Automatic Interest calculates a transaction from the account balance on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly schedule. Creating or changing an interest schedule requires Money Owed Pro and ownership of the account. An existing schedule can be disabled without Pro.
Open Interest
Open an owned account and choose More > Interest. The screen is titled Interest and contains the Automatic Interest settings.
Configure Automatic Interest
- Open an account that you own.
- Choose More > Interest.
- Enter a Rate each time.
- Choose a Frequency: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly.
- Choose a First Interest Date.
- Review the displayed Time Zone. Money Owed records the device's current time zone when the schedule is created; it is not a separate picker.
- Save the schedule.
The First Interest Date is when interest is first added. The device's current time zone is recorded and stays with the schedule. Rate each time is applied at the selected frequency; it is not an annual rate.
Rate Requirements
The rate must be above 0% and up to 100%, with no more than six decimal places. If the value is invalid, Money Owed shows: Enter a rate above 0% and up to 100% (maximum 6 decimal places).
How Interest Is Calculated
On each scheduled date, Money Owed calculates interest from the account balance:
- A positive balance creates a positive interest amount owed to the owner.
- A negative balance creates a negative interest amount owed by the owner.
- The interest becomes part of the balance used on later scheduled dates, so interest can compound.
- The amount is rounded to the normal number of decimal places for the account currency.
- If the rounded result is zero, no transaction is created, but the schedule moves to its next date.
Automatic interest transactions are named Interest. Their read-only details identify Automatic Interest and show the balance used for the calculation and Rate each time.
Automatic Interest Rules
- Automatic interest transactions cannot be edited or deleted.
- They do not send new-transaction notifications.
- Only the account owner's iPhone, iPad, or Mac runs the schedule.
- The Watch app does not configure or run interest schedules.
- Monthly and yearly schedules use the last valid day when a month is shorter.
Shared Accounts
Participants can see the interest schedule and its transactions, but the account owner controls the schedule. Participant details explain: The account owner controls this schedule.
Change or Disable Interest
Use the Interest screen to change or disable the schedule. Disabling prevents future automatic interest transactions and does not change existing transactions, which remain read-only history.
If you change the frequency or re-enable a schedule after it has created transactions, Money Owed may require a First Interest Date after the existing history to avoid duplicates.
If Pro Is Not Recognized
Existing interest schedules remain visible and continue to run. If Pro access is not active, you can turn an existing schedule off but cannot create, change, or re-enable one. Restore the purchase from Settings > Money Owed Pro if Pro access is missing.
Interest Troubleshooting
- Confirm that the account is owned by you and the schedule is enabled.
- Confirm that the First Interest Date is due in the time zone recorded for the schedule.
- Check that the rate is within the allowed range.
- Open the main app on a device used by the account owner and allow it to sync and check the schedule.
- Remember that a rounded interest amount of zero advances the schedule without creating a visible transaction.