> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sure.am/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Transfers Between Accounts

> Learn how transfers work in Sure, including transfer types, automatic matching, and how transfers affect your budgets and net worth.

# Transfers Between Accounts

A transfer moves money between your own accounts. Unlike income or expenses, transfers don't change your net worth—they simply move funds from one place to another.

## How Transfers Work

Every transfer consists of two linked transactions:

1. **Outflow** - Money leaving one account (negative amount)
2. **Inflow** - Money entering another account (positive amount)

These two transactions are linked together as a single transfer.

### Example: Moving Money to Savings

When you transfer \$500 from checking to savings:

| Account        | Transaction | Amount  |
| -------------- | ----------- | ------- |
| Checking       | Outflow     | -\$500  |
| Savings        | Inflow      | +\$500  |
| **Net Effect** |             | **\$0** |

Your total net worth stays the same—the money simply moved from one account to another.

## Transfer Types

Sure recognizes different types of transfers based on the destination account:

| Transfer Type               | When It's Used                   | Budget Impact      |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| **Funds Movement**          | Between asset accounts           | Excluded           |
| **CC Payment**              | Payment to a credit card         | Excluded           |
| **Loan Payment**            | Payment to a loan account        | Treated as expense |
| **Investment Contribution** | To investment or crypto accounts | Excluded           |

### Funds Movement

General transfers between asset accounts:

* Checking to savings
* Savings to money market
* Between investment accounts

These are excluded from budgets because they don't represent spending or income.

### Credit card payment

When you pay your credit card bill, Sure creates a `cc_payment` transfer:

* Outflow from your checking account
* Inflow to your credit card (reducing your debt)

This is excluded from budgets because the spending already happened when you used the credit card.

When syncing transactions from a provider, Sure automatically classifies transactions to credit card accounts as credit card payment transfers.

### Loan payment

Payments to loan accounts (mortgage, auto, student loans) are treated as `loan_payment` transfers.

> \[!NOTE]
> Loan payments can be treated as expenses in budgets since they represent an ongoing financial obligation, even though they also reduce your debt.

When syncing transactions from a provider, Sure automatically classifies transactions to loan accounts as loan payment transfers.

### Investment Contribution

Transfers to investment or crypto accounts:

* Contributing to your 401(k)
* Adding funds to a brokerage account
* Moving money to a crypto exchange

These are excluded from budgets because you're saving/investing, not spending.

## Creating Transfers Manually

To create a transfer:

1. Go to the **Transactions** page
2. Click **+ New Transaction**
3. Select **Transfer**
4. Choose:
   * **From account** - Where money is coming from
   * **To account** - Where money is going
   * **Amount** - How much to transfer
   * **Date** - When the transfer occurred
5. Click **Add transaction**

Sure automatically creates both the outflow and inflow transactions and links them together.

## Automatic Transfer Matching

When you sync accounts with a provider (Plaid, SimpleFIN, etc.), Sure attempts to automatically match transfers between accounts.

### How Matching Works

Sure looks for transaction pairs that:

* Are from different accounts in the same family
* Have opposite amounts (one positive, one negative)
* Occurred within a date window

### Date Windows

| Transaction Status     | Window  |
| ---------------------- | ------- |
| Pending transactions   | 4 days  |
| Confirmed transactions | 30 days |

### Suggested Matches

When Sure finds a potential transfer match, it creates a **pending** transfer suggestion. You can:

1. **Confirm** - Accept the match and link the transactions
2. **Reject** - Dismiss the match (transactions remain separate)

To review suggested transfers:

1. Open a transaction that may be part of a transfer
2. Look for transfer match suggestions
3. Confirm or reject as appropriate

## Cross-Currency Transfers

When transferring between accounts with different currencies:

* Sure validates that amounts have opposite signs
* The exact amounts don't need to match (due to exchange rates)
* Both transactions are linked as a transfer

Example: Transferring from a USD checking account to a EUR savings account:

| Account      | Currency | Amount   |
| ------------ | -------- | -------- |
| US Checking  | USD      | -\$1,000 |
| Euro Savings | EUR      | +€920    |

The transfer is valid because one amount is negative and one is positive, even though the numbers differ due to the exchange rate.

## Transfer Summary Totals

When viewing your transaction list filtered by transfers, Sure displays **Inflow** and **Outflow** totals instead of the standard Income and Expenses labels.

### How It Works

**Transfer-only filter:**

* When filtering exclusively by "Transfer" type, the summary bar shows:
  * **Inflow**: Total positive transfer amounts (money coming in)
  * **Outflow**: Total negative transfer amounts (money going out)

**Mixed filters:**

* When filtering by transfers along with other transaction types (income, expenses), the summary bar shows standard Income/Expenses labels
* Transfer amounts are excluded from these totals since they don't represent actual income or spending

This helps you understand your cash movement patterns when reviewing transfers in isolation.

> \[!NOTE]
> When filtering by both transfers and other transaction types, transfer amounts are excluded from income and expense totals to avoid confusion.

## How Transfers Affect Budgets

Transfers are generally **excluded** from budget calculations because they don't represent actual spending or income:

| Transfer Type           | Budget Treatment           |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Funds Movement          | Excluded                   |
| CC Payment              | Excluded                   |
| Investment Contribution | Excluded                   |
| Loan Payment            | Can be included as expense |

> \[!TIP]
> If you want to budget for loan payments, you may want to track them as expenses. Sure treats loan payments specially since they represent ongoing obligations.

## Understanding Net Worth Impact

Transfers are **zero-sum** for net worth:

* Moving \$500 from checking to savings: Net worth unchanged
* Paying \$500 to credit card: Net worth unchanged (reduced cash = reduced debt)
* Contributing \$500 to 401(k): Net worth unchanged (reduced cash = increased investments)

The only time a transfer affects net worth is if there are fees involved (which would be a separate expense transaction).

## Common Transfer Scenarios

### Paying Off a Credit Card

1. Money leaves your checking account (-\$500)
2. Credit card balance decreases (-\$500 debt)
3. Net worth: unchanged

### Making a Mortgage Payment

1. Money leaves your checking account (-\$2,000)
2. Loan balance decreases (-$1,700 principal, $300 goes to interest)
3. Note: The interest portion is technically an expense

> \[!IMPORTANT]
> Mortgage payments include both principal (reducing debt) and interest (an expense). Sure tracks the full payment as a loan transfer, but the interest portion represents a true cost.

### Contributing to Retirement

1. Money leaves your checking account (-\$500)
2. Investment account balance increases (+\$500)
3. Net worth: unchanged (cash converted to investments)

### Transferring Between Banks

1. Money leaves Bank A checking (-\$1,000)
2. Money arrives at Bank B checking (+\$1,000)
3. Net worth: unchanged

## Troubleshooting Transfers

### Duplicate Transactions

If you see both a transfer and separate expense/income transactions:

* Check if the transactions should be linked as a transfer
* Confirm or reject the transfer suggestion
* Delete duplicate transactions if needed

### Unmatched Transfers

If Sure didn't automatically match a transfer:

* The amounts may not match exactly (due to fees or timing)
* The dates may be too far apart
* You can manually create a transfer to link them

### Wrong Transfer Type

If a transfer is categorized incorrectly:

* Check that both accounts are the correct type
* The transfer type is determined by the destination account