Existing users, 
This program looks nice, and the interface is well designed. I really want to love this program, but at the end of the day, I simply can't trust it to keep the numbers straight.
I'll give a simple example: I've set up my mortgage. Principal, interest rate, no points. Two years later I'm wondering just how much principal I've paid, so I look in MoneyDance. The number Moneydance gives me for the remaining principal due seems low, so I crunch some numbers separately. WAY OFF.
Turns out Moneydance is apparently applying the entire payment toward the principal -- as though I had a 0% mortgage. (As much as I would love that rate, it's not very likely!) This is a HUGE error and completely inexcusable for a supposedly mature accounting program.
I use a program like this because I don't WANT to have to figure all this out manually, and sadly I clearly can not trust Moneydance to do these calculations.
Moneydance
personal finance manager
Version: 2008r2
Ridiculous errors -- can't trust it
Feedback Type: Review
Contributed by: Strider72 Monday, December 18 2006 @ 09:26 AM PST
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Over One Year
Recommend Product: NO
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Comments
Ridiculous errors -- can't trust it - Strider72
Account: House MortgagePrincipal: $xxxxxx.00
APR: x.x%
Loan Points: 0
Payments per Year: 12
Number of Payments: 360
Interest Account: Interest (Expense)
No Escrow
Calculate Payment: $xxx.xx (number is correct)
Start Date is correct
Seems pretty straightforward to me. Am I missing a "Do it Right" checkbox somewhere?
Friday, January 19 2007 @ 08:00 AM PST
Ridiculous errors -- can't trust it - seanreilly
It sounds like the settings for the loan account were not properly set up. You can select the exact values for the payment or you can let Moneydance calculate it if you enter the interest, principal, term, etc.Most banks calculate the principal/interest split differently, so mortgage and loan payments are usually off by a little bit, but to have not applied any payments towards interest seems like a configuration error.
To fix this you can make sure the settings are done properly then delete the existing payments and create a back-dated loan payment reminder from the Actions menu for the loan account and set it to auto-commit once you make sure that the payment has correct values for the principal and interest.
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Tuesday, January 16 2007 @ 03:32 AM PST