Add every loan and balance you owe, and Beyond Payday rolls it into your net worth, groups it by type, and tracks whether it's revolving or installment, secured or unsecured.
Steps
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Go to Debts (opens in a new tab) and select Add Debt.
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Choose a category. The dropdown shows friendly names; Beyond Payday stores and displays a shorter name afterward (dropdown label → stored name):
- Credit Card
- Home Loan (Mortgage) → Mortgage
- Car Loan (Auto Loan) → Auto Loan
- RV / Boat Loan
- Student Loan (Education) → Student Loan
- Personal Loan (Unsecured) → Personal Loan
- Business Loan (SBA/Term) → Business Loan (only when adding a debt to a business)
- Line of Credit (HELOC/LOC) → Line of Credit
- Medical Debt / Hospital Bills → Medical Debt
- Other Debt / Loan → Other Loan
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Enter the balance, then select More Details to expand it and enter What's the interest rate? — the interest rate is inside that collapsed section, along with the nickname, notes, and (for loans) What was the original amount?
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If it's a credit card, enter What's your credit limit?, also under More Details — this field only appears for credit cards, not lines of credit.
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If it's a credit card, answer How do you pay this card?:
- In full each month: on the due day, the whole balance is paid.
- I carry a balance: on the due day, that month's charges are paid. Add Extra toward the balance each month if you pay more than that. Enter only the part beyond the card's charges. The form shows about what you'd pay in total with the bills charged to the card.
Then pick Paid from (the bank account that pays it; select + to add one) and Due day. You can skip this for now; the cash flow forecast will ask later.
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If it's a student loan, answer Federal or private? (federal loans are listed on StudentAid.gov). For a federal loan you can also set:
- Repayment plan: Standard, Graduated, Extended, Income-driven (RAP, IBR, PAYE, ICR and SAVE), or Other. Income-driven adds an optional Which income-driven plan? RAP (Repayment Assistance Plan) is new in July 2026. SAVE has ended; your servicer will move you to another plan.
- Working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness? Turn it on, then enter Qualifying payments made (0 to 120). Your official count is on StudentAid.gov. Months in the SAVE forbearance don't count toward PSLF unless you buy them back.
A private loan shows none of these.
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For most other categories, enter How long is the loan? (in months or years) and use I know when this loan... to enter when it started or ends. Beyond Payday calculates whichever date you didn't enter.
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If it's a mortgage, auto loan, RV/boat loan, line of credit, or other loan, use Link to Property / Link to Vehicle / Link to Asset to connect it to what it's securing — this is what lets Beyond Payday calculate your equity on that asset.
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Link the bill that covers this debt, under Monthly Payment (or Annual Fee (if applicable) for credit cards). This is optional, and for a loan it's where the payment you actually make comes from. You can also enter Minimum monthly payment, the lowest total payment your lender requires, escrow included for a mortgage (optional, and hidden for a card paid in full). It matters for your health score: payments up to the minimum count as a must-have bill, and anything you pay above it counts as saving.
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Set Asset Owner if more than one person shares the debt, then select Add Debt to save.
How it works
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Revolving vs. installment. Revolving debt (credit cards, lines of credit) has a balance that rises and falls as you spend and pay it down. Installment debt (mortgages, auto loans, student loans, personal loans, and the rest) is amortized — each payment is split between interest and principal on a fixed schedule until the balance reaches zero. On the Debts page, open Sort & Group and set Group by to Revolving / Installment to view your debts this way.
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Secured vs. unsecured. By default, debts are grouped into Credit Card, Secured Debt, and Unsecured Debt. Secured debt (mortgage, auto, RV/boat loans) is backed by property the lender can take if you stop paying. The Unsecured Debt group holds student, personal, and business loans, lines of credit, medical debt, and other loans; credit cards get their own group.
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A loan's payment comes from the linked bill. Beyond Payday uses whatever bill you linked as the payment everywhere — payoff-time estimates, insight cards, and Beth's debt payoff plan. The optional Minimum monthly payment doesn't change that bill; it only tells the health score how much of the payment is required and how much is extra.
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A credit card is paid "what you charge, plus any extra". Bills charged to the card already count as spending. A card paid in full each month has nothing to pay off. For a card that carries a balance, only the extra brings the balance down; it's saved as the card's Credit Card Payment bill. An older card set up with a payment bill for the full amount gets I carry a balance filled in, with the extra set to that bill minus the card's charges, until you save or change it. A card paid in full can't get a Credit Card Payment bill, and a card that carries a balance has just one: change its amount with Extra toward the balance each month on the card. Fee bills can still be linked to any card.
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Student loans show their type on the Debts list. For example "Federal · Income-driven (IBR)" and "PSLF 48 of 120". PSLF needs 120 qualifying payments; Beyond Payday tracks the count you enter and doesn't estimate when or how much might be forgiven. Changing a student loan to another category clears these answers.
Balance history
Every time you save a debt's balance, Beyond Payday records that day's balance. Under the balance in the edit window, a short line shows your progress once there's enough history — "Down $2,060 since Mar 3" and, once you have at least 3 balances spanning 90 days, "About $305/mo · at this pace, paid off around Jan 2028". Select that line, or the trend line under the balance on the Debts page, to open the history window.
The history window shows a chart or a table of every balance you've saved, newest first. From there you can add a past balance from an old statement, paste several at once (one "date, balance" per line), confirm that today's balance hasn't changed, or edit and delete past entries. Changing history never changes the debt's current balance.
Balance history also decides when a debt's payment stops in your retirement projection: a credit card's extra payment stays in the plan until its history shows the balance going down. See When does a debt payment stop?.
Good to know
- Medical Debt has no linked-bill option — you track its balance and interest rate only.
- Business debts are added from a business's own Debts tab, not this page — that's a Pro feature.
- You can edit or delete a debt any time from the Debts page.
- On a credit card, a balance field left blank when you edit means "not changed". It isn't saved as $0.
FAQ
What debt categories does Beyond Payday support?
9 on the Debts page: Credit Card, Mortgage, Auto Loan, RV/Boat Loan, Student Loan, Personal Loan, Line of Credit, Medical Debt, and Other Loan. Business Loan is a 10th, available only when you add a debt to a business.
What's the difference between revolving and installment debt?
Revolving debt (credit cards, lines of credit) has a balance that goes up and down as you spend and pay it off. Installment debt (mortgages, auto loans, student loans) is amortized — fixed payments until the balance hits zero.
How do I track my minimum payment?
Beyond Payday doesn't have a separate minimum-payment field. For a loan, link the bill that pays this debt, and that bill's amount is the payment used everywhere in the app. A credit card works differently: see the next question.
How do I tell Beyond Payday how I pay a credit card?
On the card, answer **How do you pay this card?** with **In full each month** or **I carry a balance**, then pick **Paid from** and **Due day**. Bills charged to the card already count as spending, so you never add a bill for the full payment. If you carry a balance, enter only what you pay beyond the card's charges in **Extra toward the balance each month**.
How do I track a federal student loan and PSLF?
On a Student Loan, answer **Federal or private?**; a federal loan then asks for its **Repayment plan** and whether you're **Working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness?**, with **Qualifying payments made** (0 to 120). The Debts list shows, for example, "Federal · Income-driven" and "PSLF 48 of 120".
What is the minimum monthly payment on a debt for?
It's the lowest total payment your lender requires each month (for a mortgage, include escrow), and it's optional. In your health score, payments on the debt up to that amount count as a must-have bill, and anything you pay above it counts as saving. A credit card paid in full doesn't ask for one.
Can I link a debt to what it's paying for?
Yes, for Mortgage, Auto Loan, RV/Boat Loan, Line of Credit, and Other Loan — use the Link to Property/Vehicle/Asset field to connect it to the asset it's securing.
What's the difference between secured and unsecured debt?
Secured debt is backed by property the lender can take if you stop paying, like a mortgage. Unsecured debt isn't backed by anything specific, like most credit cards and personal loans.
Can I see how a debt's balance has changed over time?
Yes. Select the trend line under a debt's balance (or its Trend column in the spreadsheet view) to open a chart or table of every balance saved for it, and add past balances from old statements.
Does adding past balances change my debt's payoff estimate?
It can. Once you have at least 3 balances spanning 90 days in the last year, the history window and the edit form show a payoff estimate based on your actual pace, if the balance is going down.