Debts and loans

The Debts section holds both sides of one question: what you owe, and what is owed to you.

A debt with payments

For a loan or an instalment plan, give the monthly payment and the day of the month. The app reminds you three days before and shows the reminder on the home screen.

A one-off debt

For "borrowed until payday", an amount and a return date are enough.

Paying it down

The payment button takes money from a chosen account and reduces the debt. It is a real transaction: the balance moves and the payment lands in your reports.

Debts that appear by themselves

When you split a bill at a café, each friend's share becomes a debt owed to you. When somebody else paid for you, your share becomes a debt you owe — and no expense is recorded, because no money left your accounts. The expense happens when you settle up.

A partly repaid debt

A debt with payments already made is not deleted automatically — that would erase payments somebody really made. Close it by hand once you are square.

The debt that already existed, and the one taken today

When adding one, the app asks how to account for it, and there are two answers.

"The debt already existed" — accounts are left alone. That is how a mortgage or a loan goes in, anything carried over from before: you received the money long ago, and recording it as arriving today would be false.

"Take it from, or put it into, an account now" — a transaction on the account goes through with the debt. That is how you record what is happening right now: you lent a friend money and it left, you borrowed and it arrived.

The difference matters: the first describes a state, the second an event. Confusing them either loses an income or invents one.

Reminders

A debt with monthly payments carries an amount and a day of the month, and that one the app flags three days ahead of the date. A one-off carries a repayment date, and its reminder appears once that date has arrived. Both show on the home screen.

The wording differs by side: "do not forget to pay back" for yours, "remind them" for what is owed to you. That is not cosmetic: the second kind is forgotten more often, because chasing it is awkward, and the app is never awkward.

Debt payments count in the forecast

If a debt has a monthly payment it is included in the "how long the money lasts" forecast, and the home screen states it in a line of its own. The same place warns you when spending plus debt payments exceed the month's income.

Partial repayment

"Record a payment" on what you owe, "Record a repayment" on what is owed to you. Any amount will do — the balance recalculates itself. Paying exactly to schedule is not required; the app simply keeps the count.

Which order to pay them off in when there are several — paying off all your debt in a year. How to lend to a friend without losing the money or the friend — lending money to friends and family.