Free Printable Debt Payment Log

  1. Home
  2. Free Printables
  3. Debt Payment Log

A running record of every payment you make, so the proof of progress is always in your hands.

A payment log is the boring one, and it is the one people are gladdest they kept. One line per payment: the date, which debt, how much, the new balance and a note. Twenty-two lines a page, with boxes at the bottom for the total paid on the page and the balances at the top and bottom of it.

Two things happen when you keep one. You catch mistakes, because a payment that did not lower the balance by what it should have is obvious on paper. And you build a record of effort, which matters on the months when the balances do not seem to move: a full page of payments is proof that they did.

The log pairs with the debt-free chart and the thermometer, which need a running total of payments to color from. It is also the paper version of what Undebt.it records automatically when you mark a payment made or let it import them from your bank.

Debt Payment Log: page one of the free printable PDF

Download the free PDF

Free, no signup, no email address. Pick your paper size; every version is one page and prints on any home printer.

Download PDF (US Letter) A4 Ink saver

The ink saver version is the same sheet in black and gray for cheap printing. Print at 100 percent, not "fit to page", so the rows stay a comfortable height for handwriting.

Rather have the numbers filled in for you? Undebt.it tracks all of this online for free, and personalized versions of these printables, built from your own plan, are on the way.

How to use it

  1. Write the balance you are starting from in the "balance at the top of the page" box.
  2. One line per payment, the day it posts: date, debt, amount, and the balance the statement or app now shows.
  3. Use the note column for anything unusual: an extra payment, a windfall, a fee, a payment that went to the wrong account.
  4. When the page is full, total the payment column and write the closing balance. Start a new page and keep the old one.

Tips that make it stick

  • Log from the confirmation screen or the statement, not from memory. The number that matters is the one the lender recorded.
  • Keep the finished pages in a folder in date order. A year of them is the most convincing chart you will ever own.
  • If you pay several debts on the same day, one line each. The point is the trail, not the brevity.
Debt Tracker preview Debt Tracker List every debt on one page, then log each balance month by month.
Debt-Free Chart preview Debt-Free Chart One hundred squares, each one percent of your debt. Color one in every time you pay one off.
Debt Payoff Matrix preview Debt Payoff Matrix Debts down the side, months across the top, a payment in every cell. Cross them off as you go.

See all the free printables

Common questions

The balance the lender shows after the payment posts, from the app, the website or the next statement. It is usually a little higher than the previous balance minus your payment, because interest was added in between; the log makes that interest visible, which is useful.

The tracker records one balance per debt per month, a snapshot. The payment log records every payment as it happens, a transaction history. Many people keep both: the log for the day to day, the tracker for the monthly picture.

Log every payment, minimums included. Minimums are most of what you pay, and leaving them out makes the running total meaningless. If you want the extras to stand out, mark them in the note column or with a different pen.

Coming soon. Undebt.it builds a month-by-month plan online for free, and a version of this log pre-filled with the payments the plan calls for, one line each, will be generated from it. You would then write the real balance beside each planned payment as it posts.