When I pay my credit card with a check, the check payment shows up as an additional expense on my expense ledger. How do I fix this?

I'll help you sort this out, amy94.

Let me provide insights about recording Checks or Expense in Quickbooks Online. Both transactions report as an expense and payment simultaneously. Since you paid something via credit card, you may need to use Expense instead of Check.

To create an expense transaction:

1. Go to + New and select Expense.
2. In the Payee field, specify a vendor. 
3. Select the Payment account to which to credit this expense.
4. Enter the date of purchase in the Payment date field and specify the Payment method for the expense.
5. Enter the amount of the purchase and any Tax paid (if applicable).
6. Select Save and close or Save and new.

For more details, check out our detailed guide on how to enter, edit, or delete expenses in QuickBooks Online.

I'm also adding this article about what is the difference between bills, checks, and expenses? for additional guide.

Please let me know the results. I want to make sure this is taken care of.

Ok. Both my credit card and Bank account are connected with feeds.  I still pay my credit card balance with an actual, physical check that I enter and print in QB.  All the real expense transactions are categorized and added in banking, so the actual expenses have already hit the ledger.  The problem is, that when I enter a check to pay the credit card balance, that payment books as an expense to my ledger, instead of a deduction to my expense ledger.  I am entering the check because that is how I pay my balance.  I enter the check with the credit card company as the payee, cash account as the bank field from where it pays from, and in the description account I enter the credit card account.  What am I doing wrong to make this check generate an additional expense?  My expenses are overstated by the amounts of each of my credit card payments  and I can't figure out how to fix this, and how to continue to pay without causing more expenses to book.

Let's get this corrected so it won't cause any issues on your register, amy94.

Let's go back to the check you've created to pay the credit card. Then' I'll share the steps to fix it:

1. Open the check.
2. In the Payee field select the vendor name for the credit card payment. You can leave it blank if necessary.
3. In the Bank Account field, enter the bank you want to use for the payment.
4. Go to the Category details section and select the credit card in the CATEGORY column.
5. Enter the amount of the payment.
6. Click Save and close.
7. Select Yes to confirm the action.

Meanwhile, you've mentioned two things in this thread that:

• you recorded the credit card payment in QuickBooks Online manually.
• your credit card and bank accounts are connected in QuickBooks Online (Banking).

The reason why your expenses are overstated is you're Adding the downloaded transaction in the Banking page instead of Matching.

To correct the data on your register, we can go back to the Banking page and undo the credit card payment you've added.

1. Select Banking/Transactions on the left menu and go to the Banking tab.
2. Highlight the connected bank or credit card account.
3. Go to the Reviewed/Categorized tab.
4. Undo the credit card payment you've added.
   It will go back to the For review tab.
5. Go back to the For Review tab and look for the credit card payment.
6. Match it to the existing credit card payment in QuickBooks.
   You can click Find match if necessary.

If you've difficulty in matching the bank transaction and the ones in your QuickBooks, you can exclude them so it won't cause duplicates in your register. You can use this link for reference: Exclude expenses from downloaded bank transactions.

The next time you manage your bank transactions in the Banking page, make sure you categorize them correctly.

Moving forward, you can match the bank transaction to the credit card payment or exclude it (if you've manually recorded the credit card payment).

You will only select Add if you haven't record the credit card payment in QuickBooks Online.

Let us know if you require additional assistance in any pointers I've provided above. Have a great day!