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Kouchd keeps financial expectations clear without touching your money. Hosts configure rates, cadences, and terms that each guest explicitly reviews and accepts.

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Household defaults and guest terms

When setting up a stay, the host establishes initial household defaults. Each invited guest receives a copy of those defaults as their starting agreement. Hosts can then customize individual agreements:
  • Stay dates: Set specific arrival and departure dates for each guest.
  • Contribution rate: Configure daily or weekly contribution amounts.
  • Contribution cadence: Select whether contributions are logged daily or on an agreed weekday for weekly agreements.
  • Grace periods & late fees: Define an optional grace period (such as 2 days) and a reasonable late fee (such as $5 daily or $25 weekly) if contributions are overdue.
  • Early contribution discounts: Optionally reward early payments with an agreed discount.
House rules remain shared across the household by default, while each guest’s financial terms remain completely private between that guest and the host.

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Review payment progress

The Home and Ledger screens display confirmed contribution progress against scheduled obligations, the remaining balance, and upcoming due dates.
Oldest-due credit priority: When a contribution is confirmed, Kouchd automatically applies the credit to the oldest outstanding obligation first.
  • Confirmed progress: The progress bar shows the proportion of obligations covered by confirmed contributions.
  • Partial contributions: Partial payments count toward the ledger balance as soon as the host confirms them.
  • Pending entries: Contributions logged by guests remain pending until confirmed and do not count toward confirmed progress until approved.

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Handling late fees and waivers

Late fees reflect the terms stated in the guest’s accepted agreement.
  • Grace periods: If an agreement specifies a grace period, late fees will not trigger until the grace period has elapsed after the due date.
  • Waiving fees: Hosts can review any incurred fee directly in the guest’s ledger and choose Waive fee when appropriate (for example, if a delay was discussed and excused in advance).
  • Communication first: Always discuss payment delays directly with your guest before enforcing or updating agreement terms.

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Payments happen outside Kouchd

Outside payment arrangements: Kouchd does not collect, hold, transfer, process, or escrow money. It never connects to bank accounts or debits cards.
Hosts can list their direct contact handles or links for PayPal, Cash App, Zelle, or Apple Pay in Stay. Guests use those handles to send payments directly, then record the transaction in Kouchd. The entry is a mutual bookkeeping record, not proof that external funds have cleared.

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Rewards and ledger credits

If a host enables household rewards, guests can earn points for completing agreed chores or home projects.
  • Points value: Hosts define the name of the points and set the conversion rate (such as 100 points = $1.00 credit).
  • Ledger credits: Once a reward claim is submitted and approved by the host, the redeemed credit is recorded against the guest’s ledger according to their accepted terms.

Managing the ledger

Review charges, confirm guest contributions, and track balances.

Stay agreements

Learn how individual guest agreements and privacy boundaries work.