A friend is short until payday, so you lend them some cash. Now what do you do with it in your expense tracker?
Log it as an expense and your month looks worse than it is: Money Out jumps, a budget goes red, and when they pay you back, it shows up as income you never earned. Don't log it and, three weeks later, neither of you is quite sure of the amount.
Money you lend isn't spending. It's coming back. Version 2.18 adds Lend & Borrow so it can be tracked as exactly that.
One balance per person
Lend & Borrow keeps a running balance with each person. You record the loan, and you record repayments as they happen, in full or a bit at a time. Each person shows one line: owes you, or you owe. Lend to and borrow from the same friend and the two net out.
When a balance reaches zero, the person moves to Settled. The history stays.
Turn it on
Lend & Borrow is a Pro feature, and it's off until you want it. Open Settings → Lend & Borrow and turn on Enable Lend & Borrow. If you never lend anyone money, nothing in the app changes.
Record a loan
- In Settings → Lend & Borrow, tap Lend or Borrow. You can also tap Lend on the Add Transaction screen, next to Split.
- Type the person's name. Names you've used before are suggested.
- Enter the amount and date, and optionally the payment method the money came out of.
- Optionally set a due date. On that day you get a reminder at 9 am, unless the balance is already settled.
Record a repayment
Tap the person, then Record repayment. The amount starts at what's still outstanding; change it if they paid back only part. Set the date the money actually moved. The repayment is its own entry on that date, so it sits in the right month.
What stays out of your numbers
Loans and repayments never count toward Money In, Money Out or Net on Home, or in Reports, category charts, budgets, widgets, Spent Today or your Power Score. Your budget measures what you spent, not what you're owed.
They do move the balance of the payment method you picked. Cash you lent really left your wallet, so account balances stay true. In your transaction list a loan appears as a neutral row, like "Lent · Alex" or "Repaid by Alex". Tap it to edit or delete it.
Lend & Borrow or group expenses?
They answer different questions. Lend & Borrow is for money that moved between you and one person: a loan, a deposit you covered, cash until Friday. Splitting a dinner or a trip between several people is what group expenses are for, and those add only your share to your spending.
With a partner
In Partner Mode your partner's loans stay theirs. They never count toward your combined totals and don't appear in your Lend & Borrow list.
Why we built it
Lend and borrow was one of the features you voted for in this release. The common story in the requests was the same one: a loan logged as an expense, a budget that looked blown, and a repayment that showed up as income. It's one of a few budget changes in 2.18. You can now set one overall budget across all your spending and budgets for individual subcategories, and your phone tells you when a budget reaches 80% and 100%.
Every step, with what each screen says, is in the help centre: Lend & Borrow.
Questions
Do loans count as spending in Pocket Clear?
No. Loans and repayments are left out of Money In, Money Out, Net, Reports, category charts, budgets, widgets, Spent Today and the Power Score. They only move the balance of the payment method you picked.
Can I record a partial repayment?
Yes. Tap the person, then Record repayment, and change the amount to what they paid back. The rest stays outstanding.
Will Pocket Clear remind me when a loan is due?
Yes, if you set a due date. You get a reminder at 9 am that day, unless the balance with that person is already settled.
Is Lend & Borrow free?
It's a Pro feature and off by default. Turn it on in Settings, then Lend & Borrow.
What happens to my loans if I turn it off?
Nothing is deleted or changed. You can't add new loans while it's off, and existing entries still stay out of your totals.
Know Who Owes Whom
Log your spending in two taps, and keep money you lent out of it.