Re: the first question about how to get the amount to the bank rec.   You are right on track.

I agree it does seem like extra steps. 

I've always rationalized it as follows.   Recording a credit card is really recording a receivable from the credit card company.   Therefore the actual receipt to bank rec is when they actually pay up a couple of days later.   Makes even more sense when you have American Express and they like to take their cut out of each and every deposit instead of settling up once a month (in other words, what actually hits your bank doesn't match the amount "collected".)

Most of the time recording credit cards (at least in my experience) you are recording the credit card at the time of sale.  Then when you make your deposit entry through cash receipts,  it gets into bank rec.

I may not like it,  but I guess it makes some sense (or maybe not).

Tom is right on the reasoning; the credit card receipt to the bank doesn't hit the same day as the payment from the customer.

When you process 1, 10, or 100 credit card receipts, you still get just one hit to the bank account. (Unless you take Discover and Amex because they deposit separately.)

You can do another cash receipt for your settlement amount or just do a transaction journal entry.

Dawn