Installments
Not everyone pays all at once. Somebody buys a fridge and settles it over three months. A supplier agrees to be paid down weekly. Installments track the agreed total and what is left of it, in both directions.
| Owes you | Someone is paying you over time |
| You owe | You are paying someone over time |
When to use this instead of an invoice
Use an invoice when you are issuing a document — line items, tax, a number the customer refers to.
Use an installment arrangement when there is no document, just an understanding: "he is paying me 900,000 over three months". It takes seconds to set up and needs nothing from the other person.
1. Start an arrangement
You start one while recording the money, not on a separate screen.
- Select + Record, then Add Income or Add Expense.
- Fill in the amount, category and money location as usual.
- Switch on They are paying in installments (or Paying this in installments on an expense).
- Enter the Agreed total — the whole amount, not today's payment.
- Optionally set Finish by.
- Select Start arrangement.
As you type, SBB shows what will still be owed once today's payment lands.
The first payment is optional
Sometimes you agree today and the first money comes next week. Leave the amount empty and only the arrangement is created — nothing is booked until money actually moves.
2. Watch the balances
Open Installments from the sidebar.
The three figures at the top answer the questions people actually ask:
| Card | Means |
|---|---|
| Owed to you | Still to come in, across every open arrangement |
| You still owe | Still to go out |
| Past their date | Arrangements that have run past their agreed date |
Money in and money out are deliberately not netted together. A business owed 3,000,000 and owing 3,000,000 is in a very different position from one with neither, and a single number would hide that.
Each row leads with what is left — the balance is the question; the agreed total is context for it.
3. Take the next payment
- Find the arrangement.
- Select Add payment.
- Enter the amount and where the money went.
- Select Add.
The payment is booked as an ordinary income or expense entry. It appears in your Transactions list, your P&L and your balances exactly like any other entry, tagged Installment so you can see what it belongs to.
The agreed total is never booked as money
Agreeing to receive 900,000 is not receiving 900,000. Only the payments are real money. If SBB booked the agreed total as well, your reports would count the promise and the payments both, and you would appear to have earned or spent roughly twice what you did.
4. Send a statement
Every arrangement can produce a statement of the account: what was agreed, each payment, and the balance outstanding.
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Statement | Opens a printable page — use your browser's Save as PDF |
| Opens WhatsApp with the balance already written | |
| Sends the statement from your business, to an address you enter |
All three quote the same figures. Reversed payments are excluded from the totals and the statement says so, so the arithmetic can be followed by someone who was not there when a payment was reversed.
5. Change an arrangement
Select Edit on any row.
- Who it is with — fix a name or a spelling.
- Agreed total — renegotiating is normal. Changing it affects only what is still expected; payments already recorded are untouched.
- Finish by — set a date, or clear it to drop the deadline entirely.
6. When something will not be paid
Select Add payment, then Close arrangement. You can give a reason such as Written off or Renegotiated.
Closing stops SBB expecting the rest. It does not rewrite history — payments already made stay exactly where they are, because they happened. A closed arrangement can be reopened at any time.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In progress | Money still outstanding, not past its date |
| Overdue | Past the agreed date with a balance remaining |
| Settled | Paid in full |
| Closed | You stopped expecting the rest |
A settled arrangement is never marked overdue, whatever the date said. Once the money is in, the date stops mattering.
Reminders
Each morning SBB checks for arrangements that have gone past their agreed date and notifies the owner.
You are told once per arrangement. A reminder that arrives every night is one people learn to ignore, so SBB stays quiet until something changes — the arrangement is paid, renegotiated, or closed. Any of those makes the situation new again, and worth mentioning.
Settled and closed arrangements are never chased.
What overpaying does
If someone pays more than the agreed total, the arrangement settles at zero. It does not flip into a debt running the other way — somebody who overpays is owed a refund, and that is a separate transaction rather than a negative balance sitting on this record.
Related
- Recording transactions — the record screen the arrangement starts from
- Invoices & getting paid — when you need a document
- Credit book — informal lending between people