OnLoan meters what actually gets used — kilometres, days, hours — so the amount is fair to both of you. Then settle it your way: square up in cash, or clear it in mutual credit. Never strangers, never a deposit.
A loan needs an existing trustline. You lend to contacts you already have on FOAF — not to strangers a platform matched you with.
You meter the real usage and settle the exact amount. No security holds, no daily-rate padding, no fees skimmed off the top.
Square up in cash, or clear it as mutual credit on the network. However the two of you want to close it out — never a platform's rule.
Every loan walks the same short path. The lender starts the meter, either side records the return, and the settle is genuinely bilateral — each person signs their own half.
Choose something to lend and a rate per kilometre, day, or hour. It opens as a draft between the two of you.
At handoff the lender records the odometer — or just the time. The meter is now running.
On return, the end reading is logged. OnLoan computes (end − start) × rate to the network's decimals.
Close it out in cash, or clear it as mutual credit. Each side confirms their half and the loan settles.
Cash is always fine. But when you'd rather not move money, credit can circulate — and cancel itself in loops.
Choose credit, and the loan is a promise. It rides on the trustline you already have — a bilateral IOU, not a payment to a company.
Promises chain into loops. When A owes B owes C owes A, the network clears the whole ring at once — the debt cancels, no cash moved.
Either way, OnLoan does no money math. Trustlines, capacity, and transfers are the FOAF protocol's job. OnLoan just meters and keeps it fair.
Each category carries its own sensible units. A vehicle can meter by distance; most everything else meters by time.
A car, a van, a truck. Metered by the distance actually driven.
A drill, a chainsaw, a sander. Usually metered by day or hour.
A canoe, a projector, a PA. Bigger gear, still by day or hour.
A workshop, a spare room, a driveway. Time is the meter.
OnLoan settles on the same FOAF mutual-credit ledger as GrowOperative and the Food Commons. Your contacts, your trustlines, and your balance come from the network you're already part of — lending is just one more thing that flows across it.
Create an account in a minute. No invite needed. To lend or borrow you just need someone you trust on the other side: invite a friend (they join as your first contact) or connect with people already here. Never strangers.