Create loans from Loans → New. The step-by-step wizard covers everything, with a live schedule preview as you go.
Parties: asset vs. liability
First choose the loan's direction, which sets who the counterparty is:
- Asset — you hold the note; payments come in. Pick a borrower.
- Liability — you owe the loan; payments go out. Pick a lender.
This drives how the loan shows up in cashflow on Payments and Reports. (An asset loan requires a borrower; a liability requires a lender.)
Terms
Set principal, annual rate, term, and frequency (monthly through annually, including semi-annual). Choose the interest method — amortizing, interest-only, or balloon. The engine generates the full schedule to the cent.
Rate structure
Pick how the rate behaves over the life of the loan:
- Fixed — one rate for the life of the loan.
- Rate Rider — scheduled rate changes on dates you set (e.g. a step-up note). You add each rate and its effective date inline.
- ARM — adjustable: a fixed period, then automatic resets. You configure the fixed period, adjustment cadence, index/margin, and caps; ARM sets the interest type to Adjustable for you.
The schedule preview reflects your rate changes as you configure them.
Escrow
Turn on escrow to collect taxes and insurance with the payment; ownership-date proration handles the first partial year of property taxes. (Remember a loan's escrow is part of its regular payment.)
Advanced
- Signing date before origination captures prepaid (per-diem) interest.
- Custom payment honors a payment amount from existing signed documents.
- Round up each payment to the next dollar (extra goes to principal).
- Borrower servicing fee — a recurring fee on top of P&I.
Tip: the Create button arms a moment after the final step appears, so a rapid double-click can't create a loan early. Once created, everything about the note lives on its detail page. For how interest days are counted, see Day-count conventions; for balloon structures, see Balloon loans.