Open a loan and click Record Payment.
The loan's waterfall, right in the modal
The modal shows a hint: "This loan applies: …", spelling out the order this loan's regular payments flow through its buckets. New loans default to escrow → interest → principal → late charges; you can give any loan its own order (see The payment waterfall order).
That order governs the installment. It does not quietly pay late charges: a charge is billed on top of the installment, so NoteHarbor asks what to do with it rather than taking it out of the money the installment is owed.
Application types
- Regular: the installment is applied through the waterfall in the loan's configured order.
- P&I: pays principal and interest only; the escrow portion stays owed. The installment is satisfied for P&I purposes, so the loan is behind by the escrow only (and a P&I-satisfied row never draws a late fee).
- Principal-only / Escrow-only / Interest-only: 100% to that bucket.
- Payoff: clears the loan; future scheduled rows are removed.
- Advance / Draw Funding (Admin/Owner only). The opposite direction: records money you sent out (a construction draw or protective advance), so the loan balance increases by the amount. No installment is marked paid, nothing is re-projected, and the payment shows in history with negative principal. On a loan with a draw schedule, the advance then appears in the Draws tab's Mark funded picker. An advance can't be held in suspense, added to a deposit batch (it's money going out, not a deposit), or edited in place. To correct one, delete it (the loan re-derives; a linked draw reads unfunded) and record it again.
The required minimum is netted
If an installment was already partially paid, the modal's required minimum is the remaining amount on the first still-due row, not the full scheduled payment. A note explains it: "This installment was previously paid $X of $Y. $Z remains." So a borrower catching up a shortfall pays exactly what's left.
Outstanding late charges: apply, waive or defer
If the loan carries outstanding late charges, the modal shows "Outstanding late charges: $X" and explains why it's asking: "Late fees are billed on top of the installment, so they are never taken out of the $X this payment owes the installment. Decide what this payment does with them."
- Apply: collect the charge out of whatever this payment sent above the installment. The option shows how much is actually available; if the payment doesn't exceed the installment, the whole charge stays outstanding and it says so.
- Waive: forgive the whole charge. Admin or Owner only.
- Defer: hold the whole charge out of the current amount due. Still owed, collected at payoff.
One option is tagged "· loan default": the choice matching the loan's own waterfall (fees-before-principal loans suggest Apply, everything else Defer). It's a suggestion, never an automatic action: the modal won't save until you answer. Choosing Waive or Defer reveals a Reason field, required (5+ characters) for everyone except the account Owner, and audited.
The ask appears on Regular and P&I payments only. On payoffs, bucket-directed applications, suspense holds and advances, settle charges from the Fees & Suspense tab instead.
Back-dated entries
If the payment date is more than 45 days in the past, the modal shows "Back-dated entry: N days in the past": "You are keying history, so today's clock must not decide this installment's late fee", and tells you whether the payment actually arrived past its own grace period.
- Assess for that period: post the fee that period earned, dated to that period, not today.
- Waive it: record the period's fee as already waived; an auditable marker that also stops the nightly sweep charging that installment later.
- Skip assessment: record the payment only. Nothing charged, nothing written. This is the default.
Like the late-charge ask, it blocks the save until answered.
Under- and overpayments
- Underpayment: choose to hold it in suspense (accumulates until there's enough to apply) or apply it as a partial payment.
- Overpayment: a panel headed "Overpayment: $X above the required minimum" asks "Apply the excess to:", advance to the next scheduled payment(s), principal, escrow, interest, fees, or next payment (held as credit). You must pick one. The two forward-looking choices are easy to confuse:
- Advance to the next scheduled payment(s): applies the excess now onto the next open installment(s), oldest-first. It catches up an overdue loan or pays a current loan ahead, those installments are actually satisfied, so the next-payment date and payments-remaining move forward and the amount past due shrinks. Late fees aren't touched. Use fees or a separate payment for those.
- Next payment (held as credit): parks the excess unapplied in the loan's suspense balance. It does not pay the next installment or move the amount due; apply it later with Apply suspense on the Fees & Suspense tab.
Early payments
A payment recorded before the due date satisfies the upcoming installment. It matches forward to the next scheduled row rather than sitting unapplied.
Editing a payment
Edit a payment's amount or date and NoteHarbor re-allocates it automatically through the same waterfall, then re-derives everything downstream. Edits take an audit note.
Deleting a payment
Deleting a payment outright is an Admin/Owner-only action, written to the audit trail as a deletion either way. Admins must type a reason (at least 5 characters); the account Owner may skip it. Use it for genuinely erroneous entries; for corrections, prefer an edit.
Re-projection
When applied principal differs from the scheduled amount by more than $0.50 (a curtailment or principal-only payment), NoteHarbor re-projects the remaining schedule from the real balance at the fixed contractual payment, so extra principal shortens the loan rather than shrinking the payment.
If you post payments through the API
The same rule holds outside the screen. On a loan with outstanding late charges, POST /api/loans/[id]/payments answers 409 Conflict (not a validation error), and names every decision it still needs (late charge, back-dated, remainder) in one response, with the default it would suggest and the options you may send. Re-post including the decision and it goes through. Waiving from a non-Admin returns 403.
Every payment is audited with before-and-after values.