TrackingPlanningReporting

Tracking Loans

Track mortgages, car loans, HECS, and other debts to understand your liabilities

Loans in Financio help you track debts and liabilities that reduce your net worth. Whether it's a mortgage, car finance, or student loan, keeping track of what you owe gives you a complete picture of your finances.

What Counts as a Loan?

Track any debt where you owe money:

  • Home Loan: Mortgages and property finance
  • Car Loan: Vehicle financing
  • Personal Loan: General purpose borrowing
  • HECS: Higher Education Contribution Scheme debt
  • Other: Any other debt (margin loans, business loans, etc.)

Adding a Loan

  1. Go to the Accounts page and click Add Account.

  2. Select Loan from the account type options.

  3. Choose the loan type.

  4. If you have a matching asset (property for home loans, vehicle for car loans), you'll be asked if you want to link them.

  5. Fill in the details:

    • Loan Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "ANZ Home Loan" or "HECS Debt")
    • Lender: The bank or institution you borrowed from
    • Amount Owed: The current outstanding balance
    • Balance Date: When that balance was accurate
    • Interest Rate: The annual interest rate (optional)

  6. Click Save to create the loan.

Add Loan form showing home loan type selected

Loan Types

Home Loan

Track your mortgage or property finance.

Features:

  • Link to a property asset to track equity
  • Set the lender (required)
  • Record the interest rate

Tip: If you have an offset account, add it as a Bank Account and link it to this home loan.

Car Loan

Track vehicle financing.

Features:

  • Link to a vehicle asset to track equity
  • Set the lender (required)
  • Record the interest rate

Personal Loan

Track general purpose loans.

Features:

  • Optional lender field
  • Record the interest rate

HECS

Track your Higher Education Contribution Scheme debt.

Features:

  • No lender required (it's the government)
  • Useful for tracking your tax-time obligations

Other

For any debt that doesn't fit the other categories.

Custom Type

When you select "Other", you can enter a custom loan type to describe what you're tracking.

Entering the Loan Amount

When adding a loan, enter the amount you owe as a positive number. Financio handles the conversion internally.

Example: For a $500,000 mortgage, enter 500000.

Financio stores loan balances as negative numbers because they represent money you owe, not money you have. This ensures your net worth calculation is accurate.

Don't Add a Minus Sign

Enter the loan amount as a positive number. Unlike credit cards, you don't need to add a minus sign—Financio does this automatically for loans.

Linking Loans to Assets

Home loans and car loans can be linked to their corresponding assets (property and vehicles). This connection allows you to:

  • Track Equity: See how much of the asset you actually own
  • Monitor LVR: Loan-to-value ratio shows your borrowing position
  • Understand Net Position: The asset value minus the loan balance

Linking During Creation

When you add a new loan, Financio checks if you have an unlinked asset of the matching type. If so, you can choose to link them during the loan creation process.

Linking Existing Loans and Assets

To link an existing loan to an asset:

  1. Open the loan and click Edit
  2. Find the "Linked Property" or "Linked Vehicle" section
  3. Click Link Property or Link Vehicle
  4. Select the asset from the list
  5. Save your changes

Unlinking

To remove a link:

  1. Open the loan and click Edit
  2. Click Unlink next to the linked asset
  3. Save your changes

Tracking Loan Repayments

Loans in Financio don't have transactions like bank accounts. To track how your loan balance decreases over time:

  1. Periodically update the loan with the current balance
  2. Edit the loan and change the Amount Owed and Balance Date

Update Regularly

Update your loan balance monthly or after each statement to keep your net worth accurate.

Interest Rate

Recording your interest rate is optional but useful for reference. It doesn't affect calculations—it's purely informational.

Enter the rate as a percentage (e.g., 6.5 for 6.5% p.a.).

Net Worth Settings

Include in Net Worth

Toggle this on to include the loan in your net worth calculation (it will reduce your net worth). Turn it off to track the loan without affecting your overall net worth.

Include in Net Worth From

If you want the loan to only affect your net worth from a specific date, set this date. Otherwise, it counts from the opening balance date.

Show Balance

Toggle this off to hide the loan balance from the accounts list, while still including it in calculations.

Deleting a Loan

  1. Open the loan and click Edit
  2. Click Delete Loan
  3. Confirm the deletion

Permanent Action

Deleting a loan cannot be undone. If the loan is linked to an asset, the link will be removed but the asset will remain.

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