Getting started with Crediledger

Before you start

Have these ready. A notebook is fine.

• Your business name, and an email address you will keep. Throw-away email addresses are refused.
• The country you lend in. It sets your currency.
• Your branches, and who works in each one.
• Your loan products: the interest rate, how often clients repay, any fees, and what you charge when a repayment is late.
• How clients pay you: the bank account or mobile money number they should use.

Set up on day one

Do these in order. Most of it is done once.

1. Sign up and choose your country

Press Start free trial. Fill in your business name, your own name, your email, your country and a password of at least 8 characters, and pick a plan. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. You are not asked for a card.

You are signed in straight away as the Owner. Crediledger has already made your first branch, called Head Office, and a starting list of payment methods: cash, bank transfer, cheque and mobile money.

2. Fill in your business profile

Open Settings and press Edit on the Business profile card. Add your registered name, trading name, TIN, email, phone and address. These are printed at the top of every statement, schedule, receipt and letter. When you email a document to a client, their reply comes to this email address.

Check the timezone on the same page. Dates are recorded against it.

3. Add your branches

Branches → New branch. Give each one a name and a short code. Every loan, client, expense and bank account is filed under a branch. Your plan sets how many branches you can have; see Plans.

4. Add your staff

Staff → Add staff. Enter the person's name and email, then choose:

• Role: what they are allowed to do. See Staff roles.
• Home branch: where their new loans, clients and expenses are filed.
• Branch access: All branches, or Only these branches. With the second choice, everything that belongs to other branches is hidden from them, in every screen and report.
• Department, if you use them. Keep the list under Departments, or type a new one on the staff form.

When you save, Crediledger shows a one-time password, once. Give it to the person. They must choose their own password the first time they sign in. Use Reset password on the Staff page if they forget it, and Deactivate when someone leaves: they are signed out and their seat is free again.

5. Set up your loan products

Settings → Loan products → New product. For each product, set:

• Interest method: Flat or Reducing balance.
• Default rate and Rate period: type the rate as a decimal, the way the example beside the box shows, and say what period it is for: a day, a week, a month or a year. See how the rate is charged.
• Repayment frequency: daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly.
• Penalty type, Penalty rate and Grace period (days): what a late instalment costs, and how many days late it may be before the penalty starts.
• Guarantors required: an application for this product cannot be saved with fewer.

After you press Create product you land on the product's page. Add its fees there, such as a processing fee: a fixed amount, or a share of the amount lent.

How the rate is charged

A product's rate is a rate for its period. When a client repays more or less often than that period, Crediledger charges each instalment the matching share of the rate, so the same loan costs the same interest over the same time however often it is repaid. When the rate is for a day or a week and the client repays daily, weekly or every two weeks, the rate is converted by the calendar: 7 days to a week, 14 days to two weeks and 2 weeks to a two-week period. So 7% a week is 1% for each daily instalment, and 1% a day is 7% for each weekly instalment and 14% for each two-weekly instalment. When a month or a year comes into it (a monthly or yearly rate, or a client who repays monthly), the rate is converted through a year: rate for one instalment = the product's rate × the number of its periods in a year ÷ the number of instalments in a year. For this a year counts as 365 days, 52 weeks, 26 two-week periods and 12 months, so one month is 4.3333 weeks, 2.1667 two-week periods or 30.4167 days. Either way the rate is divided in simple proportion, not compounded.

If your business really does charge the whole rate on every instalment, whatever the period, the Owner or an Admin can switch to that under Settings → How interest is charged. The two choices are “For its period, adjusted to how often the client repays” and “Once for each instalment”.

Example, worked out by the same code that builds a real schedule: 1,000,000 lent at 5% per month, flat interest, repaid over one year.

The choice applies to applications approved afterwards. A loan already disbursed, and an application already approved, keep the way their interest was worked out; each loan's page, statement and schedule say which. Before you approve, and again before you disburse, the application page shows the first instalments and the total the client will repay.

6. Say how clients pay you

Settings → Payment methods. Keep the methods you use and switch off the rest. To print a How to pay block on loan statements, repayment schedules and reminders, open a method, fill in the bank or network, the account name, the account number or merchant code and any instructions, and tick Show on statements and notices. Nothing is printed until you tick it.

7. Bring in what you already have

Moving from paper or a spreadsheet? You do not have to type everything again. On Settings, under Bring in what you already have, press Import from a spreadsheet. It takes these kinds of file, in this order: your clients, the loans that are already running, your clients' savings balances, and your cash and bank balances. Owner and Admin can do this.

1. Download the template for one kind, fill it in with your spreadsheet program and save it as CSV. A file holds up to 2,000 rows; split a longer list.
2. Upload it. You are shown every row: what will be created, or in plain words why a row is refused. Nothing is saved yet.
3. When every row is accepted, confirm. A file is imported whole or not at all, so one bad row never leaves you with half a list. Fix the row in your spreadsheet and upload the file again.

Dates are read day first (the thirty-first of December is written with the day, then the month, then the year), and amounts may have commas between the thousands. Somebody who is already recorded, with the same national ID or the same name and phone number, is pointed out and never added twice.

Loans that are already running. Give each loan as it was really given out (the client, the loan product, the amount, the rate, the number of instalments and the day it was disbursed) and say how much had been repaid, or how much was still owed, on your cut-over date. Crediledger works out the repayment schedule from the real disbursement date and marks the instalments that money covers, so the balance and any arrears are right from the first day. What was repaid before you started here is kept as the loan's opening balance: it gives no receipt and is not counted in Payments received, in your collections or in your cash, because that money did not come in through Crediledger. Repayments you take after your cut-over date are recorded as usual. Late-payment penalties are charged for days after the cut-over date only; penalties owed from before are not brought in. A loan that is fully repaid is left out.

Savings balances work the same way: the account is opened holding the balance on your cut-over date, shown as Balance brought forward on its statement, with no deposit or receipt behind it.

Cash and bank balances. One row for the cash you hold and one for each bank or mobile money account, with what it held on your cut-over date; every row of one file carries the same date. Each becomes an account under Banking that starts with that balance, shown as Balance brought forward, with no deposit behind it, and your journal gets the same amount as cash on hand or cash at bank. An account that is already under Banking is refused, so a balance cannot come in twice. With your loans, savings and cash brought in, the balance sheet shows your whole starting position; anything else you start with, such as equipment or a loan you owe, your accountant adds with a journal entry.

In your journal. No cash moves when you bring balances in, so each journal entry needs another account for its other side. Under Settings → Brought-in balances choose Owner's capital when one owner is putting a loan book they already own into the business, or Opening balances when a group, a SACCO or a company is carrying balances forward for its accountant to clear later. A loan puts the principal still owed on Loans Receivable and adds it to the account you chose, and so does cash; a savings balance goes on Customer Savings, which is money you owe your clients, and is taken away from that account. If you chose Opening balances, see how to clear it. The preview names both accounts before you confirm. Changing the choice later applies to the next import and never alters what was already imported.

An import cannot be taken back, because clients, loans and savings accounts are never deleted. Read the preview against your own records, and try a file of a few rows first. Every import is recorded in the activity log, and the page lists the imports so far: who, when and how many.

From client to repaid loan

Register the client

Clients → New client. Record their identity, phone, email, work and income, and their next of kin. Add a photo if you have one. An email address is what lets you send them statements, receipts and reminders later.

The client's page keeps their applications, loans, collateral and every document you have emailed them.

Take the application

Applications → New application. Pick the client and the product, then the amount, the term (the number of instalments) and how often they are paid. On the same form you can:

• pledge collateral: pick an item already on file, or add a new one with photos, and tick that you have verified it. Every item on file is listed under Collateral;
• pick guarantors. A guarantor must be registered first with Register a guarantor; everyone registered is listed under Guarantors. Only guarantors who are free are listed: not backing another open loan or application, and with no open loan of their own.

Approve or reject

Someone with the right role opens the application. To approve, they confirm the amount, the rate, the number of instalments and the frequency. Preview these terms shows the first instalments and the total the client will repay; Approve records the terms. To turn it down, they give a reason and press Reject. Either way you can then write the client an approval or a decline letter from the same page.

Disburse

On an approved application, check the instalments and the total to repay shown on the page, choose the disbursement date (the day the money was paid out: today or earlier), say under Paid out by how you paid it (cash, or one of your payment methods) and press Disburse loan. The money is taken from the account of that method in your books, and when the method is tied to one of your accounts under Banking the payment appears there too, so you do not record a withdrawal for it yourself. The loan now appears under Loans with its number and its repayment schedule. Your plan may limit how many loans you disburse in a month; the page tells you how many you have used.

The repayment schedule

The schedule is made for you on disbursement. The first instalment falls due one period after the disbursement date: a week later for a weekly loan, a month later for a monthly one. The product's fees are added to the first instalment. Download the schedule as a PDF with Repayment schedule on the loan page, or email it with Email schedule.

Record a repayment

Open the loan under Loans. Under Record repayment, enter the amount, the method and the date, then press Record repayment. The money is applied in this order: penalties first, then the oldest unpaid instalment (its interest, then fees, then principal), then the next one. You cannot record more than the client owes.

Every repayment you have recorded is listed under Repayments.

Give a receipt

After you record a repayment you are on its receipt. Press Download PDF to print it, or Email receipt if the client has an email address.

Late repayments, penalties and reminders

Each night, instalments that are past their due date are marked overdue. If the product has a penalty, it is added for each day an instalment stays unpaid after the grace period.

• The bell at the top of every page counts loans with overdue repayments.
• On Loans, choose With overdue repayments to list them.
• On an overdue loan, Email reminder sends the client a reminder with the schedule attached. Write a letter starts a demand or a final notice.

To send reminders without anyone pressing a button, open Settings → Emails to clients and switch on Send repayment reminders automatically. Choose how many days before the due date, whether to send on the due date, and how many days overdue. Reminders go by email, from 8:00 your time, to clients who have an email address. Each reminder is sent once, and a loan gets at most one a day.

A running loan whose oldest unpaid instalment is more than 90 days late is marked default. Its penalties stop growing. You can still record repayments on it, and it is marked settled once the balance reaches zero.

Settle the loan

When a repayment brings the balance to zero, the loan is marked settled by itself. You can then write a clearance letter from the loan page.

Void money recorded by mistake

A repayment entered on the wrong loan, a deposit counted twice or a fee recorded in error is not deleted or edited: it is voided. Open the repayment, the payment or the savings account and choose to void it. You see exactly what will change before anything does: the loan balance, each instalment, the savings balance, and that the receipt will read cancelled to anyone who checks it. You must say why. The record stays on every list, struck through, with its receipt number, and no total counts it any more. Voiding a repayment leaves the loan as if it had never been recorded, so instalments that are late again gather the daily penalties they missed. If that leaves the loan more than 90 days late, it is marked default straight away, with penalties up to the day it would have been stopped and none after; the page tells you how many days and how much before you confirm. Only the newest repayment on a loan, or the newest transaction on a savings account, can be voided; to reach an older one, void the later ones first and record them again. Only these roles can void: Owner and Admin. A void cannot be undone. If you void something by mistake, record the money again.

Waive penalties

A lender sometimes forgives late-payment penalties: a client who has come back into good standing, a penalty charged while a repayment was recorded on the wrong loan, a hardship case. That is a waiver. Open the loan and choose Waive penalties. You can waive everything still owed, the penalties of one instalment, the penalties charged between two dates, the ones you tick, or an amount, which is taken off the oldest penalties first. Before anything changes you see the penalties still to pay and the total to clear the loan, now and after, and you must say why. A waiver forgives what has been charged so far. New daily penalties continue while an instalment stays unpaid, and money already paid towards a penalty is not given back. The penalty stays on the loan's record with the waiver beside it, the loan statement shows it as its own line, and Penalties waived, under Reports, lists every waiver with who gave it and why. Only these roles can waive: Owner and Admin. A waiver is never edited; one given by mistake can be reversed, once, with a reason, and the penalties are then owed again.

Undo a disbursement paid out by mistake

A loan paid out to the wrong client, for the wrong amount or twice is voided, not deleted. Open the loan and choose Void this disbursement. This works only while nothing has been recorded on the loan: no repayment, no late-payment penalty, never written off or rescheduled. (If repayments were recorded by mistake too, void them first, newest first.) Before you confirm you see the journal entry that will be posted: the money goes back to the account it was paid out of, Loans Receivable comes down by the same amount, and when the money was paid out of an account under Banking that account is put back too. The entry is dated today. The loan keeps its number, marked VOID, and counts in no total; its application goes back to approved, so you can pay it out again correctly, as a new loan with a new number. Only the owner and admins can do it, and a void cannot be undone. If the money was not actually recovered from the person who received it, voiding is the wrong tool: write the loan off instead.

Write a loan off

When a loan will not be repaid (the client has died, left, or every effort to collect has failed), open it and choose Write off. You see what is still owed: the principal is written off in the books (an expense, Loan losses written off, against Loans Receivable), while interest, fees and penalties still owed are shown but not posted, because they were never counted as income. The loan becomes written off, and the client still owes everything. Money you receive on it later is recorded on the loan as usual, with a receipt; it pays penalties first, as always, and in your books it is income, Recoveries of loans written off. A write-off made by mistake can be reversed while nothing has been recovered. Only the owner and admins can write off and reverse, with a reason.

Sell collateral to recover a loan

When a loan in default is recovered by selling what secured it (usually after a court order), open the collateral, or the loan, and choose Sell collateral. Give the loan the money goes to (a collateral that secures several loans goes to one of them), the date of the sale, the price, the buyer, the court order or other authority, how the price was received and how the costs were paid, and the costs of the sale: the auctioneer's or bailiff's fees, legal fees, storage and advertising. The costs are paid out of the price, so the borrower bears them; they are not your expense. What is left pays what is owed on the loan exactly like a repayment, with a receipt: penalties first, then each instalment's interest, fees and principal, oldest first. On a loan you have written off it is a recovery, and the loan stays written off. Before you confirm you see both journal entries that will be posted. Add a note saying why it was sold, and, if you like, the court order or the auctioneer's return (a PDF or a photo).

If the price is more than the costs and everything owed, the rest belongs to the owner of the collateral, not to you: it is held in your books as Owed to borrowers from collateral sales until you pay it, with Pay the surplus on the collateral's page. If principal is still owed after the sale and you expect no more, finish the loan with Write off. A sale is dated the day it happened (not after today, not in a closed period). It can be voided while nothing after it depends on it: void the payment of the surplus first, and any later repayment, write-off or reschedule must be undone first. A sold item is no longer offered for new applications. Only the owner and admins can sell, pay the surplus and void either.

Reschedule a loan

For a client who cannot keep to the schedule, open the loan and choose Reschedule: give the number of new instalments and the date the first one falls due. What is still unpaid on the instalments (principal, interest and fees) is spread over the new ones, at the loan's own frequency. Nothing is added: no extra interest and no fee, so the balance to repay does not change and nothing is posted to the journal. Penalties already charged stay owed. Before you confirm you see the old instalments whose unpaid part moves and every new one. A loan in default becomes running again, and Performance shows rescheduled loans apart, because a new schedule has nothing late yet. A loan can be rescheduled again. Only the owner and admins can do it, with a reason. A repayment recorded before a reschedule can no longer be voided.

Savings

Savings → Open account, and pick the client. On the account's page, record a Deposit or a Withdraw with the amount and the method. A withdrawal cannot be more than the balance.

In your journal. Money a client saves with you is money you owe them. Each deposit is written to the journal as cash in and Customer Savings up; each withdrawal as the reverse; and voiding one writes the opposite entry on the day of the void. So the Customer Savings account in your books always equals what the savings accounts hold. (Savings you recorded before 10 October 2026 are added to the journal once by Crediledger, each on its own date.)

Interest and charges. On the account's page, Add interest or Take a charge with the amount, the date and a note. You see the journal entry before you confirm: interest is an expense, Interest paid on savings, and a charge is income, Fee Income. A charge never takes an account below zero. If you must withhold tax on interest, switch it on under Settings → Accounting with your rate (the page suggests the usual rate where you lend; check it with your tax adviser): the account then receives the interest less the tax, the tax is owed on Withholding tax payable until you pay it over, and the statement shows the interest, the tax and what was added. It is off unless you switch it on. The owner, admins and accountants can add interest and take charges. Like any savings transaction, the newest one can be voided.

Each deposit has a Receipt you can print or email. For a statement, choose the dates at the top of the account page and press Download statement or Email statement.

Other money in and out

Payments received

Payments received lists everything that came in: loan repayments, savings deposits and other payments. It opens on today. Change the dates, pick a method, or search by name, receipt or reference. Totals are shown for each method, which makes it the page to count the cash drawer against at closing. Every row has its receipt.

Other payments

Money that is not a repayment or a savings deposit, such as an application fee, a registration fee or a membership fee, is recorded under Other payments with New payment. Once recorded, the payment shows under Payments received with its receipt.

Expenses and vendors

Expenses → New expense: the date, the amount, a category, a description, how it was paid and, if you wish, the vendor. The Expenses page totals what you spent in each category for the dates you choose.

Keep the people and businesses you buy from under Vendors.

Requests: asking for money

When someone needs money for the business (stationery, fuel, a repair), they ask under Requests with New request: what it is for, the amount, the date it is needed by, the kind of expense it will be and, if they have one, a quote or a photo. The request is filed under their own branch and gets a number. Owner, Admin, Branch Manager, Credit Officer, Cashier and Accountant can ask.

An approver (Owner, Admin or Branch Manager) opens it and decides. They can approve the amount as it stands, or lower it and say why; they can never raise it. To reject it they must give a reason, which the person who asked sees. A rejection is final, but Ask again starts a new request from the rejected one, and the two stay linked. Nobody decides their own request, except the owner. Someone limited to certain branches sees and decides only those branches' requests. The person who asked can cancel while it is still waiting; after an approval an approver can cancel it, with a reason.

An approved request waits under To pay out for Owner, Admin or Accountant. Paying it out, with the date, how it was paid and a reference, records the expense at the same moment, for the approved amount, in the category and branch of the request. So the money shows under Expenses and in the Journal without being typed twice. A request that has been paid out is final.

The owner can require a second approval for larger amounts in Settings → Requests: a request approved for more than that amount by anyone else then waits for the owner. Every step is listed on the request's page with who took it and when, the request can be printed on your letterhead with PDF to file or print, and the bell and the number beside Requests in the menu show what is waiting for you.

Banking

Banking keeps your bank, mobile money and cash accounts. Open each account with its opening balance. Then record deposits and withdrawals, and transfers between your accounts, as they happen. For a deposit or a withdrawal you can say where the money came from or went (it is cash on hand unless you choose another account, such as bank charges). Each account has its own account in the journal, and everything you record here is posted to it, so the balance you see under Banking and the balance in your books are the same figure.

Repayments, savings and expenses are added to an account here only when you say that a payment method pays into it: see which account a payment lands in, below. Until you do, they are not added to these accounts for you.

The accounts the books are kept in are under Chart of accounts. Each loan you disburse, each repayment and each expense is written to the Journal as a balanced entry against those accounts, once the chart has accounts in it. Owners, admins and accountants keep the chart; auditors can read both.

Keeping the books

Most journal entries are written for you: a loan paid out, a repayment, an expense, a savings deposit or withdrawal, an other payment, a movement under Banking, a balance brought in by the import. The rest your accountant posts by hand, and three reports read the journal back to you. Owner, Admin, Accountant and Auditor can read all of it; Owner, Admin and Accountant can post.

Post a journal entry. Open Journal and press New entry.

1. Give the date (today or earlier, never a future date) and say in a few words what the entry is for. A reference, such as a minute or slip number, is optional.
2. Add the lines: pick an account and type the amount under Debit or under Credit. You need at least two lines, and the debits must add up to the credits. The page shows the two totals as you type.
3. Press Check the entry. You are shown the entry, its number (JV-000001, JV-000002 and so on) and what each account holds now and will hold afterwards. Nothing is saved yet.
4. Press Post entry.

A posted entry is never edited or deleted. If it is wrong, open it and press Reverse this entry, say why (at least 10 characters) and confirm: the opposite entry is posted today and the two are linked. Then post the right one. An entry can be reversed once, and a reversal cannot itself be reversed. Entries Crediledger wrote for you are not reversed here: void the repayment, savings transaction or payment they came from. Somebody whose access is limited to some branches can read the journal but not post to it, because the journal belongs to the whole business.

Read the trial balance. Trial balance & statements opens on the trial balance: every account with its balance in the Debit or the Credit column, as at the date you choose (today unless you change it). The two totals at the bottom must be equal; if they ever are not, the page says so in red with the difference. Click an account to see every entry behind its balance between two dates, with the balance after each. Owner and Admin can download the trial balance as a spreadsheet file.

Read the balance sheet and the income statement. The other two tabs. The Balance sheet shows, as at a date, what the business has (assets), what it owes (liabilities, including your clients' savings) and what is the owners' (equity). The Income statement shows income, expenses and the surplus or deficit between two dates. The surplus appears on the balance sheet as two lines in equity, earlier years (retained) and this financial year so far, which is why the sheet balances. The income statement opens on This financial year and offers Last financial year; any other two dates can be typed. Income is counted when it is received: interest, fees and penalties count on the day a repayment pays them.

Under the trial balance and the balance sheet, Notes compare the journal with your everyday figures (loans still owed, savings held, each account under Banking against its own account in the journal, other payments) and say what any difference is made of. Read them before you rely on a figure.

If the trial balance says loans receivable and the loan book differ. The loan book is what your clients still owe you in principal, loan by loan. Loans Receivable is the same amount as your journal has it. They should be equal, and the note names the loans behind any difference. The usual reason is a loan that has no disbursement entry: it was paid out while your chart of accounts was missing Cash on Hand or Loans Receivable, so the loan was recorded but nothing was written to the journal for it. Repayments recorded afterwards were still written, so Loans Receivable is short by the whole amount of that loan; if its repayments were not written either, it is short by what is still owed on the loan. You cannot put this right yourself, and you should not post a journal entry for it. Write to us through Help & support with the loan numbers from the note. Neptunes support gives each loan the entry it never had, dated the day the loan was paid out, for the amount lent, taken from Cash on Hand (or from Cash at Bank when the loan names a method that is not cash), and gives each repayment that has no entry its own, dated the day it was paid. Nothing else about the loan or its repayments changes, each entry says that it was added later, and each appears in the loan's history. If the note says instead that an entry is dated after today, nothing is wrong: it is an older record with a date ahead, and the two figures agree from that date.

Which account a payment lands in. When you record a repayment, a savings deposit or withdrawal, an expense or an other payment, its money is posted to the account of the payment method you picked. You need to set nothing up: cash goes to Cash on Hand (1000) and every other method (bank, mobile money, cheque) to Cash at Bank (1010). To change it, open Settings → Accounting (Owner, Admin and Accountant can; an accountant reaches it from Accounting settings beside the trial balance) and, for each method, choose either an asset account of your chart or one of your accounts under Banking. Choose the account under Banking when the method pays straight into it, such as your mobile money line: each payment then also appears on that account under Banking. A choice applies to what you record from then on; entries already in the journal never change. A loan you pay out follows the same rule: it is posted from the account of the method you choose under Paid out by when you disburse it, and from Cash on Hand when you choose cash. Loans paid out before this was added were all posted from Cash on Hand and stay so.

Dates. Anything that records money cannot be dated after today: a loan paid out, a repayment, a savings deposit or withdrawal, an other payment, an expense, a deposit, withdrawal or transfer under Banking, a journal entry, and the balances you import. You are told "The date cannot be in the future." Record it on the day it happens, or afterwards with the day it happened. Today is the day where your business is, whatever the hour elsewhere. What you plan may lie ahead: the due dates of a schedule, and the day money is needed by on a request.

Other payments. Money recorded under Other payments is posted too: the account of its payment method is debited, and the account of what it was for is credited. Application, registration and membership fees go to Fee Income (4100), a penalty to Penalty Income (4200) and anything else to Other Income (4900). If one of these is not income for you (a membership fee that is share capital, a deposit you will give back), choose an equity or a liability account for it on the same settings page. Voiding the payment posts the opposite entry.

Print a voucher. Open any entry in the Journal and press Print voucher. You get a PDF on your letterhead with the entry's number, date, description and reference, each line with its account, debit and credit, the totals, who posted it and when, what it reverses or was reversed by, and lines to sign: prepared by, checked by, approved by. Entries Crediledger wrote for you can be printed the same way. Everyone who can read the journal can print.

Set your financial year. Crediledger assumes your year ends on the last day of December. If it ends in another month (June or March, for example), choose that month under Settings → Accounting: a year that ends in June runs 1 July to 30 June and is called 2026/27. The balance sheet's two surplus lines, the income statement's "This financial year" and "Last financial year", and "This financial year" on Performance then follow it. Changing the month changes how the reports group what is in the journal and nothing else: no entry is changed, and you can change it back. Nothing is moved into Retained Earnings at a year's end.

Close the books. Once a month's figures are final, close the books up to its last day under Settings → Accounting (the owner, admins and accountants can). From then on nothing can be recorded or posted with a date on or before it: repayments, savings, other payments, expenses, Banking, loans paid out, journal entries and imports are all refused, and so are the support team's catch-up scripts. Close the last month of your financial year and you have closed the year. A mistake found later is corrected today: a void or a reversal of an older record is still allowed, and its entry is dated today, so the closed months stay exactly as you reported them. Only the owner can reopen a closed period, and must say why; every closing and reopening is kept.

Clear "Opening balances". If you chose Opening balances for what you imported, that account holds what you brought in until your accountant moves it to where it belongs. Worked example: you brought in loans with 600,000 of principal still owed and savings of 250,000, so Opening balances holds 350,000 (in credit). Once the members agree the 350,000 is their share capital, post one entry: Debit Opening balances 350,000, Credit Owner's Capital (or your own share capital account) 350,000. Opening balances is now nil and the trial balance still balances.

Documents and emails

Every document carries your business details at the top. They are part of every plan.

• Loan statement: on the loan page, choose the dates and press Download statement.
• Repayment schedule: on the loan page.
• Receipts: for a repayment, a savings deposit or another payment.
• Savings statement: on the savings account page.
• Letters: see below.

Receipts anyone can check

Every receipt for a repayment, a savings deposit or another payment carries a QR code and a short code. Anyone holding the receipt, such as the client, a guarantor, an auditor or another lender, can scan it or type the code at crediledger.com/verify. They see that your business issued it, the receipt number, the date, the amount, who it was received from and what it was for. Nothing else is shown: no balance, no loan details, no phone number. A receipt that has been altered will not match what the page says, and the page asks the reader to contact you on the phone number and email in your business profile, so keep those up to date. This is part of every plan. If you would rather not print the code, switch it off under Settings → Receipt verification. Receipts you have already handed out can still be checked.

Email a document

Next to each document there is an Email button when the client has an email address. You see the email first: who it goes to, the subject, the wording and the PDF. Press Send email. It goes out under your business name, and replies come to your business email.

Change the wording

Settings → Emails to clients lists each email. Press Edit to change the subject and the text, see a preview, or put the default wording back. You can also switch an email off.

See what was sent

Every email is recorded with the document, who it went to, who sent it and whether it was sent or failed. You find this on the loan, the receipt, the savings account and the letter, and all together under Emailed documents on the client's page.

Letters

Letters → Write a letter. Choose the kind of letter:

• Loan approval
• Loan decline
• Demand for overdue repayment
• Final notice for arrears
• Loan clearance (no outstanding balance)
• General letter to a client

Pick the loan, the application or the client. The draft is filled in from your records: names, numbers, amounts and what is overdue. You type what the records cannot know, such as the date to pay by. Crediledger will not start a letter that would be untrue, for example a clearance letter for a loan that still has a balance.

A draft can be changed and previewed as often as you like. Press Finalise and the letter gets its reference number and can no longer be changed. Then download it or send it by email.

Keeping an eye on the business

Dashboard

Dashboard shows your active loans, what is outstanding, arrears, clients, what was received today, what was disbursed and collected this month and your savings balance. People who can read the activity log also see the latest activity.

The bell

The bell at the top of every page counts what needs someone: applications waiting for approval, approved loans waiting to be disbursed, loans with overdue repayments, requests for money waiting for your approval or to be paid out, and the answer to a request of your own. Each person sees only the items their role can act on, for the branches they can see.

Reports the Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans

Reports has three reports: Portfolio (loans by status and product), Arrears (each overdue instalment, with the client's phone and the days late) and Collection (repayments per day for the dates you choose).

Performance the Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans

Performance shows how each branch and each member of staff is doing for a period you choose: loans paid out, repayments collected, new clients, applications, the portfolio, arrears and the portfolio at risk.

Portfolio at risk is the balance of loans with an instalment overdue by more than a number of days, as a share of all the money you have out. It starts at 30 days. Use the At risk box to change it: over 30 days, over 60 days or over 90 days.

Email summaries

Email summaries sends the figures by email, so you can follow the business without signing in. Choose every morning, for the day before, or every Monday, for the week before. Tick who gets it: Owner, Admin, Branch Manager or Accountant. It goes out after 7:00 your time. Each person gets only the figures their role can already see, for the branches they can see. Press Send me one now to try it.

Activity log

Activity log is the record of who did what, and when: signing in and out, a failed sign-in and a lock-out, staff added and roles changed, settings, clients, applications approved or rejected, loans disbursed, every repayment, deposit, withdrawal and other payment, every void and penalty waiver with the reason given, expenses, banking, letters, documents emailed, exports, and what the overnight jobs did. Each entry is a sentence with the person's name as it was then. An attempt that was refused is there too, marked Did not go through.

Filter by date, person, area, kind of record or branch, or search for a name or a number. Details opens one entry; for an edit it shows what the value was before and after. A loan, an application, a client and a savings account each have a History list at the bottom of their page with the entries about them. Export CSV downloads what the filters show.

Entries cannot be edited or deleted by anyone, in the app or through it. Passwords, keys and secrets are never written to the log, and for a client's phone numbers, address and ID number it records that they changed, not what they are. Owner, Admin and Auditor can read it; Owner and Admin can export it.

Staff roles

Give each person the role that matches their job. Every role can open the Dashboard, look at clients, applications, loans, repayments and savings and see the Subscription page.

Branch access. A member of staff set to Only these branches sees and records only for those branches: their clients, applications, loans, repayments, savings, expenses and bank accounts. Reports, the bell and email summaries count those branches only. Vendors and guarantors are shared by the whole business. Owner, Admin and Auditor always see every branch.

Your plan still decides what is switched on. A role cannot open a page your plan does not include.

Plans

Clients, applications, loans, repayments, savings, payments received, expenses, vendors, banking, documents, emails to clients, letters, email summaries and the data export are part of every plan. The plans differ in how much you can hold and in the extras below. Prices are on the pricing page.

• Staff users counts people who can sign in. A deactivated person does not count.
• Branches counts every branch you have, also ones marked inactive.
• The add forms, Settings and the Subscription page show how much of each limit you have used.
• A page your plan does not include shows a lock in the menu. Opening it tells you which plans have it.

Paying for your subscription

Open the menu under your name and choose Subscription. Press Renew subscription.

1. Choose the plan and how long to pay for: one month or several, up to a year. The page shows the amount and a reference to quote.
2. Pay by mobile money, by bank or in cash, using the details shown on the page. Quote the reference.
3. Under Already paid? Tell us, say how you paid, the amount, the date and the transaction ID or deposit slip number, and press Send to Neptunes.

We check that the money has arrived and then renew your subscription. Until then the page shows that your payment is waiting to be confirmed.

Who can pay: the Owner, an Accountant assigned to the main branch or a Cashier assigned to the main branch. Everyone else can see the Subscription page but not pay.

You are warned 3 days before your trial or paid period ends. When it ends, you can keep working for 7 more days. After that the account is suspended: you can still sign in, but only to renew. Your records are kept.

SMS and e-mails

Each plan includes a number of SMS and e-mails a month. Subscription shows under SMS and e-mails this month how many of your allowance you have used, what an extra one costs and your wallet balance.

Beyond the allowance, each SMS or e-mail is paid from your prepaid wallet at the price shown there and on the pricing page. When the wallet cannot cover one, it is not sent and the message tells you the price: top up and send again. E-mails about your own account (welcome, password resets) are never counted.

A free trial has its own allowance for the whole trial and cannot buy more from the wallet. Choose a plan to send more.

Your data, security and help

Take your data with you

On Settings, under Your data, press Export my data. You get one file to download, with a spreadsheet for each kind of record: clients, loans, schedules, repayments, savings, payments, expenses, banking, branches, staff, letters and more. Only these roles can do it: Owner and Admin. Each export is written in the activity log. Staff passwords are never included.

Signing in safely

• Each person signs in with their own email and password. Do not share one account.
• A password needs at least 8 characters. It must be changed every 60 days, and the new one must be different from the old one.
• If nobody touches the app for 30 minutes, it signs that person out.
• Keep me signed in on this device remembers you for 30 days. Use it only on your own phone or computer.
• After several wrong passwords in a row, the account is locked for a short while.
• Change your own password any time from the menu under your name: Change password.

Getting help

Inside the app, choose Help & support, say what it is about and write your message. It goes straight to the support team, with your name, your business and your role, and we reply to your email address. Not signed up yet? Use the contact page.

For developers

Your own website or other software can read your records through the API (the Premium and Enterprise plans) and be told as things happen through webhooks (the Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans). The details are on the developer page.

Start free trial