Opening balance equity on credit card - reducing the balance?

Thank you for providing such detailed information, MKT22191. Let me explain why the Opening Balance Equity entry reduces your credit card balance and how to fix it.

The possible reason the Opening Balance Equity entry reduces your credit card balance is that the opening balance was entered as a negative number. QuickBooks interprets it as a payment, which shows on the payment side of the credit card register and reduces the balance.

For liability accounts such as credit cards, the opening balance reflects what you owe as a positive number. If your credit card statement shows a balance owed, you can enter that amount as a positive figure to accurately represent your liability in QuickBooks.

Always verify the opening balance against your credit card statement. Entering a positive balance that matches the amount owed will ensure QuickBooks correctly reflects or increases the credit card balance.

If a payment has already been made and is reflected on the statement, you can leave the opening balance blank since it has already been settled.

To fix incorrect opening balance entries, you can delete the existing Opening Balance Equity in the credit card register and record the correct opening balance using a journal entry.

Here's how to create a journal entry:

1. Go to the + Create and select Journal Entry.
2. Use a date that is earlier than the oldest transaction in the account to set up the opening balance properly.
3. In the first row under the ACCOUNT column, select the credit card account and enter the amount in the CREDITS column.
4. In the second row, choose Opening Balance Equity and enter the same amount in the DEBITS column.
5. Once done, click Save and close.

You can always return to this thread if you have additional questions.

@MKT22191 

The response from @RheaMaeH is inaccurate.  If you assign OBE to a cc charge, it will reduce OBE, not increase it, just as you're seeing.

A liability (cc charge) is what you owe to someone else.  Equity is what you owe to yourself.  If you owe money to someone else (in the case of a cc charge), you can't also owe that to yourself (in the case of an equity increase).   

Assigning an equity account to a cc charge is like using the company cc for personal reasons - it lowers the owner's equity.  If there's a charge on a company cc, 99% of the time it's for a business expense or an asset purchase.  You can't buy with cash or charge to a cc, an increase in equity.