As my mortgage account is linked, a positive transaction is populated each month when money is taken from the escrow account to pay the PMI.
To balance this transaction and accurately record what the money was for, do I need to manually add an expense transaction?
If you have a dedicated bank account for your rental property (or properties), you could link that bank account as well to automatically record the mortgage payment transactions.
@bonnievsdirt, yes you will need to record a manual transaction to reflect the expense (cash outflow). The transaction from your mortgage account can then be categorized as a “Transfer”. I think there is even a subcategory under Transfer called “PMI Escrow”.
@bonnievsdirt In this scenario, you probably want to do a number of things to accurately reflect your PMI situation. Here’s what we recommend if you want to track with as much detail as possible:
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“Split” your mortgage payment each month into its component parts (interest, principal, tax/insurance/PMI escrows). See Split & Categorize Mortgage Payments for more details.
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When your actual PMI expense is then paid out of escrow, record an offsetting transaction (positive) to “Transfers > PMI Escrows” and an actual expense (negative) to “Mortgages & Loans > Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)”
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This is important since lenders often require escrow payments to be padded, which leaves a balance at the end of the year. With this method, you can then track the over/under balance via the “Transfers” subcategories, while the actual expense is accurately reflected in your reporting.
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