A plain-English written loan agreement between private individuals — friend-to-friend or family — recording the amount, the repayment schedule, the interest treatment, and what happens if something goes wrong. Signed online by both parties. The biggest single use case: parents lending adult children toward a house deposit. The biggest single risk: ambiguity years later when circumstances change. The promise. "The money's a loan, not a gift. Both of you wrote down the terms. Both of you signed. If something changes — illness, divorce, falling-out — there's no ambiguity about what was agreed."

AAt a glance

BCustomer input — what we ask the user

B.1The conversation shape

Guided interview, ~5–8 minutes. Plain English throughout — no "principal," no "amortisation" without translation. The tone: "this is about being clear with someone you love about something that could otherwise get messy." The flow branches on the first substantive question: is interest being charged? A 0% interest loan (most family lending) flows through a simpler version; an interest-bearing loan adds interest-calculation and tax-flagging logic.

B.2The fields we collect

Section A — The parties

• Your role required — Lender / Borrower
• Your full name and address required
• Other party's full name and address required
• Relationship to the other party optional — parent / child / sibling / friend / business associate

Section B — The loan

• Amount being lent required
• Purpose of the loan encouraged — house deposit / car / business / education / medical / personal
• Date the money is being transferred required
• How the money is being transferred required — bank transfer / cheque / cash / already transferred

Section C — Interest

• Is interest being charged? required — Yes / No [drives branching]
• Interest rate conditional — with helper text on typical rates
• How interest is calculated conditional — simple / compound monthly / compound annually
• Tax reminder — interest is taxable income for the lender; we flag with HMRC guidance link

Section D — Repayment

• Repayment structure required — lump sum / monthly instalments / on demand with notice / other
• Repayment date OR amount + frequency + first-payment date conditional
• Early repayment allowed without penalty? required, default Yes
• Method of repayment required — bank transfer / standing order, default bank transfer

Section E — Security & default

• Is the loan secured against an asset? required — Unsecured / Secured
• Grace period for late payment required — default 14 days
• What happens on default required — full balance due / lender may extend / parties to discuss
• Change in borrower's circumstances optional — pause clause for illness / job loss

Section F — Sign-off

• Email of the other party required, validated
• Window for both to sign required, default 14 days
• Witness optional, recommended for amounts > £10,000

B.3Evidence & verification

• Email verification of both parties before the agreement is generated.
• For larger loans (£25,000+) we encourage but do not require ID verification.
• We do not verify source of funds; parties take responsibility for any AML / proceeds-of-crime obligations. We provide a generic reminder.

B.4Branching & edge cases

1. 0% family loan, lump sum repayment, unsecured — simplest path; ~50% of users. Parent → adult child for house deposit.
2. 0% family loan, monthly repayments, unsecured — ~25%. Same shape but instalments.
3. Interest-bearing loan between friends — ~10%. Adds interest calc + tax flagging.
4. Business associate / informal bridge loan — ~10%. Often interest-bearing, often larger sums. Triggers higher-amount soft warning.
5. Loan secured against an asset — ~5%. Triggers complexity flag: secured loans against property need Land Registry registration via a solicitor; we provide the agreement, not the security.

B.5Drop-off risks

• The interest rate field. Most users don't know what's reasonable. Mitigation: clear "most family loans charge 0%" default + helper text on typical rates.
• "What happens if the borrower defaults." Emotionally hard for family lenders. Mitigation: "we hope it never happens, but writing it down protects everyone." Sensible defaults visible.
• Source-of-funds prompt for larger loans. Can feel like suspicion. Mitigation: explicit "this is standard, not a judgement" note.
• Other party's email. Sometimes outdated. Mitigation: SMS sign-off fallback + print-and-sign option.

CProduct output — what the customer receives

C.1The deliverable

A 3–5 page Personal Loan Agreement, signed by both parties via the same e-sign envelope as the rest of the casual-contracts cluster. PDF (signed) + DOCX (editable working copy). Delivered by email and stored in the user's account.

See the Specimen Output at the bottom of this document for a fully-rendered 3-page A4 example: Robert Whitfield lending his daughter Olivia £25,000 toward a house deposit, 0% interest, repayable over 100 months.

C.2Document mock-up — skeleton

Cover page
  ★ "Personal Loan Agreement" wordmark
  Loan reference · Date of issue
  Parties: [Lender name] and [Borrower name]
  Amount: £[X] · Term: [Y months/years]

1. Parties
   The Lender, the Borrower, and their relationship

2. The Loan
   Principal, purpose, date and method of transfer
   Confirmation that this is a loan, not a gift

3. Interest
   Yes/No · rate · calculation method · tax reminder

4. Repayment
   Structure (lump sum / instalments)
   Schedule with dates and amounts
   Method of payment · early repayment

5. If something goes wrong
   Grace period · default · change in circumstances
   Death of either party

6. Security (conditional)
   Asset description if secured · Land Registry note

7. General provisions
   Variation in writing · entire agreement · severability
   Governing law (England & Wales default) · dispute resolution

8. Signatures
   Lender · Borrower · (optional witness)

Footer
   "Generated by LegalHelp · Self-help tool · Not legal advice"
   Loan reference · Date · Page x of y

C.3What's included alongside the document

• Main Loan Agreement — PDF (signed) + DOCX (editable working copy)
• Plain-English summary cover note — five lines summarising who lent what to whom for what purpose
• Repayment schedule reminder — calendar attachment for instalment loans
• What-to-do-if guide — borrower can't pay; lender dies; borrower dies
• HMRC interest-income reminder — one-pager for interest-bearing loans
• Reminder to log changes — soft prompt suggesting Variation-Order Tool pattern for amendments

C.4The visual treatment

Designed to look like a real financial document without looking intimidating:

• Cover page: small orange accent strip, wordmark top-left, large loan amount displayed prominently with the borrower's name.
• Body pages: clean serif body for the loan clauses (Cormorant Garamond, matching the Wills product) — distinguishes from casual letters, reads as a financial instrument.
• Footer on every page: loan reference + page number + the self-help disclaimer.
• Plain-English "summary box" on the cover so both parties can see at a glance what they agreed.

The visual treatment matters here because this is a document that may sit in a family file for 10–15 years before being needed. It needs to read as a serious instrument when re-opened years later.

C.5Handoff & follow-up

• Both parties get the signed PDF immediately on completion.
• Signed copies stored in both parties' accounts if registered.
• Repayment reminders — for instalment loans, monthly reminders to both parties.
• Annual check-in — "Any changes needed?" surfaces variations.
• Death-of-party trigger — if a LegalHelp account is flagged deceased, the loan is automatically surfaced in the estate documentation if a will is held with us.

DPricing & commercial shape

D.1Headline price

• First agreement: free. Same hook as the rest of the casual-contracts cluster.
• Subsequent agreements: free via membership (£7.99/mo or £49/yr). £9 standalone outside membership.
• Compared against: £200–£400 for a solicitor; £15–30 for a downloaded template that doesn't get signed; LawDepot / Rocket Lawyer subscription routes at £15–35/month.

D.2Unit economics

D.3Upsell hooks

• IOU / Promissory Note (Product #10) — the simpler, single-party version. Cross-link explicitly.
• Personal Legal MOT (Product #12) — surfaces other contract exposures.
• Will + LPA — the parent lending toward a deposit is the prime estate-planning candidate. Post-loan screen is the right moment.
• Estate planning bundle — for larger inter-generational loans, this conversation is natural.

ECompliance guardrails

E.1Why this is 🟢

Private one-off lending between individuals is outside the regulated consumer-credit regime under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the FCA's regulated activities perimeter. Regulated consumer credit applies to lenders "carrying on a business of lending" — a one-off family or friend loan does not constitute a business activity. The lender does not need FCA authorisation; we are not "arranging" credit in any regulated sense; we are providing a self-help template for a private contract between two individuals.

Two edges to watch:

• Repeat lending. A lender who uses our product to make multiple loans to non-family members might cross into "carrying on a business." We do not market the product to that user.
• Source-of-funds / AML. For very large loans (>£25,000) we surface a reminder; we do not verify funds.

E.2User-as-actor framing

• We draft the agreement from the user's description of what they've agreed.
• The user reviews — every clause shown in plain English.
• The user signs in their own name; the counterparty signs in theirs.
• The user transfers the money — we do not handle the funds.
• The user enforces the loan if it comes to that — we provide a reference card but never act.

E.3What the AI explicitly does NOT do

• The AI does not give legal advice on whether the loan is enforceable in your specific situation.
• The AI does not provide tax advice on interest or potential inheritance tax / gift considerations.
• The AI does not facilitate the transfer of money — the parties handle this directly.
• The AI does not check the borrower's creditworthiness or the lender's ability to make the loan.
• The AI does not register security against any asset (a charge against property requires Land Registry registration via a solicitor).
• The AI does not act for either party in any dispute.

E.4Required disclosures

E.5What we don't say — danger words

• "Get your money back guaranteed" — never; enforcement is via the courts, not us
• "Legally bulletproof" — agreements can be challenged
• "Bypass the banks" — positions the product as a credit alternative; we don't want that framing
• "Earn interest on lending" — never; we don't market this as a yield product
• "Avoid the FCA" — never; framing is "this is a private loan, outside the regulated regime"
• "Sue your friend / family member" — say "pursue the matter through small claims"
• "Tax-free loan" — never; tax depends on circumstances, we don't advise

FMarketing & SEO essentials

F.1Search intent

• The pre-emptive search. "Personal loan agreement template UK" / "loan agreement between family members" — mid-funnel, ready to act.
• The post-loan-already-made search. "How to formalise a loan I already gave my son" — high intent, common scenario.
• The relationship-trouble search. "My friend won't pay me back the loan" / "family member won't repay loan" — high intent, problem-aware. We sell the agreement as the prevention.
• The research / authority search. "Are family loans taxable" / "do I need a contract for lending money to my child" — top-of-funnel, builds authority.

F.2Keyword cluster

Primary keyword: personal loan agreement template uk

Secondary cluster:

• family loan agreement template
• loan agreement between friends
• private loan agreement uk
• loan contract template uk
• parent to child loan agreement

Long-tail / intent variants:

• how to write a loan agreement with a family member
• loan agreement for house deposit from parents
• is a verbal loan agreement legally binding uk
• do I need to charge interest on a family loan
• loan agreement no interest uk
• tax on lending money to family uk

F.3On-page must-haves

• H1: "Personal Loan Agreement Template UK — Free, Signed Online By Both Parties"
• Meta title (≤60 chars): "Personal Loan Agreement Template UK · Free · LegalHelp"
• Meta description (≤155 chars): "Free personal loan agreement template for friends and family. Drafted from your terms, signed online by both parties. Self-help legal tool."
• Schema: Product + Service + FAQPage
• FAQ section answering top 8 PAA questions
• Internal links to: Builder Mock-Up · IOU · Personal Legal MOT · Wills · Variation-Order Tool
• Trust signals above the fold + sample preview + 5–8 min completion estimate
• Price visible above the fold ("Free")
• Mobile-first layout

F.4Page title & meta — compliance-safe drafts

Title candidates:

• A: "Personal Loan Agreement Template UK · Free · LegalHelp"
• B: "Family Loan Agreement — Plain English, Signed Online · LegalHelp"
• C: "Loan Agreement Template UK — Free For Friends & Family · LegalHelp"

Meta candidates:

• A: "Free personal loan agreement template for friends and family. Drafted from your terms, signed online by both parties. Plain English. Self-help legal tool."
• B: "Lending money to family or a friend? Get the terms in writing. Free loan agreement template, signed online by both parties. Not legal advice."

F.5Compliance-safe content programme

Eight supporting articles:

1. "Do I need a contract to lend money to family?" Top-of-funnel. The answer is "yes, even when you trust each other — write it down."
2. "Family loan vs gift: what's the difference in tax terms?" Authority-building.
3. "How to lend money to your adult child for a house deposit." Life-event triggered.
4. "What happens if a family member won't pay back a loan?" Problem-aware.
5. "Is interest on a family loan taxable in the UK?" Authority-building.
6. "Loan agreement vs IOU: which do you need?" Cross-sells IOU.
7. "Lending to a friend — how to protect both sides of the relationship." Mid-funnel.
8. "What to do if your circumstances change before the loan is repaid." Bridge to variation pattern.

F.6Off-page / amplification

Rob fit. Strong. Family lending is a regular feature on Judge Rinder — the "my brother lent me £5,000 and now he wants it back, but it was a gift" type of case.

Charity partner fit. Citizens Advice (huge volumes of family-loan disputes); Age UK (older parents lending); MoneyHelper (government-backed money guidance).

MSE / Which? fit. Excellent. MSE has long-running content on "should I lend money to family" — a free template slots into reader-resources angle.

PR angle. Data story: "One in three UK adults has lent money to family or friends — only 12% wrote it down." Product story: "How to lend to your kids without breaking the family — Rob Rinder's free template."

Affiliate / partner channels.

• Mortgage brokers — when parents lend toward a deposit, the broker is often the one suggesting "write it down"
• Independent financial advisers — wealth-management angle (intergenerational planning)
• Wills & estate planning firms — natural cross-sell
• Family-mediation services — relationship-trouble overlap

F.7The marketing "do not say" list — product-specific additions

• "Earn returns on family lending" — never; not a yield product
• "Beat the banks on lending" — never; not a credit alternative
• "Make your family pay you back" — agreement is consensual, not coercive
• "Tax-free loan" — never; depends on circumstances, we don't advise
• "Lend money safely online" — implies we facilitate the transfer; we don't

GBuild dependencies & open questions

G.1What we need before launch

• AI drafting pipeline for loan agreements — reuses casual-contracts framework; lighter than wills. Owner: Pablo. Status: depends on parent contract pipeline.
• E-sign envelope flow — shared infrastructure with the cluster. Owner: Pablo.
• Reviewer panel sign-off on loan agreement template clauses. Owner: Ed + senior-practitioner panel.
• Interest-rate helper-text content — what's typical guidance. Owner: Rachel + Jemima.
• HMRC interest-income reminder — one-pager for interest-bearing loans. Owner: Rachel + Jemima.
• Compliance copy sign-off — product page, footer, FCA-perimeter language. Owner: Ed.
• Content programme — 8 articles drafted and compliance-reviewed. Owner: Rachel + Jemima.

G.2Open questions

1. Should we offer a 'gift letter' as a separate product? Many users searching for "loan agreement" are actually looking for the mortgage-broker gift letter. Worth scoping as a free add-on.
2. Repayment reminder service — opt-in or opt-out? Opt-in is privacy-respectful; opt-out drives retention and reinforces formality.
3. The £25,000 AML reminder threshold — is this the right number? Worth validating with compliance counsel.
4. Death-of-party trigger — interesting integration with wills product but operationally complex. Phase 2.
5. Cross-border lending — currently refer to a solicitor if either party is outside UK. Worth scoping in v1?
6. Inheritance tax plain-English flag — large family loans with below-market interest can interact with HMRC gift rules. Worth a clear flag, not advice.