Merchant Debts

Customer debts track what others owe you. Merchant debts are the flip side — they track what your business owes to others. Suppliers you haven't fully paid. Loans you've taken. Operational costs you've deferred.

Ignoring these doesn't make them go away. Tracking them accurately is what gives you a true picture of your financial position.

Merchant debts fall into two categories:

Loans — Money borrowed from a person or institution that needs to be repaid. This could be a personal loan used for the business, a bank loan, or money from an investor that carries a repayment obligation.

Operational debts — Money you owe as part of running the business. A supplier who delivered stock you haven't fully paid for. A service provider you owe a balance to. These are categorized so you can track them by type.

When you record a merchant debt, Catlog creates a corresponding expense record under the hood. This is intentional — a debt you owe is a financial obligation that affects your profitability, and it should show up in your expense tracking.

If the debt is partially covered (you've paid some of it already), the expense reflects that. The remaining balance stays as a debt until you record further payments.

As you pay down a merchant debt, you record each payment against it. You can link a payment to an outgoing transaction from your Catlog wallet, or record it manually with a date and amount.

This keeps a clear history of what you've paid and what remains outstanding, without you having to track it separately.

Merchant debts affect your real financial position even if they haven't been paid yet. A business that has ₦50,000 in revenue but ₦30,000 in outstanding obligations is in a very different position than one with no obligations at all.

By recording your merchant debts, your financial overview and analytics reflect your actual net position — not just the money coming in.

💡 Most businesses underestimate how much they owe because they only track payments they've already made. Merchant debts help you track the full picture of what your business is on the hook for.