Lending and borrowing tracker

What it is

The people ledger is Lipi’s lending and borrowing tracker. Each person you lend to or borrow from gets one page. Every amount that goes either way is an entry, and the page shows a running balance such as “Aarav owes you Rs. 1,10,000.00”. You can add simple interest, share the ledger with the other person and export it. It is free.

What problem it solves

Informal loans between friends and family often live in memory or chat. That causes two problems: nobody is sure of the total, and asking for money feels awkward. A ledger gives both people the same numbers, with dates, notes and optional proof. Interest is worked out for you, so the amount is fair and not argued about.

How it works

1. Open Loans and tap New, then Add a person. Enter the Name and the currency you lend in. The currency cannot change later.
2. On the person’s page tap Add an entry. Choose the direction, I gave the person or the person gave me. Enter the Amount, Date, Time and a Note.
3. Optional: set an Interest rate, for example 1.5 per month since a date. Lipi works out the interest and shows it in the entries.
4. Read the balance at the top: “ owes you”, “You owe ” or “You and are settled”. The entries list shows a running Balance line by line.
5. Tap Share to invite the other person, so both of you add entries, or to make a read-only link. See Share links.
6. When money comes back, add an entry in the opposite direction. See Settle up.
7. Use the menu for Export CSV, Export PDF, Archive, Surrender or Delete.

The Loans page lists people next to bank loans, in sections for People, Bank loans, Surrendered and Archived.

Details and rules

• Plan: ledgers and entries are free.
• Entry kinds: payment, interest got, interest paid and interest added. Interest received is its own kind and does not reduce the principal.
• Example: lent Rs. 1,50,000, repaid Rs. 40,000, interest received Rs. 4,500. The outstanding principal is Rs. 1,10,000.
• Interest is simple, not compound. The rate must be above 0 and at most 100, with a period of month or year and a start date.
• Shared ledgers: when shared, the page says “Shared with . Both of you can add entries.” Otherwise it says “Only you can see this”. The other side can Deny an entry they dispute.
• Link to your books: an entry can be linked to a transaction you already have. Transactions you added to your books stay if the ledger is deleted.
• Proof: attach a photo or a voice note to an entry. Free accounts get 10 proofs a month and Premium gets 200.
• Surrender means you no longer expect the money back. Bring back reverses it.
• Delete removes every entry of the ledger. Be sure first.
• Reminders: a ledger can send balance notifications. You can mute them.
• Currency: one currency per ledger, set when you add the person.

Works with

• Settle up for repayments.
• Share links and invite codes for read-only and shared ledgers.
• Bank loans for loans with an EMI schedule.
• Loan widgets for your people balances on the dashboard.
• Split bills with friends for one-off shared expenses.

Ask an AI assistant

Try: “I lent Aarav Rs. 1,50,000 today at 1.5 percent a month. Make a ledger.” The assistant uses save_ledger and save_ledger_entry. Ask “Who owes me money?” and it uses list_ledgers. For one person’s full history it uses get_ledger.