Recording a payment
Collecting a full installment or a partial payment: what to type in each field, what enters the cash drawer and when.
Collecting is the most used operation in Prestafolio. It records what the client just paid on a loan: the full installment, the installment plus its arrears, or only part of it (a partial payment).
You do it from the loan detail screen, Collect button. There is no global payments screen: you always collect inside a loan.
You need the cash drawer open. Every cash movement requires an open cash session. If it is closed, the form still opens but the save button is disabled and a banner appears; if you try anyway, the system answers "There is no open cash session".
The fields
Field | What it is | If left blank |
|---|---|---|
Installment no. | The installment you are collecting | The current installment is proposed |
Total | What is being paid on the installment: principal + interest, WITHOUT arrears | The pending installment is proposed |
Arrears | The arrears you are collecting, on top of the total | Accrued arrears are proposed; blank = 0 |
Cash | Bills the client handed you | No change is computed |
Change | Computed for you: | Not applicable |
The key detail: arrears are NOT deducted from the total, they are added. What enters the drawer is total + arrears. If you type 5,000 as total and 350 as arrears, you collected RD$5,350.
You do not type principal and interest: the financial engine derives them from the loan schedule. You only say how much was paid.
A worked example
Installment #3 of a loan: principal RD$4,200 + interest RD$800 = RD$5,000. The client shows up 10 days late and has accrued RD$350 of arrears. He pays with RD$6,000 in cash.
- Total: 5,000
- Arrears: 350
- Cash: 6,000
- Change (computed): 6,000 − 5,350 = RD$650
On save:
- The drawer is credited RD$5,350 (principal + interest + arrears: collected arrears are cash received and belong in the drawer).
- The loan advances: installments paid +1, total paid +5,350, profit +1,150 (interest 800 + arrears 350), and the next payment date moves to the following period.
- The ledger records: debit Cash 5,350 against Loan Portfolio 4,200 (the principal returned), Interest Income 800 and Penalty Income 350.
Partial payments: the surprising part
If the client does not bring the full installment, turn on Partial payment and type what he did bring. The system stores it inside an "open" payment for that installment.
A partial payment does NOT enter the drawer yet. The loan does not move either (principal is not reduced, the installment does not advance). The money is credited to the drawer all at once, when a final payment completes the installment: at that point the folded total (all partials together) plus the arrears go in.
Practical consequence: when you balance the drawer at closing, the cash from partial payments is not yet reflected in the system. Complete the installment when you can, or count that cash separately.
Each installment allows up to 10 payments. The 10th is only accepted if it completes the installment; a partial one that would be the tenth is rejected with "complete the installment".
How partials are folded
When you complete an installment that already had partials, the Total you type is what is left, not the whole installment. The form already proposes it that way.
Installment of 5,000 · previous partial of 2,000 · arrears 350:
Step | Total you send | Drawer | Loan |
|---|---|---|---|
Partial 1 | 2,000 | unchanged | unchanged |
Partial 2 (completes) | 3,000 | +5,350 | installment settled |
Double click, double charge: it will not happen
Every partial payment carries an idempotency key generated when the form opens. If the submission is retried (double click, flaky connection), the system recognises the payment is already recorded and does not add it twice.
Errors you may see
Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
There is no open cash session | The drawer is closed | Open the drawer and retry |
The loan is already settled | It takes no more payments | Check the loan |
The loan was renewed | Terminal state | Collect on the new loan |
That installment was already settled | That installment number is paid | Use the current installment |
The loan changed state during the operation | Another collector touched the loan while you were filling the form | Reload and retry |
The ongoing partial changed during the operation | Another partial landed on that installment between opening the form and saving | Reload and retry |
The last two are anti double-charge protections: the system would rather ask you to retry with fresh data than over-credit the drawer.
Who can collect
Requires the record payments permission. A collector can only collect loans assigned to him; the owner collects the whole portfolio.
See also: Settling a loan, How arrears are calculated, Reversing a payment.