Repay

A product that allows people document informal debts

This is an ongoing project

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Overview

Fintech

Data Privacy

Trust & Credibility

Debt Management

Lending money to friends or family is common. Most people have done it. The problem

is that there is no record of it. No receipt, no contract, just a conversation and a promise.

When repayment does not happen, the lender has no proof the debt existed at all.

Repay is a web platform that fixes this. Lenders can register a debt, debtors can confirm or dispute it, and anyone can search a person's name or contact to check their repayment credibility before making a decision.

Not everyone sees the same information, though. The platform has two distinct search experiences, one for regular users, and one for verified stakeholders such as law enforcement and financial institutions. This distinction is intentional and shapes how the entire product

is designed.

Lending money to friends or family

is common. Most people have done it.

The problem

is that there is no record of it. No receipt,

no contract, just a conversation and

a promise.

When repayment does not happen,

the lender has no proof the debt existed

at all.

is designed.

Creditor → Registers Debt → Debtor Confirms → Others Check Reputation

Creditor

↓

Registers Debt

↓

Debtor Confirms

↓

Others Check Reputation

The Problem

Someone borrows money from a friend. There is no written record. Months pass. The lender brings it up and the debtor says they forgot, or denies it entirely. There is nothing to point to. The lender loses both the money and the relationship. zThis is not rare. It is the default way informal lending works.

Three things make it worse:

1. No visibility. Before lending, there is no way to check if someone has a habit of not repaying. You are going in blind.

2. No accountability. Because nothing is documented, debtors face no real consequence for ignoring a debt.

3. Late documentation. Even when people try to document a debt, they do it after a dispute starts, by then it is too late.

Someone borrows money from a friend. There is no written record. Months pass.

The lender brings it up and the debtor says they forgot, or denies it entirely. There is nothing to point to. The lender loses both the money and the relationship. This is not rare. It is the default way informal lending works.

Three things make it worse:

1. No visibility. Before lending, there is no way to check if someone has a habit of not repaying. You are going in blind.

2. No accountability. Because nothing is documented, debtors face no real consequence for ignoring a debt.

3. Late documentation. Even when people try to document a debt, they do it after a dispute starts, by then it is too late.

User Story

"My colleague borrowed ₦50,000 from me. Six months later he still hadn't paid me back, so I went to the police. They told him to repay what he could each month. He now pays me ₦500 a month. At that rate, it will take over eight years to see my money back. I feel completely cheated."— Based on a real conversation during informal research

The Goal

Design a platform that:

Makes it easy to register a debt as soon as it happens
Gives the debtor a chance to confirm or dispute it
Lets anyone check a person's repayment record before lending
Handles sensitive financial information with care and neutral language

The platform should feel simple enough for someone who has never used

a fintech tool before.

Design a platform that:

Makes it easy to register a debt as soon as it happens
Gives the debtor a chance to confirm or dispute it
Lets anyone check a person's repayment record before lending
Handles sensitive financial information with care and neutral language

The platform should feel simple enough

for someone who has never used a fintech tool before.

Solution - To register a Debt

When money changes hands, the lender fills in a short form, the debtor's name, phone number or email, the amount, and a brief reason (e.g., "Personal loan for rent").

The debtor then receives a notification asking them to verify that the debt exists.

The debt is not added to the database until the debtor confirms it.

This is a deliberate protection. Anyone can make a claim about someone else.

Without verification, the platform could easily be used to damage a person's credibility

unfairly. By requiring the debtor to confirm before anything is recorded, Repay ensures

that only legitimate, mutually acknowledged debts ever appear on someone's record.

If the debtor disputes the claim, the record is flagged but not published. If they

do not respond, the lender is notified but nothing appears on the debtor's public

profile until there is confirmation.

When money changes hands, the lender fills in a short form, the debtor's name, phone number or email, the amount, and a brief reason (e.g., "Personal loan for rent").

The debtor then receives a notification asking them to verify that the debt exists.

The debt is not added to the database until the debtor confirms it.

This is a deliberate protection. Anyone can make a claim about someone else.

Without verification, the platform could easily be used to damage a person's credibility unfairly. By requiring the debtor

to confirm before anything is recorded, Repay ensures

that only legitimate, mutually acknowledged debts ever appear on someone's record.

If the debtor disputes the claim, the record is flagged but not published. If they

do not respond, the lender is notified but nothing appears on the debtor's public

profile until there is confirmation.

The debt registration form

The debtor's verification request

Search Someone's Credibility

The search feature works differently depending on who is using it. This was one of the most deliberate design decisions in the product.

Regular users — individuals, friends, small lenders get a credibility signal. They see the

status badge, the debtor's response, and enough information to make a safe lending decision.

They do not see full debt histories, amounts, or identifying details beyond what is necessary.

Verified stakeholders — law enforcement officers, financial institutions, and other appropriate parties get an expanded view. After identity verification and role confirmation,

they can access more detailed records to support investigations, credit assessments,

or legal proceedings.

These two experiences use the same underlying data but surface it differently. The goal is to give regular users just enough to protect themselves, while giving authorised stakeholders the depth they need to do their work without making detailed financial records freely available to everyone.

The search feature works differently depending on who is using it. This was

one of the most deliberate design decisions in the product.

Regular users — individuals, friends, small lenders get a credibility signal. They see

the status badge, the debtor's response, and enough information to make a safe lending decision.

They do not see full debt histories, amounts, or identifying details beyond what

is necessary.

Verified stakeholders — law enforcement officers, financial institutions, and other appropriate parties get an expanded view. After identity verification and role confirmation,

they can access more detailed records to support investigations, credit assessments,

or legal proceedings.

The user search interface for regular users

The user search interface for verified stakeholders

Empty search state user interface for verified stakeholders

Challenges

Transparency vs privacy: Regular users get a credibility signal, not a full debt history.

That line was important to draw early and it shaped every other decision about what information to surface and what to hold back.

Unfair disputes: A debtor could dispute a legitimate debt just to protect their record.

The solution was to keep disputed records visible with a clear "Disputed" label, so lenders know something exists even if it is unresolved.

Minimal but trustworthy UI: Fintech interfaces tend to be visually heavy. I kept Repay

calm and stripped back so it feels focused rather than overwhelming.

Informed consent is still unresolved: This is the most important open problem. Users

need to genuinely understand what data is stored, who can see it, and under what conditions. We are not willing to bury this in a terms page nobody reads. We are exploring plain-language summaries at key moments in the flow, registration, search, and when a debtor first receives

a notification. It is not solved yet.

A rejected version of the status update design

An earlier version of the status

update design

Reflection

Repay started from a real frustration, which made the design decisions easier to ground.

The clearest lesson was that language is part of the design, a label like

"Debtor's Response" is not just a copy decision, it changes how the feature feels entirely.

Designing the tiered search experience also pushed me further than a single-user

flow would have. When two very different users need the same feature to behave

differently, every decision becomes more deliberate.

The consent problem is what I am most focused on now. If a user does not understand

what they are agreeing to, everything else we built loses its integrity.

The debt status update interface

Future Changes

These are the future changes we will be making as the project progresses:

API access so fintech platforms can pull credibility signals directly
Optional escrow feature for higher-value loans
A clear, plain-language data usage summary accessible at any time from within the platform
SMS or WhatsApp reminders to debtors when payment is overdue

SignMark

Tolu Ali