IOU (Split Bills)

Easy online money management with friends & family

Help > IOU (Split Bills)
Buxfer allows you to track IOUs with other people. This is especially useful for:
  • Roomates: splitting rent, grocery, utility bills.
  • Colleagues: splitting lunch, travel expenses.
  • Meetups and Social Clubs: tracking food expenses, membership dues.
FAQs
Why can't I edit or delete some of my IOUs?
IOUs can not be edited or deleted 180 days after they have been entered. This restriction helps avoid confusion for transactions that are old enough to be accepted by all participants as correct. If you made a wrong entry, it's very likely to be noticed within 180 days. If not, it's highly recommended you add a new transaction to correct the difference, instead of deleting the old one.
Editing or deleting old IOUs is prone to abuse by people who want to mess up other's balances, and hence we do not allow it.
I am not allowed to edit the email of one of my contacts. What can I do about it?
If the email address you wish to add is already being used by another Buxfer user, then you can't add that email to your contact.
To resolve this, choose one of the following methods:
  • If you do not have any transactions with the contact, just delete it and create a new one with the desired email address.
  • If you have transactions with the contact, edit the transactions to replace the contact with the desired email address.
What is a group and when should I use one?
You should use groups if you have have frequent IOUs with the same set of friends. Using groups provides the following benefits:
  • Reduce physical money transfers
    Transactions within a group tend to "cancel out". If you paid this month's rent, and your roommate had paid the previous month's rent, both the balances cancel out. When you consolidate debts within Buxfer groups, you reduce occasions where you need to pay your friend in cash, or using other (costly) ways of money transfer. With larger groups, this becomes even more effective.
  • Convenience in managing balances
    Consolidated groups help reduce the number of debts/loans you need to keep track of. If you have a 5-member group, Buxfer lets you track only 1 balance with the group as a whole, instead of tracking 5 balances with individual group members. Learn more about consolidation.
  • Convenience in reporting transactions
    You can enter transactions involving all group members by simply selecting the group name (instead of having to enter all member email addresses)
Let's get started!
Easy online money management tools to track your expenses, budget & bills.