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TSD Credit Card Tracker 101
The TSD Credit Card Tracker is a three-tab spreadsheet designed for a maximum of 10 cards. But before we dive into each tab, it’s important to mention one thing: You should only touch cells that are filled yellow — everything else is automated. If you accidentally adjust one of our formulas (we forgive you), you can always make a new copy of the sheet and copy your information over.
The inventory tab
The first thing you should do is visit the inventory tab and populate it with all of your active credit cards. If you don’t know the information off the top of your head, it should be easily found in either your statement, the original offer, or your online account.
The dashboard tab
Next, visit the dashboard tab. Starting in cell B7, add in the balance of each of your credit cards.
This sheet is made up of several sections designed to give you the information that you need to make effective credit decisions and maintain a good credit score.
Card Summary. Here you can quickly glimpse several important dates across all your cards: your payment due date, annual fee due date, and the bonus expiration date for any cards that offer bonuses. Additionally, you can also check in on your credit utilization ratio per card .Credit Utilization. This pie chart gives you a bird’s eye view of your total credit utilization.Fees Left YTD. This is the total dollar amount you’ll have to spend on annual fees in the current calendar year.Credit Breakdown. Here you’ll find a stacked bar chart that outlines the balances and remaining credit for each card. Think of it as a more detailed view of your credit utilization.
The bonus tracking tab
Now it’s time for the bonuses! This helps you keep up with spending associated with your card’s bonus and how much more you must spend to earn it.
To use it, select the card associated with the spend in column B, add the spend in column F, then date the transaction in column I.
Manually adding every expense that you make on your card could easily become exhausting, so we recommend copying and pasting the total expense from your statement at the end of every month.
How do I make a copy?
You’ll need a Google account to access Google Sheets. If you don’t have one already, you can sign up for free
here . Once your account is up and running, follow the link to our Tracker , click “file,” and then click “make a copy.”
Is it safe to use Google Sheets for personal finance?
Google protects your data from others by encrypting its services with SSL and providing you with the ability to enable two-step verification. When it comes to protecting your data from itself, on the other hand, it’s a gray area. Google’s
privacy policy gives it the rights and licenses to the information that you post, but only for the purpose of sharing it according to the permissions you set.
Here’s why none of that matters: Unlike other credit card trackers out there, ours doesn’t connect with any third-party services, like Tiller, that pull information from your bank account. And aside from the total balance of each of your cards, the only other data you’ll add to the tracker are details about your credit cards that are readily available online.
Having an issue?
If you encounter any problems while using your copy of the TSD Credit Card Tracker, contact us at
inquiries@thesimpledollar.com .Get the tracker
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Take Control of Your Cards With The TSD Credit Card Tracker appeared first on The Simple Dollar .
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