In this guide 6 sections
Move in three steps. First, copy every open loan from the diary into one sheet with a due date, the instalment and the balance still owed. Second, log every visit as a dated note. Third, record every promise to pay with its date, and sort by that date each morning so the worst sits on top.
Start by copying what the diary already holds
Open the diary and list what each page really contains. Most pages carry a borrower’s name, a street or village, a weekly instalment, a running balance and scribbled remarks in the margin. The remarks matter most. Copy them first.
Give every borrower exactly one line. Record the loan start date, the collection day, the instalments left and the balance owed, and keep the agent’s own shorthand in a notes column. Do not tidy anything.
Expect surprises while you copy. Some borrowers appear on two pages because the loan was renewed mid-week, and a few balances in the margin will not match the page total. Mark every doubt with a question mark, then settle each one with the agent before the sheet goes live, so the first printed route sheet earns trust.
- Borrower name and mobile number
- Loan start date and collection day
- Instalment amount and instalments left
- Balance still owed
- Street, village or route name
- Agent’s shorthand remarks, copied word for word
Build a due list that sorts itself by date
A diary shows this week. A due list shows every borrower whose date has already arrived, including the ones that slipped past you last Thursday while you were on another route.
Put the next due date in its own column and sort by it each morning, so anyone past the date floats to the top of the page. That is the whole trick.
Days late equals today minus due date. Three days late and thirty days late call for very different visits, so group borrowers into bands and let the worst bands sit first. Skip the colours.
Log every visit and call as a dated note
Diaries forget visits. A follow-up log gives each contact its own row with the date, who went, what the borrower said and what happens next. Two lines will do.
This ends the argument over who called last. When a borrower swears nobody came, you open the row and read it aloud, and a colleague can cover a route during leave without phoning around.
Write the note the same day. Late notes become guesses. Agents with a phone can type the two lines at the doorstep, while the rest can fill a printed route sheet and key it in each evening.
- Date and time of the contact
- Visit, phone call or message
- Name of the agent who made it
- What the borrower said, in one line
- Next action and the date it is due
Track promises to pay as their own list
A promise is not a payment. Record the date the borrower named and the part amount promised, and on that date the money arrives or it does not, so mark which.
After a few weeks the pattern shows itself. Some borrowers keep their word and need no chasing, while others break three promises running and need a senior visit or a frank talk about stretching the instalments.
The diary hid that. A sorted list does not. Keep a count of broken promises beside each name, because three broken promises in a row says more about a loan than any single margin remark.
Run the diary beside the list for one month
Keep the diary alive for now. For four weeks, keep writing in it and update the sheet each evening, then every Friday hunt for any borrower who appears in one and not the other.
Retire the diary when trust arrives. A sheet strains once borrowers outnumber what one person can search, and loan software comes next, since it holds the same list, notes and promises with receipts attached.
Pick one person to own the sheet. Others may read it, but a single editor avoids the file-named-final-v2 problem, and that owner also runs the Friday comparison and keeps the backup copy.
Due list starter sheet
A worksheet with three tabs. The first tab, Borrowers, holds name, phone, route, start date, collection day, instalment, instalments left and balance, and a printed copy serves as each agent’s route sheet every morning. Follow-ups holds date, agent, contact type, what was said and next action, one row for every visit, call or message. Promises holds promised date, promised part amount, kept or broken, and a running count of broken promises per borrower, so the worst payers surface without a search.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How long does it take to copy a diary into a sheet?
For a few hundred borrowers it takes a couple of evenings, with the agent reading aloud and someone else typing, starting with the oldest unpaid loans. Those matter most to the cash you collect.
What if the agent resists leaving the diary?
Keep it through the overlap month. Show that the sheet already holds every borrower and every remark, because trust grows when nothing the agent knows gets lost on the way across.
Do we need software straight away?
Not always. A sorted sheet is a first step for a small book, and software pays off once several agents share borrowers or the receipts must match the ledger.
How should borrower phone numbers be protected?
Keep the sheet in one shared account behind a password, never in loose chat messages, and limit who can open it. Store a dated backup copy away from the office computer, because a failed disk should not cost you every borrower’s number.