Track a loan or a credit line

A loan, a mortgage or a credit card is a Debt in Tavala. You enter what you owe and, if you want a payoff estimate, the monthly payment and the interest rate. The Money tab then shows how much is left, how far along you are and when the debt is cleared at that payment.

Add a debt

1. Open the Money tab. It is the third tab on a phone; on an iPad, a Mac or the web it is in the rail or the sidebar.
2. Tap + at the top right (Track something new), then tap Debt.
3. Fill in the New debt form:
   • Creditor / what you owe: a name such as "Car loan".
   • Amount owed: what you owe today. For a credit card with nothing on it yet, leave it empty or enter 0.
   • Currency: it defaults to your main currency and cannot be changed after you save.
   • Monthly payment: optional. It drives the payoff estimate.
   • Interest rate (APR, optional): the yearly rate in percent, for example 6.5. Tavala uses it for the payoff estimate and to split each payment into interest and principal. Blank or 0 means no interest.
   • Loan start date (optional): pick it to get a readout such as "On track with your plan" or "About 2 months ahead of plan" on the debt's card.
4. If you received this money recently, turn on I just received this money and pick the wallet under Money landed in. Leave it off for a debt you already had.
5. Tap Add.

With I just received this money on, the debt starts at 0 and a transfer called "Loan received" moves the amount into your wallet, so the cash appears there and counts under Money in as borrowed, never as earnings. With it off, the debt opens at the amount owed and no cash moves.

Read the debt's card

Each debt is a card under Debts on the Money tab. It shows what you owe, a progress bar and a facts line:

The ⋯ menu on the card (More) holds the other actions: Borrow from this debt, Payment schedule, Refinance / consolidate, Import payment history, Edit debt, and Use the bank's rate for a debt connected to a bank whose rate differs from yours.

Pay, borrow more and see the schedule

• Pay on the card records a payment. See record a loan payment.
• Borrow from this debt opens Record borrowing, for fresh cash drawn from the same loan or card into one of your wallets. It counts under Money in as borrowed.
• Payment schedule shows the month-by-month plan: the debt-free month, the payments still to go, Rate today, Monthly payment and Interest to come, a Balance over time chart and a table with Month, Payment, Interest, Principal and Balance. It appears in the menu only while the debt has a balance and a monthly payment.
• Refinance / consolidate is covered in plan to pay off your debts.

Rates that change

Many loans change rate on a date: a 2-year fix that reverts, or a 0% promotion on a card. In the debt's form, tap Add a rate change or promo period. Each row has Starts on, APR and a kind: Fixed (the rate stays the same until the next change), Promo (a temporary lower rate, often 0%), Revert (the standard rate the deal falls back to) or Variable (the lender can move this rate). Add a Label (optional) such as "2-yr fix", and Add another rate for more rows. Each rate applies from its start date until the next one.

Under the rate rows, Overpayment terms (optional) takes a Yearly allowance (a percent of the balance) and Early-repayment charges by year (for example 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). With those filled in, the Pay screen and the payoff planner warn when a payment goes over the allowance. The warning never blocks a payment.

For a loan that starts with a break, tap Add an interest-only or grace period. Pick From and Until dates and choose Interest-only (each payment covers only the interest, so the balance stays flat) or Full grace (payments pause and the interest is added to the balance).

Edit or remove a debt

Open the card's ⋯ menu and tap Edit debt. You can change the name, the amount owed, the monthly payment, the rate and the dates. The currency stays fixed. Amount owed in this form is what you owe now: changing it sets the balance directly and does not record a payment, so use Pay for payments.

Remove at the bottom of the form archives the debt, with no confirmation. Swiping the card to the left does the same and offers Undo in the message that follows. An archived debt leaves the Money tab and your net worth, and its past payments stay in Activity. To bring it back later, tap Archived at the foot of the Money tab, then the debt, then Unarchive; see archive a wallet you no longer use.

What needs Plus

Adding, editing, paying and removing debts, the countdown on each card and the payoff planner's order and debt-free date are free for any number of debts. These tools are free on your first debt and need Tavala Plus on every other debt: Payment schedule, rate changes with overpayment terms, Refinance / consolidate and Import payment history. On another debt they open the Plus sheet with "The full planner works on your first debt. Plus opens it for every debt." Your first debt is the oldest one you have not removed.

Good to know

• A credit card or credit line. Add it as a debt. To record spending on it, choose the debt as the wallet in the full form; the capture bar offers only spending wallets. Spending raises what you owe and counts as Spending at once, but not as Money out until you pay the card. See track a credit card.
• Money someone owes you is a separate thing called Lending. See track money you lent.
• Net worth. Debts count as liabilities in your net worth. They do not move What's Left on Home, which reads your spending wallets only.
• A debt linked from a bank (United States and Canada) can show the bank's minimum payment and due date. If the bank sends no rate, the card says "Add this loan's rate to split out its interest".
• Bring many debts in at once from a spreadsheet with import debts from a CSV file.