> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.worldassetregister.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Loans
> Lend an asset now, or book it for later, and know when it is due back
A loan is a record that says who has an asset, from when, and until when.
Lend a laptop to a colleague for a week, book the meeting-room projector
for next Tuesday, or hand a pool van to a driver for the day. Every loan
has dates and a status, so the product can tell you what is out, what is
due back, and what is overdue, without anyone keeping a spreadsheet.
## Lend now or book for later
There is one form for both. What changes is the start date:
* **Lend now**: leave the start as *Now*. The loan starts immediately and
the asset's loan field (usually **Custodian**) is set to the borrower.
* **Book for later**: pick a future start. The loan is *scheduled* and
the asset stays with whoever has it today. When the day comes, someone
presses **Hand over** and the loan starts.
A booking must have an end date. A lend-now can be open-ended, which is
what the mobile scanner does when you lend something to yourself.
### What can be lent
An asset can be lent when its category has a **loan field**: a person
field flagged as the one a loan drives, such as **Custodian** or
**Currently borrowed by**. The default category tree already flags these.
If a category has no loan field, the form says so and points you to
[Categories and fields](/setup/categories-and-fields) to add one.
## Three ways in
The same **Lend or book** form opens from three places:
* **The dashboard**. A row of action tiles sits above the metrics:
**Lend or book**, **Return**, **Do maintenance** and **Add an asset**.
Use this when you logged in to lend something and do not yet know which
asset.
* **The asset page**. The header gains a **Lend** button (or **Return**
and **Extend** while the asset is out). The asset is filled in and
locked. Use this when you are already looking at the thing.
* **The Loans page**. A new entry in the sidebar, after Assets. Its
header has **Lend or book**, and clicking an empty stretch of the
schedule opens the form with the asset and dates filled in.
## Filling in the form
The form asks three things, all visible at once:
* **Who**: defaults to you. People with the *manage loans* permission can
pick anyone.
* **When**: *Now*, or *From a date*, with an optional *Until*.
* **What**: a search over assets that are free for that window. Each row
says **free**, or why it is not (*in maintenance 4 to 6 Sep*, *on loan
until 8 Sep*). Busy assets are dimmed. You can also **Scan** a tag.
**More options** opens purpose, notes, which loan field to use, and lets
you add more assets to lend together. Several assets lent at once form a
batch, so they can be returned together later.
The primary button says what it will do: **Lend now** when the start is
now, **Book** when the start is in the future.
### When the asset is not free
A loan can never overlap another loan or an open maintenance window on
the same asset. If you try, the form refuses and shows what is in the way
and up to five free alternatives from the same category. Click one to
swap it in. The same rule applies when you extend a loan: an extension
that would run into the next booking is refused.
## The Loans page
The **Loans** page has two views and one filter bar. It is the register's
own filter bar, so it asks the same questions here: search, category,
lifecycle stage, location, owner, manufacturer, model, and any custom field
your categories define. The gear on the right adds and removes filters, and
the Loans page remembers its own set separately from the register's.
On **Schedule** the filters narrow the assets that appear as rows. On
**List** they narrow the loans, by the asset each one is about, so
"overdue laptops in London" is a single question. The search box is the
one difference between the two: on Schedule it searches assets, and on
List it also matches the borrower and the purpose.
**Schedule** shows assets as rows and time across, like a scheduling
assistant. Loans and maintenance windows are blocks on each row. Scheduled
loans are outlined; active loans are solid with a dashed line to their due
date. Pan and zoom the way you do on an asset's timeline. Click a block and
that loan opens in a panel over the schedule, so you keep the week, the
filters and the scroll position you were reading. Click an empty stretch to
book that asset for those dates.
**List** has tabs for **Active**, **Scheduled**, **Overdue** and
**History**, with the actions inline: **Hand over**, **Return**,
**Extend**, **Cancel** and **Book again**. **Details** opens the same
panel as the schedule does.
### Your work
The dashboard's **Your work** card lists what needs you: maintenance
assigned to you, loans due back from you in the next week, and handovers
due today. People who manage loans see the whole organisation's overdue
and uncollected loans there instead. Each row has its action next to it.
## Hand over, return, extend, cancel
A loan moves through a short ladder: **Scheduled**, then **Active**, then
**Returned**. It can be **Cancelled** from either open state.
* **Hand over**: starts a scheduled loan. The asset's loan field is set to
the borrower, and the change appears on the asset's history like any
other edit. Nothing starts by itself; equipment changes hands when a
person says so.
* **Return**: closes an active loan. It asks you to confirm, and takes an
optional note, for example the condition the asset came back in. The loan
field goes back to whoever had the asset before, unless someone changed it
by hand during the loan, in which case that edit stands. **Return all** in
the Return sheet closes every loan in a batch.
* **Extend**: sets a later due date. Refused if it would collide with the
next booking.
* **Cancel**: closes a scheduled loan. Cancelling a loan that has already
started also restores the loan field, and needs the *manage loans*
permission. Add a reason if you like.
* **Book again**: opens the form pre-filled from an old loan.
If someone scans an asset that is already out to somebody else, the
mobile app offers **Take over**, which returns the other person's loan
and starts yours in one step.
## Overdue and uncollected
Neither is a status you set. Both come from the dates:
* **Overdue**: an active loan whose due date has passed.
* **Uncollected**: a scheduled loan whose whole window passed without a
handover. It no longer blocks the asset, and it cannot be handed over
any more. Book again instead.
A loan that is still within its window simply reads **On loan**, however
close the return date is. There is no "due soon" warning: it would mean
nothing on a two-hour room booking, which would wear it for its whole life.
Overdue items are red on the schedule, the dashboard calendar and the
asset timeline, the same way an overdue maintenance record is.
## Nothing chases you
Loans send no reminders: no email, no notification, at any point. A late
loan is simply shown as late, everywhere it appears: red on the schedule,
the dashboard calendar and the asset timeline.
To find what needs chasing, use the Loans list: it has **Overdue** and
**Uncollected** tabs alongside Active and Scheduled. The schedule's
**Only busy** toggle narrows the grid to assets that are actually out.
## Permissions
Four permissions control loans. They stack: *manage* includes *self*,
which includes *claim*.
| Permission | Lets you |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Claim loans** | Collect a loan booked for you and return what you hold |
| **Lend to yourself** | Lend or book assets to yourself; extend and cancel your own |
| **Manage loans** | Lend or book to anyone; hand over, return, extend and cancel any loan |
| **View loans** | See every loan, the schedule, and who holds what |
Without **View loans** you only ever see your own loans. The built-in
roles come set up as follows; adjust them under
[Roles and permissions](/setup/roles-and-permissions).
| Role | Loan permissions |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| Admin, Manager, Operator | All four |
| Requester | Lend to yourself, Claim loans |
| Viewer | Claim loans |
## Where loans show up
* **Asset timeline**: a **Loans** lane, with a filter chip, next to the
maintenance lane. See [Asset details](/assets/asset-details).
* **Asset overview**: a **Custody** card showing who has it, since when,
due when, and the next booking, plus a 30-day availability strip.
* **Dashboard calendar**: *Hand over to Alice* on the start date and
*Due back from Alice* on the due date, with a **Loans** filter. Chips
are clickable and open the loan.
* **Reports and policies**: loans are a relation on the asset, so a
[report](/operate/reports) can list *assets on loan* or *overdue loans
by borrower*, and a [policy](/operate/policies) can say *no asset may
be on loan past its warranty end*, using the same builder as every
other field. Reports can also be built directly on loans, with **Report
on: loans**.
* **The AI assistant**: ask *which laptops are free next week?*, *lend
this projector to Sam until Friday*, or *what is overdue?*. See
[AI assistant](/connect/ai-assistant).
## On mobile
The **Loan Asset** tile is scan-first. After the scan you choose: **Lend
to me now** (one tap, open-ended), **until a date**, **Lend to someone
else**, or **Book for later**. A new **Return** tile scans an asset and
returns its active loan, and lists your own active loans under the
viewfinder. Loans made offline queue with everything else and send when
you are back online. See [Mobile app](/operate/mobile-mapping).