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As long as you keep up with your payment plan as spelled out in your promissory note, you are on track to successfully repaying your loan. Even if you are able to meet the payments without difficulties, you and the lender might prefer to put a buffer up so that you are not the ones handling the payments directly.  Consider hiring a loan manager to deal with the payments and send any reminder notices, annual reports, and other documents. Having an outside person dealing with the everyday administration of the loan can help you have a more normal relationship with the borrower. A major factor in a successful private loan is your ability to maintain clear communication and honest transparency with the lender. The lender should make herself available to talk, and hear you out if you have run into temporary financial difficulty. The borrower has a responsibility to be direct and honest with the lender from the start and throughout.  If you are anticipating having problems making a payment, speak to the lender as soon as possible and be prepared to offer a sensible alternative. You might like to set up regular meetings or conversations so you can both keep track of the loan. This gives you a formal forum to discuss any issues and work together to find mutually beneficial solutions. If you run into financial difficulty, and are struggling to make the payments, you should be prepared to work hard to make accommodations which ensure the borrower gets repaid. Treat the loan as you would a loan from a bank, and work with the lender to come up with an alternative payment schedule.  This could mean increasing the duration of the loan from ten to fifteen years, or altering the repayment schedule so a greater proportion of the loan is paid off in later years. Remember that you have to make an offer that benefits the lender as well. If you’re asking for a significant extension to the duration of the loan, be prepared to marginally increase the rate of interest. A big part of treating the loan as a professional agreement is keeping it isolated from your day-to-day interactions. Try to avoid talking about the loan at family occasions or when socialising. Keep it something you discuss at specific times, and try to contain it. This will be a lot easier if all the agreements are clear, and everybody is sticking to them.
Repay the loan as agreed. Keep the lines of communication open. Be open to restructuring. Keep the loan separate from your relationship.