, reconciliations fail, and trust in your reports disappears.

In this guide, I’m walking through the full credit card workflow in QuickBooks Online, from entering charges to reconciling the statement and recording payments the right way so you can see how the pieces fit together and avoid the most common problems I see.

Step 1: Make Sure Your Credit Card Account Is Set Up Correctly

Before entering any transactions, confirm that your credit card exists as its own account in QuickBooks Online.

If your card is connected to the bank feed, it will appear automatically under Bank Transactions. If it isn’t connected, you’ll need to add it manually in the Chart of Accounts.

When creating a credit card account:

• Choose Credit Card as the account type
• Use the last four digits of the card in the name so it’s easy to identify
• Decide whether you need to enter an opening balance (for existing cards)

Getting this part right upfront makes everything else much easier.

Step 2: Enter Credit Card Charges (Even When the Bank Feed Drops)

Most of the time, credit card charges flow in automatically through the bank feed. But connections can drop, transactions can be missed, or you may be catching up historical data.

If a charge didn’t come in:

• Create a new Expense
• Select the credit card as the payment account
• Choose the correct vendor and category
• Save the transaction

QuickBooks Online also allows you to upload receipts directly. You can drag and drop a receipt or forward it by email, and QuickBooks will attempt to extract the details for you.

A word of caution here:

The AI suggestions are helpful, but not perfect. Always double-check the category and account before saving. Automation saves time — but only if it’s reviewed.

Step 3: Use Rules Carefully (and Don’t Over-Trust Them)

Rules are great for repetitive transactions like monthly card fees or subscriptions. You can create rules based on:

• Description
• Amount
• Account
• Direction (money out)

One tip I strongly recommend:

Add an amount condition to rules whenever possible. This prevents silent errors if pricing changes and keeps you in control of what gets auto-posted.

Rules should support your review process not replace it.

Step 4: Match Transactions Before Reconciling

Before you reconcile your credit card, go to Bank Transactions and make sure everything for the statement period is either:

• Categorized, or
• Matched

Green “matched” transactions are usually a good sign, but still confirm:

• Dates align with the statement
• Amounts are correct
• You’re matching the correct transaction (especially when amounts repeat)
  

This cleanup step prevents reconciliation headaches later.

Step 5: Reconcile the Credit Card Statement

Reconciliation is where accuracy gets confirmed.

To reconcile:

• Select the credit card account
• Enter the statement ending date and ending balance
• Compare the statement to QuickBooks, line by line
  

Always work from the statement not from QuickBooks.

This is how you stay methodical and catch duplicates or missing entries.

When everything matches, your difference should be zero.

If it isn’t, slow down and trace it. Reconciliation problems are almost always data entry or timing issues, not QuickBooks problems.

Step 6: Record Credit Card Payments (Including Partial Payments)

This is where things used to go wrong for a lot of people and where QuickBooks has improved significantly.

To record a payment:

• Use Pay Down Credit Card
• Choose the bank account the payment came from
• Enter the amount (full or partial)
• Save
  

When the payment later appears in the bank feed, QuickBooks will match the two sides automatically. This prevents double-entry which is one of the most common historical errors with credit cards.

If you make multiple partial payments in a month, record each one. The balance will stay accurate, and reconciliation will be straightforward.

Why This End-to-End Process Matters

When credit card charges are entered properly:

• Reconciliations become predictable
• Payments match cleanly on both sides
• Balances make sense without guesswork
  

Trying to shortcut one step almost always creates more work later.

If your credit card “never reconciles,” it’s usually not the reconciliation, it’s something earlier in the process.

Helpful Resources

If you’d like extra support as you clean this up or want to go deeper:

• Compare QuickBooks Online Plans: https://www.mycloudbookkeeping.org/quickbooks-plan-comparison

• Download the Small Business Month-End Checklist: https://learn.mycloudbookkeeping.org/small-business-month-end-checklist

• Book a Free Consultation: https://www.mycloudbookkeeping.org/consultation
  

If you’re unsure whether your credit card workflow is set up correctly, or you’re seeing balances that don’t make sense, you don’t have to figure it out alone. A small adjustment can make a big difference.

Hi, Kerry here from My Cloud Bookkeeping. I work with small businesses and entrepreneurs, helping them keep their business finances in order using QuickBooks Online.

Some bookkeepers who previously used other accounting software were used to receiving a credit card statement, summarizing all the expenses, and entering them as a single transaction. When they move to QuickBooks Online, they sometimes continue doing the same thing, not realizing that QuickBooks offers much better functionality.

By entering individual transactions, you get cleaner data, better reporting by vendor, and a much clearer picture of where your money is going. This is especially helpful for things like software subscriptions or recurring expenses. When everything is summarized into one line, it’s harder to review, reconcile, or analyze spending.

QuickBooks Online allows you to connect your credit card directly and import transactions automatically. I’ll show you how that works, how to manually enter a charge if the bank feed drops, how to upload receipts, create rules for recurring transactions, reconcile the card, and apply partial payments correctly.

Let’s dive in.

Here we’re in a QuickBooks file that’s a bit messy on purpose. I sometimes use this instead of the sample company so I can demonstrate real-life scenarios. I’ve already imported several credit card transactions that we’ll work through.

The first thing I do is go to Transactions and then Bank Transactions. Under the credit card, you’ll see a list of transactions. Normally these come directly from the bank feed, but these were imported from a CSV file. For today, we’ll assume your bank feed mostly works, but maybe it dropped out for a few days and you need to manually enter a transaction.

To do that, click New and choose Expense. Select the vendor, choose the credit card as the payment method, categorize the expense, and enter the amount. This records the charge properly even if it didn’t come through the feed.

QuickBooks also has an AI feature that allows you to upload receipts. When you see the small circular icon, that indicates AI assistance. You can drag and drop a receipt, and QuickBooks will attempt to extract the vendor, date, and amount.

Once the receipt uploads, always double-check the account and category. The AI doesn’t always know where things belong. If something is missing, like a category, you’ll need to fill that in before saving.

Now when we return to the bank transactions screen, you’ll see that some transactions appear more than once. For repeating charges, like monthly credit card fees or subscriptions, this is where rules are helpful.

You can create a rule based on the description, account, and amount. I like to include an amount condition so that if the fee ever changes, it doesn’t get posted automatically without me noticing. You can choose whether the rule should auto-add the transaction or just suggest it for review.

When you save the rule, QuickBooks will immediately apply it to existing transactions that meet the criteria. You’ll see those added automatically.

As we continue reviewing transactions, you’ll notice that QuickBooks makes category suggestions. These suggestions are not the same as bank data. The bank provides the transaction itself, but the category is QuickBooks guessing. Always review these suggestions before posting.

Another way to get expenses into QuickBooks is through the Receipts area. This is useful if receipts are emailed to you or captured in the field on a phone. You can review each receipt, confirm the details, update the category, and save it.

Once receipts are posted, QuickBooks will often match them to the corresponding bank transaction automatically. You’ll see these matches highlighted in green. Before matching, confirm that the amounts and dates align.

Matching connects the receipt and the bank transaction so you don’t duplicate expenses and you retain documentation for audits or reviews.

You can also split a transaction directly from the bank feed. For example, if a purchase includes both office expenses and supplies, you can split the amount across categories before posting.

At the end of the month, reconciliation is critical. Click Reconcile, enter the statement ending date and balance from your credit card statement, and then check off transactions one by one against the statement.

Always reconcile using the statement, not what you think should be there. This is how you catch missing or duplicated entries.

Once everything matches and the difference is zero, your reconciliation is complete.

Finally, when it’s time to pay the credit card, use the Pay Down Credit Card option. Select the bank account the payment comes from and enter the payment amount. This works for full payments or partial payments.

When the payment appears in the bank feed, QuickBooks will match it automatically, preventing duplicate entries. This is one of the biggest improvements in QuickBooks Online compared to older workflows.

By entering charges individually, reviewing AI suggestions, using rules carefully, reconciling monthly, and recording payments correctly, you’ll have accurate credit card balances and reliable financial reports.

If you ever feel unsure, slow down and review each step. Most reconciliation issues come from earlier data entry problems, not from the reconciliation itself.

Download my month-end checklist below to help you stay on track. If you have questions or want help cleaning things up, feel free to reach out.

Be sure to like, subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next video. Cheers.

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