How to add a debt in Beyond Payday

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

1. Go to Debts (opens in a new tab) and select Add Debt.
2. 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
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Link the bill that covers this debt, under Monthly Payment (or Annual Fee (if applicable) for credit cards). This is optional, and it's the only place a payment amount comes from — there's no separate minimum-payment field on the debt itself.
8. Set Asset Owner if more than one person shares the debt, then select Add Debt to save.

How it works

• 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.
• 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.
• Payment comes from the linked bill. Because there's no stored minimum-payment field, Beyond Payday uses whatever bill you linked as the payment everywhere — payoff-time estimates, insight cards, and Beth's debt payoff plan.

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.