Setting up an installment plan in IOUEZ

Rowan agreed to lend Jesse $1,200 for a laptop, paid back in six monthly chunks. The app part took two minutes. The part that mattered happened before anyone touched a phone: agreeing the amount, the number of payments, the rhythm and what happens if one is late. This guide gives you a worksheet for that conversation, explains every field you’ll meet when you set up an installment plan in IOUEZ, and shows the one date detail most people miss.

The fields, in plain English

When you set up an installment plan in IOUEZ, you’ll fill in a handful of fields. Most of them are part of the agreement itself; the schedule fields differ a little between the web app and the Android Add IOU screen. Here’s what each one does and how we’d fill it in.

Debt type

Someone owes me if you’re lending, I owe someone if you’re borrowing. It decides which side of the balance you sit on.

Amount

The money that changes hands, before interest. Use the exact figure: $1,200, not “about twelve hundred”.

Currency

The currency both of you will repay in. Pick it on purpose; it can’t be converted later.

Interest rate

Optional. A flat percentage of the amount, added once. 5% on $1,200 adds $60, whether you pay over six weeks or six months.

Set up installments / Payment Installments

What turns a single debt into a schedule. In the web app it’s a button on the agreement page; on Android it’s a switch on the Add IOU form. Without it, you have one balance with one due date.

Number of payments

How many payments, from 2 to 120 in the web app (Android calls it Number of installments). The total (amount plus any interest) is divided evenly, to the cent; any leftover cents land on one installment so the sum is exact.

Installment Title

Android only. A short name for the plan, like “Laptop loan”. Optional, but it makes lists easier to read.

How often

Weekly, every two weeks or monthly. Weekly and every two weeks are 7 and 14 days apart in both apps. Monthly keeps the same day of the month in the web app and is 30 days apart on Android.

First payment

Web app only: the date of the first installment. Android starts counting from the day you save.

Due date

The agreement’s overall due date. Once a shared agreement has installments, reminders follow each installment instead, but we still set it to the final installment so anyone can see when it should be fully paid.

Agreement notes

Your plain-English terms: the schedule, the late plan, how payments are made.

Both apps show you the result before you save. On Android, a live summary under the frequency buttons reads, for example, “Each installment: $210.00” and “6 payments of $210.00 (monthly)”. In the web app, a preview table lists every date and amount. Read it before you save. It’s the number your borrower will see every time.

The worksheet: agree it before you open the app

Copy this, fill in the brackets together (on paper, in a note, in a text thread), and keep it. It’s the plan you’ll type in, and the version you’ll both point to if memories differ.

INSTALLMENT PLAN WORKSHEET

Lender: [full name]
Borrower: [full name]
Date agreed: [Month DD, YYYY]

Amount lent: $[amount]
What it's for: [one line]
Currency: [USD]
Interest: [none / X% flat on the amount]
Total to repay: $[amount + interest]

Number of payments: [N]
Frequency: [weekly / every 2 weeks / monthly]
Each payment: $[total / N]
First payment due: [date]
Last payment due: [date]

How payments are sent: [bank transfer / Zelle / cash]
Who records each payment: [the borrower, same day]

If a payment will be late:
[Borrower tells lender before the due date;
we agree a new date together.]

Paying early or extra is: [welcome / fine,
it comes off the last payments]

Both agree: [initials] [initials]

Two lines on that worksheet do most of the work. “Who records each payment” stops the classic “I thought you’d log it”. And “If a payment will be late” turns a missed date into a scheduled conversation instead of an awkward silence. Our longer piece on making a repayment schedule both people can stick to has more on choosing the rhythm.

Weekly, biweekly or monthly: picking the rhythm

The frequency matters more than the number of payments, because it decides whether each payment lands when the borrower actually has money. Before you set up an installment plan, ask one question: when does the borrower get paid?

• Paid weekly or by the shift? Weekly payments of a smaller amount feel lighter. $1,200 over 12 weeks is $100 a week.
• Paid every two weeks? Biweekly is the natural fit. Each payment lands right after a paycheck, every time, with no drift: $1,200 over 8 paychecks is $150 each.
• Paid once a month, or irregular income? Monthly keeps the count low. Six payments of $200 is easier to keep track of than twenty-six of anything.

Then think about length. Shorter plans finish before anyone loses interest in them; very long plans tend to stall in the middle. For most friendly loans under a couple of thousand dollars, we’d aim to be done within six months. If the payment that gets you there is too big, lend less rather than stretching the plan to two years.

Finally, decide on interest with your eyes open. The IOUEZ field is flat interest: one percentage of the amount, added once and divided across the payments. It doesn’t grow if repayment runs long, which keeps it simple and predictable for both of you.

How to set up an installment plan in IOUEZ, step by step

With the worksheet filled in, open whichever app is in front of you. The order is the same in both; the only real difference is where the schedule lives. On Android it’s part of creating the IOU. In the web app you create the agreement first, then add the schedule on the agreement page, before anyone signs. Here’s the order Rowan used on a laptop, with the Android version alongside.

1. Start a new agreement

   In the web app, start a new agreement, choose I lent money and pick Jesse from your contacts. On Android, tap the add button to open Add IOU and choose Someone owes me. Either way, Jesse needs to be a linked contact (added by email or phone) so the agreement is shared with their account.

2. Enter the basics

   Amount 1200, currency USD, a description (“Laptop, Oct 2026”) and the interest rate if you agreed one. Rowan typed 5. Set the due date to the date of the final installment, so the agreement shows when it should be fully paid.

3. Write the plan in the notes

   Paste the key lines from your worksheet into the notes: “6 payments of $210, monthly from Nov 1. Late? Jesse tells Rowan before the date.” The schedule shows the dates; the notes hold the parts a schedule can’t, like the late plan.

4. Add the schedule

   In the web app, save the agreement, then open it and choose Set up installments: Number of payments 6, How often every month, First payment Nov 1. Check the preview (six payments of $210.00) and choose Save plan. On Android, switch on Payment Installments on the same form, set 6, an optional Installment Title and monthly, and check the summary.

5. Sign, both of you

   Each of you signs from your own account. Do this last: once both signatures are in, the amount, interest, due date and schedule are locked. If the schedule is missing when you go to sign, stop and add it first. On Android, you can also turn on the IOU Agreement switch for the formal document and read it with Preview Agreement before Confirm & Save.

The date detail most people miss

The web app lets you pick the first payment date, and “every month” keeps that day of the month (a 31st becomes the last day in shorter months). The Android app works differently: the schedule starts on the day you save it, and each installment is one interval later: 7 days for weekly, 14 for biweekly, 30 for monthly. That’s simple and predictable, but on Android “monthly” is not “the 1st of every month”. Months have 28 to 31 days, so a 30-day rhythm slowly drifts.

Set up in the web app with a first payment of Nov 1, the same plan would fall on the 1st of every month through April 1. On Android there are two easy fixes. Agree that “due” means “by the next payday” and write that in the notes. Or choose biweekly if the borrower is paid every two weeks; a 14-day rhythm matches a biweekly paycheck exactly. What we wouldn’t do is ignore it and then mark a payment late because the calendar shifted.

Tracking payments against the plan

In the web app, the agreement page shows the schedule with a status for each payment: Paid, Part paid, Next due, Overdue or Upcoming. You don’t tick installments off one by one. Record each payment on the agreement as usual, and payments count toward installments in order. If Jesse pays $250 in November, installment 1 shows as paid and the extra $40 counts toward December’s. For shared agreements, reminders go out to both of you for the next unpaid installment (“installment 2 of 6”), in each person’s local morning.

On Android, open the agreement and choose View Installment Schedule. The Installment Schedule screen lists each payment with its due date and a status: pending, paid, partial or overdue, plus a progress bar for the whole plan. When Jesse pays installment 1 in full, tap Mark as paid on it. That marks the installment paid and adds $210 to the agreement’s paid amount, so the balance drops everywhere, including in the web app.

Partial payments need a different route on Android. If Jesse can only send $150 one month, record it with Record Payment on the agreement itself, with the date and method, and add a note about when the other $60 will follow. Don’t tap Mark as paid for a partial amount: it always counts the full installment. In the web app, that $150 simply shows as Part paid until the rest arrives.

Changing a plan that isn’t working

Life changes. If Jesse loses shifts in January, the worst outcome is silence and a string of overdue marks. The better one is a short conversation and a written update. Agree the new amount or dates together, then record the change clearly: add a dated line to the agreement notes (“Jan 15: agreed to pay $105 on Jan 30 and Feb 14 instead of $210 on Jan 30”) and record the payments as they come in.

Signed shared agreements lock the amount, currency, interest and due date, which protects both of you from silent edits. If the change is big, it’s cleaner to settle up what’s been paid and set up a new plan for the rest, signed again. Our guide to restarting repayments after a missed payment has wording for that conversation.

Interest and taxes, briefly

Most installment plans between friends carry no interest, and we’d skip it under a few hundred dollars. If you do add some, remember the IOUEZ field is a flat percentage, not an annual rate; our comparison of simple interest and a flat fee shows how the two differ over time.

On the tax side: interest you receive is generally taxable income, according to the IRS. For interest-free or low-interest loans between individuals, the IRS’s below-market loan rules generally don’t apply on any day the total outstanding between the two of you is $10,000 or less, as long as the money isn’t used to buy income-producing assets. Above that, the IRS’s monthly Applicable Federal Rates become relevant, and a tax professional is worth a call.

The message that confirms the plan

Once the plan is saved, send one short message that repeats it. It costs ten seconds and removes any doubt about what was agreed.

That’s the whole job: agree, enter, confirm, track. When you set up an installment plan this way, the app reminds, records and keeps score, and you get to stay friends. For the bigger picture on choosing amounts and lengths, see installment plans for personal loans, explained, and our core guide on how to lend money to a friend.