YNAB You Need A Budget

[cooksey87]

I'd like some sort of way to add my overdraft limit (and credit limit on my credit card). I'm lucky enough to have an interest free overdraft, so I basically live in it (for the time being). So although my balance says £30, my available funds are £2030 for example. I don't want it available in my budget, just in the record in some way.
I could just add the overdraft limit as income available, but I'd rather not. But then again, I'm not sure such a feature would be useful for that many people.

[hailstorm]

Not sure what you mean. When you add a overdrawn account YNAB will class it as debt to be paid off (which it is). Much the same way as it handles a credit card in the budget.

I've been down the path of thinking my overdraft is mine to spend when I had a student account. Ended up in £2000 of debt. Not a good way to be.

[cooksey87]

Well it's not debt to be paid off at the moment for me. I'm putting money into savings accounts instead of keeping in the black, because it's interest free. I'll just transfer it back once the interest free portion ends. But as I say, I guess there's not many people with interest free overdrafts anyway.

[KES]

Is the interest you earn on those "savings" really high enough for it to be worth the hassle?

[Malisa]

When you say you want to keep track of it 'somewhere', in YNAB 4 there are note fields for each account that can be accessed by right clicking the account in the sidebar. But I agree with others that: a) it's dangerous, particularly when you acknowledge that there's an end date to the time that it's free and b) I can't imagine it's worth the interest you're making for the hassle Even an account at 3% interest (which is pretty hard to come by) earns under $20 a month when there are multiple thousands in it (sorry, not good at switching that part over to £.

I used to go through all kinds of contortions to keep as much money as I could in a savings account that earned about 2% and was constantly worried that I'd misjudge something, even with YNAB's help as it was during my first year when those inevitable surprises would pop up. I realized that with the volume of money I was 'earning' about $5 a month and was costing myself untold hours in actual work to do it and (mostly) time spent in fear. I make one less Starbucks run a month and don't hassle now.

[Budget_Ninja]

I used to go through all kinds of contortions to keep as much money as I could in a savings account that earned about 2% and was constantly worried that I'd misjudge something, even with YNAB's help as it was during my first year when those inevitable surprises would pop up. I realized that with the volume of money I was 'earning' about $5 a month and was costing myself untold hours in actual work to do it and (mostly) time spent in fear. I make one less Starbucks run a month and don't hassle now.

I used to do the money shuffle too. I don't value the interest (which was really quite small as it turns out) as much as I value my time and piece of mind now. I found a bank which offers a reasonable rate on their checking account and just run with that, it gives me more time to focus on things I really value.

[sarham]

Well it's not debt to be paid off at the moment for me. I'm putting money into savings accounts instead of keeping in the black, because it's interest free. I'll just transfer it back once the interest free portion ends. But as I say, I guess there's not many people with interest free overdrafts anyway.

It sounds like a loan to me. It is just that you are the borrower *and* the lender. You are borrowing from your checking acct to plump your savings acct. You will have to take that money from savings someday to repay your checking interest-free overdraft loan.

It is often said that YNAB doesn't care where your money is. In this case, some of your checking acct money is in your savings acct jar. I would make sure that I had a category like "checking overdraft" so that I knew that I had assigned the job of paying back the overdraft when the interest-free period is up. I would be nervous about giving that money multiple jobs.

[los lobos marinos]

Well it's not debt to be paid off at the moment for me. I'm putting money into savings accounts instead of keeping in the black, because it's interest free. I'll just transfer it back once the interest free portion ends. But as I say, I guess there's not many people with interest free overdrafts anyway.

It sounds like a loan to me. It is just that you are the borrower *and* the lender. You are borrowing from your checking acct to plump your savings acct. You will have to take that money from savings someday to repay your checking interest-free overdraft loan.

It is often said that YNAB doesn't care where your money is. In this case, some of your checking acct money is in your savings acct jar. I would make sure that I had a category like "checking overdraft" so that I knew that I had assigned the job of paying back the overdraft when the interest-free period is up. I would be nervous about giving that money multiple jobs.

They call it 'stoozing'

Stoozing is a slang term used to describe the act of borrowing money at an interest rate of 0%, a rate typically offered by credit card companies as an incentive for new customers. The money is then placed in a high interest bank account to make a profit from the interest earned. The borrower (or "stoozer") then pays the money back before the 0% period ends. The borrower does not typically have a real debt to service, but instead uses the money loaned to them to earn interest. Stoozing can also be viewed as a form of arbitrage.

The word "stoozing" came into existence from posts on the Motley Fool UK discussion boards in early 2004. Many people were earning money on 0% deals before 2004, but one discussion board contributor, Stooz, was apparently prolific in this. This person's technique therefore came to be referred to as "doing a Stooz". In the United States, the term has gained a similar usage.
The term "rate tart" is sometimes incorrectly applied to this practice. A rate tart frequently moves an existing debt around in order to get the lowest interest rate, but has a real debt and does not do it to earn money.

Source: Wikipedia (if you want to read the whole article)