diff --git a/src/app/trips/[id]/page.tsx b/src/app/trips/[id]/page.tsx
index d00ff44..0af1671 100644
--- a/src/app/trips/[id]/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/trips/[id]/page.tsx
@@ -291,32 +291,46 @@ export default function TripDetailPage({ params }: { params: Promise<{ id: strin
                   </tr>
                 </thead>
                 <tbody>
-                  {participant_splits.map((p) => (
-                    <tr key={p.participant_id} className="border-b border-zinc-800/50 last:border-0">
-                      <td className="px-5 py-3 font-medium">{p.name}</td>
-                      <td className="px-5 py-3 text-right tabular-nums font-mono">
-                        <span className={Math.abs(Number(p.owed)) < 0.005 ? "text-zinc-500" : ""}>
-                          ${Number(p.owed).toFixed(2)}
-                        </span>
-                        {p.unconverted_count > 0 && (
-                          <span className="block text-[11px] text-amber-500/80 mt-0.5 font-sans">
-                            approx · {p.unconverted_count} unconverted
+                  {/* A negative outstanding means they have paid more towards this
+                      trip than their share of it — which reads as a typo unless the
+                      sign is spelled out. Shown as a magnitude plus a word, the same
+                      way Shared does it, so the two pages agree on what a direction
+                      means. */}
+                  {participant_splits.map((p) => {
+                    const owed = Number(p.owed);
+                    const square = Math.abs(owed) < 0.005;
+                    const theyOweMe = owed > 0;
+                    return (
+                      <tr key={p.participant_id} className="border-b border-zinc-800/50 last:border-0">
+                        <td className="px-5 py-3 font-medium">{p.name}</td>
+                        <td className="px-5 py-3 text-right tabular-nums font-mono">
+                          <span className={square ? "text-zinc-500" : theyOweMe ? "text-amber-400" : "text-blue-400"}>
+                            ${Math.abs(owed).toFixed(2)}
                           </span>
-                        )}
-                      </td>
-                    </tr>
-                  ))}
+                          <span className="block text-[11px] text-zinc-500 mt-0.5 font-sans">
+                            {square ? "all square" : theyOweMe ? "owes you" : "ahead — you owe them"}
+                          </span>
+                          {p.unconverted_count > 0 && (
+                            <span className="block text-[11px] text-amber-500/80 mt-0.5 font-sans">
+                              approx · {p.unconverted_count} unconverted
+                            </span>
+                          )}
+                        </td>
+                      </tr>
+                    );
+                  })}
                 </tbody>
               </table>
-              {/* Settled/unsettled was reported from transaction_splits.settled,
-                  which nothing sets — so every trip showed 100% unsettled forever,
-                  including ones already paid in full. Settlement is tracked across
-                  the whole relationship, not per trip: payments carry no trip
-                  attribution, so a per-trip figure cannot be computed. */}
+              {/* This note used to say a per-trip figure could not be computed,
+                  because payments carried no trip attribution. Migration 0022 added
+                  split_payments.trip_id, so it can and now does — the figures above
+                  are net of payments scoped to this trip. What the note has to say
+                  instead is which payments are NOT in them. */}
               <p className="px-5 py-2.5 text-xs text-zinc-500 border-t border-zinc-800">
-                Settlement is tracked across all shared expenses, not per trip —
+                Net of payments recorded against this trip. Payments on the ongoing
+                household tab are not counted here —
                 see <Link href="/shared" className="text-zinc-400 hover:text-zinc-200 underline">Shared</Link> for
-                what is actually owed.
+                the overall balance.
               </p>
             </div>
           )}