Glossary

Every word you will see in the platform, explained in plain language.

The words Prestafolio uses, without jargon. If a screen says something you don't understand, look it up here.

The money in a loan

Term	What it means
Principal	The money you lent, without interest. It is what the client "really" owes you.
Interest	What you charge for lending. It is your profit.
Installment	Each payment on the schedule. Depending on the system it carries principal, interest or both.
Arrears (late fee)	The surcharge for paying late. It accrues per day late.
Projected arrears	The arrears the client would pay if they paid today. It is a live calculation, not a debt already recorded: if they pay tomorrow it will be higher.
Payment	Money received from the client. It may cover the full installment or part of it.
Partial payment	A payment that does not cover the installment. The installment stays half-paid and keeps accruing arrears.
Payoff	Paying off the whole loan at once and closing it.
Reversal	Undoing a payment entered by mistake. It erases nothing: it records the money going back.
Disbursement	The moment you hand the money to the client. It leaves the cash drawer.
Uncollectible	A loan you write off. It stops counting as a live portfolio.
Portfolio	All the money you have lent out on the street.
Cents	The platform stores all money in whole cents so not a single cent is lost to rounding. You always see your company's currency.

System	How it works
Fixed installment	The installment is always the same; each one carries principal and interest.
San	Like the traditional "san": the total is split into equal installments.
Fixed credit	The same principal is paid every time; interest goes down.
Fixed interest	Only interest is paid during the term; principal is settled at the end.
Open loan	No schedule: the client pays whenever they can and interest accrues per day.

Payment frequency: how often payment is due, whether daily, weekly, biweekly (every 15 days) or monthly.

Term	What it means
Shift (cash session)	The period while the drawer is open. It opens by declaring the starting cash and closes with the cash count.
Cash count	The closing: the platform computes what should be there (starting cash + inflows − outflows − expenses), you count what is there, and the difference is recorded.
Movement	Every cash inflow or outflow of the shift: collection, disbursement, reversal, refund, adjustment, renewal top-up, payment on account or expense.
Difference	Counted minus expected. Positive = surplus; negative = shortfall.

Term	What it means
Service	A charge that repeats (a monthly fee, a plan, a membership). It is not a loan.
Contract	The agreement with the client for that service. It can be active, paused (issues no new charges, but can be resumed) or cancelled (final).
Charge	The bill the contract issues every period. It can be pending, partial (half collected), paid or voided.

Term	What it means
Ledger	The accounting book the platform writes by itself with every collection and disbursement. You type no journal entries.
Double entry	The golden rule of accounting: every movement is recorded in two places and always balances.
Journal entry	Each record in the book.
Accounts	The buckets money is classified into: cash, portfolio (what is lent out), interest income, arrears income, service income…

Term	What it means
Expense	Money that leaves the business to operate (rent, fuel, utilities) and is not a loan. It is recorded under Accounting → Expenses. See Expenses.
Receipt	The photo or PDF of the receipt or invoice of an expense, attached to it.
Draft	An expense that is saved but not recorded yet: it creates no journal entry and moves no cash, and it can be edited or deleted.
Cancel	Undoing an expense that was already recorded: its journal entry is reversed and, if it was paid in cash, the money goes back to the open cash box. The expense stays as Cancelled and can no longer be changed.

Term	What it means
Company	Your account in Prestafolio. Everything (clients, loans, cash) lives inside it and never mixes with anyone else's.
Owner	Whoever created the company. Can do everything, no exceptions.
Agent / collector	An invited member. Can only do what the owner grants.
Collector without access	Someone who collects for you but does not sign in to the platform. You record their collections and the reports credit them. See Collectors with and without access.
Permission	The key to a specific action (create clients, collect, see the cash…). Without the key, the button does not even appear.
Invitation	The 8-character code an agent uses to join your company. It lasts 7 days.
Assigned	Each loan or contract can have a responsible collector, with or without access. If it is an agent, that is what shows up for them in "My performance".
Collected by	Who a payment is credited to in the reports. It can differ from whoever recorded it: the money goes into the cash box of whoever records it.

Term	What it means
Identity	The client's ID card or passport. It is the key to their history.
Trust level	The borrower's label: Excellent, Good, Regular, Delinquent or Not recommended.
Score	A number from 0 to 100 summarizing their payment behaviour. With no history, there is no number.
No history	The borrower is new: nobody has recorded payments for them yet. It is not the same as "bad".

Term	What it means
Promissory note	The loan document the platform generates for signing.
Receipt	The proof of payment, downloadable as a PDF.
Audit	The trail of who did what and when. How long it is kept depends on your plan.
Storage	Your plan's space for the files you upload. See Client documents.