How to get the most out of Prestafolio: 8 features you may not be using
By Equipo Prestafolio
Most lenders start by recording loans and payments. These are the features that save the most time, where to find them and how to turn them on today.
Most companies start on Prestafolio by recording loans and payments, and stop there. That is fine, it is the core. But your account does a lot more, and almost everything left to discover serves the same purpose: to stop losing hours on paperwork, on balancing by hand and on chasing whoever falls behind. These are the features that save lenders the most time, where each one lives and how to turn it on today.
1. Bring your whole portfolio in from Excel
You do not have to type in client after client. If your portfolio lives in a spreadsheet, you upload it, review row by row what will be loaded and confirm. You can bring in clients, loans (with the installment each one is on today), recurring services and your payment history. Importing does not touch your cash or affect your clients' trust level, and uploading the same file twice duplicates nothing.
Where: in Clients, the Import clients button; in Loans and in Services, the Import from Excel button. The step by step is in how to migrate your Excel portfolio to Prestafolio.
2. Hand over the receipt on WhatsApp or on paper, right away
Every payment generates its receipt. From the payment you share it on WhatsApp and your client has proof on their phone before you say goodbye. If you prefer paper, Prestafolio prints on thermal roll printers, the same ones corner stores and pharmacies use. A client holding a receipt argues less and trusts more.
Where: on the loan payment, Share receipt. The printer is set up in Settings; see Thermal printing.
3. Show the client their installments before they sign
With the calculator you simulate the loan in front of the client: amount, interest, number of installments, type and frequency, and you see the full schedule instantly. If it works for them, you create the loan with those same numbers without typing anything again. Once created, its Documents hold the payment schedule ready to print or download, so they can take it home. A client who understands how much they pay and when pays better.
Where: Loans, the Calculator button. More detail in Simulate a loan and Turn the simulation into a loan.
4. Open and balance your cash every day
Open the cash box when the day starts. From then on you do not have to write anything down: every loan you hand out and every payment you record goes in on its own. At the end of the day you count the cash, enter it and close: Prestafolio tells you whether it balances, whether there is a surplus or a shortfall, and by how much. No more shortfalls nobody can explain.
Where: Cash. Closing with a cash count is on the paid plans. See Opening and closing the cash box, and if you have collectors, how to balance your collectors' cash.
5. Collect recurring services too
If besides lending you collect monthly fees, rent, membership dues or any fixed service, register them once. Prestafolio generates every charge on its date, accepts partial payments and shows you on Home which services fell behind and by how many days.
Where: Services. See What services are.
6. Check the trust level before you lend
Every client has a trust level, from Excellent to Not recommended, calculated automatically from how they have paid. You do not need to keep a blacklist in your head: before approving a new loan or raising someone's amount, check their level and decide with data.
Where: on each client's profile and in the Trust column of Clients. See Trust and the bureau and how to tell whether a client pays well.
7. Let the system notify clients who fall behind
On the paid plans, Prestafolio emails your client every day they remain overdue, on both loans and services, and for services it reminds them of the charge one day before it is due. You do not have to remember anyone.
There is one important detail for this to work: each client's notices start switched off, so nobody gets an email unless you decide to. Turn them on in the profile of each client you want to notify, and make sure they have an email address on file. The company-wide switch, in Settings, already starts on.
Each plan includes a daily notice limit per company, shared between loans and services:
Plan | Email notices per day |
|---|---|
Free | No notices included |
Basic | Up to 20 |
Gold | Up to 50 |
Premium | Up to 100 |
Need more? Connect your own Brevo account and send up to 300 emails a day on its free plan, at no extra cost. You create your Brevo account, generate your key and paste it in Settings along with the email address and sender name you want your clients to see. From then on your notices go out from your own account, without your plan's limit. It is available on Basic, Gold and Premium.
Where: each client's profile to switch their notices on, and Settings to connect Brevo. Everything sent is kept in Email history. The step by step is in Automatic notices.
8. If you have collectors, bring them onto your team
On the Gold and Premium plans, Prestafolio grows with you once you no longer collect alone:
Feature | What it solves |
|---|---|
Agents | You invite your collectors and decide what each one can see and do |
Collection routes | You build routes, order each collector's stops and follow their visits and what each route collected |
Reports | Portfolio, collections, arrears, each collector's performance and cash, to see the whole business |
Accounting | Trial balance and general ledger, without carrying notebooks to your accountant |
Where: Agents, Collection routes and Reports. See Invite a collector and how to organize collection routes.
Want to see what each plan includes? It is in Plans and billing. And if you have questions about how to use something, go to Billing, press Write to us and we will help.