Clients and groups
Every loan and every savings balance in the platform belongs to a client, and every client belongs to a group. This section explains how to register clients, find and update them, keep their documents on file, and manage the groups they belong to.
Key ideas
Clients are the people you serve. Each client record holds personal and contact details, identity documents, next of kin, business profile, guarantors and bank accounts. When a client is first saved, the platform gives them a client number that starts with CL- (for example CL-3F9A21B7). Names are not unique, so two clients can share a name. Always use the client number to tell them apart.
A client is always in one of three states:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Registration has started but the client has not been activated. A draft cannot apply for a loan. |
| Active | The client is registered and can apply for products. |
| Inactive | The client has been deactivated. They can be reactivated later. |
Groups are the lending and savings groups your clients meet in, such as a savings group or a stockvel. You must choose a group when you register a client. Depending on your organisation's settings, a client can belong to one group at a time, can be moved between groups, or can belong to several groups at once.
Field officers can be assigned to a group, and also to an individual client. An officer assigned to the client takes priority over the group's officer.
How clients connect to loans and savings
- A client must be active before you can start a loan application for them. See Small loans.
- Each client has a savings balance. You can record an opening savings deposit when you register the client, and it is credited when the client is activated. After that, savings are managed from the client's Savings tab. See Savings.
- If your organisation charges a registration fee, it is charged when the client is activated. Any unpaid fees show on the client's page, where you can record a payment.
In this section
- Registering a client: the New Client wizard, step by step.
- Reviewing and activating a client: checking a registration and making the client active.
- Finding and viewing clients: searching, the client page and its tabs, editing, deactivating.
- Client documents: uploading and downloading ID documents, photographs and other files.
- Client statement: downloading a client's account statement as a PDF.
- Groups: creating groups and managing members.
- Field officers: assigning an officer to a group or a client.