Exporting your records: keep a copy of every agreement

Harper lent Elliot $3,000 two years ago, and it was repaid in full last spring. This March, Harper’s tax preparer asked a simple question about an old loan, and Harper realized the only copy lived inside one app on one phone. If you’ve signed agreements in IOUEZ, take a few minutes to export loan records to files you control. This guide shows which copy to make for which job, the exact screens that make them, and a routine that takes about fifteen minutes a quarter.

Why bother, if it’s already in the app?

Because “in the app” isn’t the same as “in your hands”. Phones get lost, accounts get deleted, and sometimes the other person deletes a shared agreement. A file you saved is yours regardless of what happens to any account.

Records also get asked for at awkward moments. A tax preparer wants to see whether a loan was really a loan. A small claims court wants the signed agreement and proof of payments. A family member wants to know what’s still owed after a falling-out. The IRS, for example, says that to deduct a nonbusiness bad debt you have to show you intended a loan rather than a gift, that the debt is totally worthless, and that you took reasonable steps to collect it, and you attach a statement describing it. A signed agreement plus a payment history makes that statement easy to write.

Harper’s question from the tax preparer turned out to be easy, as it happens. The agreement was still in the app, and a PDF took thirty seconds. But it was a near miss: Harper had been planning to switch phones that month, had never checked whether everything had synced, and had no copy anywhere else. That’s the moment to export loan records: before you need them, while everything is still where you left it. The rest of this guide is the version of that evening Harper wishes they’d had a year earlier.

Before you export loan records: a five-minute tidy-up

An export is only as good as what’s in the app. Before you export loan records for the first time, spend five minutes making the data worth keeping.

• Record the missing payments. Scroll your agreements for any balance that looks too high. If Elliot paid you $200 in cash in June and nobody recorded it, add it now with the real date and a note (“cash, recorded late in October”).
• Fix vague descriptions. “Loan” tells future-you nothing. “Car repair, March 2024” does. Descriptions stay editable even after both people sign.
• Fill in references. Where you still have the bank or app transfer ID, add it to the payment’s reference. That single field links the export to your bank statement.
• Settle what’s settled. If something was repaid in full, make sure the last payment is recorded so the status shows as paid.

Harper found two unrecorded cash payments and one agreement still labeled “money”. Ten minutes later, the export told the true story.

Copy 1: one agreement, as a PDF

This is the copy you’ll use most. In the web app, open the agreement and click Print / PDF at the top. Your browser’s print window opens with a clean “Loan agreement” document, not a screenshot of the app. It includes:

• The IOUEZ logo and the agreement ID, so you can match the file to the record later.
• The creation date.
• The terms: description, category, amount, interest, total due, paid to date, remaining, due date, status and any notes.
• A table of every payment recorded: date, amount, method and reference.
• Both signature slots, with the signer’s name and the date and time each one signed.
• A footer saying when the document was generated.

In the print window, choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. Name the file so you’ll find it in five years: 2026-10 Harper-Elliot $3000 agreement.pdf is better than agreement (3).pdf.

On Android, the agreement screen also lets you share the formal agreement document as a PDF or an image, or send it through WhatsApp or SMS; the app notes that both parties must sign before the document is generated.

Copy 2: export loan records as a spreadsheet

When you want all your loans in one place, you can do it from either app.

In the web app

Open Settings and find the Export your data card. It has two buttons:

• Agreements (CSV), available on every plan. One row per agreement: agreement ID, who it’s with, direction (they owe me or I owe), description, category, currency, amount, interest, total due, paid, left to pay, status, due date, created and settled dates, whether it’s shared and whether it has installments. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
• Everything (Excel), depending on your plan. A single .xlsx workbook with an Agreements sheet, a Payments sheet (one row per payment, with its currency, date, method, reference and notes) and, if you’re in any groups, a Groups sheet listing each expense and payment with your share.

The file lands in your browser’s usual downloads folder, named with the date, so it’s easy to file away. If your plan doesn’t include the Excel workbook, the card says so and the CSV still works.

On Android

Use the Export Data screen (from Settings, under data). It shows how many debts and payments you have, then offers two exports, each in two formats:

• Export Debts, as CSV (spreadsheet) or PDF (report).
• Export Payments, as CSV or PDF.

The debts CSV has one row per agreement with these columns: ID, person, type (owed to me or I owe), amount, amount paid, remaining, currency, description, category, status, priority, due date, created date, paid date, witness, witness phone and agreement notes. The payments CSV has one row per payment: ID, the debt it belongs to, person, debt description, amount, payment method, reference, notes and payment date.

Android has no direct Excel (.xlsx) download, but you don’t need one. As the app’s own export screen points out, CSV files open in Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet app. Open the file, then use “Save as” to keep an Excel copy if you prefer.

One more detail: the Android payments CSV doesn’t have its own currency column. If you lend in more than one currency, export both files and match payments to their agreement using the debt ID; the debts file shows each agreement’s currency. The web app’s Excel workbook puts the currency on every payment row already.

Copy 3: a backup for moving phones

The Android app also has Backup Data and Restore Data in Settings. A backup saves your people, debts, payments and settings in a single JSON file you can save or share. It’s meant for restoring into the app, not for reading, so think of it as a safety net rather than a record you’d show anyone.

Your account already syncs to the cloud, so most people moving to a new phone simply sign in. The backup is handy as an extra layer before a big change, like a factory reset.

The three copies, side by side

How long should you keep these records?

For personal loans, our default is simple: keep the signed PDF until the loan is fully repaid, then for at least three more years. Keep it longer if the loan ever touched your taxes.

That default follows the IRS’s general guidance on record keeping. The IRS says to keep records that support items on a tax return until the period of limitations for that return runs out, which is generally three years. It’s seven years if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction. If you received interest on a loan and reported it, or might ever claim an unpaid loan as a bad debt, keep the full record set (agreement, payments and your collection attempts) for the longer period.

A fifteen-minute routine, four times a year

Exporting once is easy. Exporting regularly is what saves you. Here’s the routine Harper now follows, tied to dates that are easy to remember.

1. January

   Download the spreadsheet export: Export your data in the web app’s Settings, or Export Debts and Export Payments on Android. Save the files to the “Loans” folder on your computer and to a second place. Add up the year: interest received, anything forgiven.

2. April

   For every agreement signed or settled since January, save a fresh Print / PDF copy. Delete nothing; just add.

3. July

   Repeat the spreadsheet export. Check the remaining balances against what you believe is owed; fix any payment nobody recorded.

4. October

   PDFs for anything new, plus a backup file if you’re due a phone upgrade. Move old exports into a dated subfolder.

If you’re on the web only, the same rhythm works without a phone: the spreadsheet from Settings, plus a Print / PDF copy of each agreement that was signed, changed or settled that quarter. Fifteen minutes, four times a year. When a question comes, you’ll have the answer in a folder instead of in a scroll through a phone.

An agreement you can’t find is an agreement you can’t use.

A folder structure that stays tidy

Nothing fancy. One top folder called “Loans”, then one subfolder per person, then dated files inside. Harper’s looks like this:

• Loans / Elliot / 2024-03 agreement signed.pdf, 2025-04 agreement settled.pdf
• Loans / _Exports / 2026-01 agreements.csv, 2026-01 everything.xlsx
• Loans / _Backups / the JSON backup before the last phone change

Put dates at the start of file names, year first, so files sort themselves. And if you ever add your own notes, such as “Called Elliot about the late payment, agreed new date”, keep them in the same person folder. Those notes are exactly what the IRS calls reasonable steps to collect, if you ever need them.

Sharing an export with someone else

Exports are for you first. The full CSV contains every person you’ve lent to or borrowed from, their descriptions, notes and, where you added them, witness names and phone numbers. That’s other people’s information, so be choosy about where it goes.

• Sharing with the other person in a loan? Send the Print / PDF of that one agreement, not your full export.
• Sharing with a tax preparer? Send only the agreements that matter for your return. If the CSV is easier, delete the unrelated rows from a copy first.
• Sending by email? Fine for a single PDF. For a full export, a shared cloud folder you can revoke later is tidier than an attachment that lives forever in someone’s inbox.

When you export loan records to share, think “minimum necessary”: enough to answer the question, nothing about anyone else.

What isn’t in an export, and how to cover it

Exports capture what was recorded in IOUEZ. They don’t capture what happened elsewhere. Three gaps worth closing:

• Bank or app proof of each payment. The Reference field holds a transfer ID; the bank statement proves it. Save statements with the loan folder when a payment is large or disputed.
• Conversations about changes. If you agreed new terms by text, screenshot the thread and save it next to the agreement PDF. Our guide on keeping proof of repayment covers what’s worth saving.
• Signature drawings on private agreements. For agreements that aren’t shared, only the signer’s name syncs; the drawing stays on the device where it was made. Print to PDF from that device right after signing.

Once a loan is done, close it properly as well: our guide on how to close an IOU when it’s fully paid covers the last steps, and the final PDF belongs in the folder too. If you’re still deciding whether IOUEZ is worth using over a spreadsheet at all, our comparison of signed records versus notes and spreadsheets lays out the trade-offs.