Promissory Note - Installment - California

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CALIFORNIA INSTALLMENT NOTE — TRANSACTION AND DRAFTING WORKSHEET

DO NOT SIGN THIS WORKSHEET AS A NOTE. Complete every classification and
economics field, obtain California lending review, and then prepare a
coordinated note and related documents for the actual transaction.

1. Transaction Classification Gate

Item Verified entry
Borrower exact legal name / type / residence or formation [________________________________]
Lender exact legal name / type / charter or license [________________________________]
Principal amount and funding date [________________________________]
Primary use of proceeds [PERSONAL / FAMILY / HOUSEHOLD / BUSINESS / INVESTMENT / AGRICULTURAL / OTHER: ____]
Consumer-purpose or mixed-purpose issue [________________________________]
Lender license, charter, exemption, or federal-preemption analysis [________________________________]
Broker, finder, arranger, servicer, or originator [________________________________]
Real-property, dwelling, home-equity, construction, or mortgage connection [________________________________]
Personal-property collateral or unsecured status [________________________________]
Seller financing, credit sale, employer loan, family loan, litigation settlement, or other special context [________________________________]
Borrower and guarantor sophistication / counsel [________________________________]
Governing federal and California disclosure or cooling-off regime [________________________________]
California lending counsel / review date [________________________________]

Do not proceed until counsel knows who is lending, why the money is borrowed,
how the loan is arranged, what secures it, and which licensing, disclosure,
interest, and remedy rules apply.

2. Current-Law and Document Matrix

Question Current official authority Verified answer Accessed
Lender licensing / exemption / permissible activity [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Interest ceiling or exemption [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Amounts treated as interest or finance charge [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Computation, compounding, day-count, and rounding [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Late, returned-payment, origination, default, and other charges [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Prepayment, rebate, payoff, and credit rules [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Consumer or other required disclosures / notices [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Negotiability and Article 3 treatment [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Collateral attachment, perfection, and enforcement [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Notice, cure, acceleration, repossession, foreclosure, setoff, and collection [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Guaranty, spouse, community-property, homestead, or exemption issue [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Arbitration, jury rights, forum, and provisional relief [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Electronic records / signatures and retention [____] [____] [__/__/____]
Filing, recording, notarization, tax, reporting, and privacy [____] [____] [__/__/____]

3. Parties, Funding, and Purpose Record

Borrower

Field Entry
Legal name / entity number [________________________________]
Address [________________________________]
Signer and authority [________________________________]
Financial and credit information reviewed [________________________________]
Existing debt and priority issue [________________________________]

Lender

Field Entry
Legal name / license or charter information [________________________________]
Address [________________________________]
Signer and authority [________________________________]
Servicer / payment administrator [________________________________]

Funding

Item Entry / evidence
Gross principal $[________________________________]
Amount actually delivered for borrower use $[________________________________]
Amount paid to third parties $[________________________________]
Fees withheld or financed $[________________________________]
Prior debt refinanced $[________________________________]
Funding method, recipient, and date [________________________________]
Purpose certification and supporting record [________________________________]

4. Economic-Term Schedule

List every amount the borrower may pay or fund. Do not label an amount as
principal, interest, cost, expense, or exempt fee without reviewed authority.

Term / charge Amount or formula Payee Due / earned Financed? Counsel classification
Stated interest [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Origination / points [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Broker / arranger fee [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Documentation / administration [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Third-party cost [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Late charge [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Default interest [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Returned-payment charge [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Prepayment / exit amount [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Collection cost / attorney fee [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]
Other [____] [____] [____] [____] [____]

Complete modeled rate / charge result: [_______________________________]

Independent calculation checked by / date: [__________________________]

5. Interest and Payment Method

Item Selected and reviewed term
Fixed or variable rate [________________________________]
Index, source, lookback, margin, floor, cap, and replacement [________________________________]
Accrual start [________________________________]
Day-count and year basis [________________________________]
Simple, compound, precomputed, add-on, or other method [________________________________]
Payment frequency [________________________________]
First payment date [________________________________]
Maturity date [________________________________]
Irregular first / final period [________________________________]
Rounding and payment adjustment [________________________________]
Application of payments [________________________________]
Grace rule [________________________________]
Partial payment [________________________________]

Amortization Schedule

No. Due date Beginning balance Interest Principal Other authorized amount Total Ending balance
1 [DATE] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____]
2 [DATE] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____]
[__] [DATE] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____] $[____]

6. Prepayment and Payoff

Issue Selected term and authority review
Full prepayment [________________________________]
Partial prepayment [________________________________]
Premium, charge, rebate, or refund [________________________________]
Application to installments / maturity [________________________________]
Payoff request and statement process [________________________________]
Release of collateral or other closing document [________________________________]

7. Collateral and Related Documents

Item Selection / document / filing
Loan unsecured? [YES / NO]
Personal property [________________________________]
Deposit account / investment property / intellectual property [________________________________]
Vehicle, vessel, aircraft, fixture, or titled asset [________________________________]
Real property / deed of trust [________________________________]
Security agreement [________________________________]
Perfection method and governing jurisdiction [________________________________]
Priority, subordination, intercreditor, or payoff [________________________________]
Guaranty [________________________________]
Insurance / loss-payee requirement [________________________________]

This packet does not create or perfect a lien. Use separate, coordinated,
reviewed documents and the correct filing, possession, control, title, or
recording method.

8. Default and Remedy Design

Issue Current law and negotiated term
Payment default [________________________________]
Nonmonetary default [________________________________]
Required notice and cure [________________________________]
Repeated default [________________________________]
Cross-default / cross-collateralization [________________________________]
Insolvency / bankruptcy limitation [________________________________]
Acceleration [________________________________]
Default interest / late charge interaction [________________________________]
Setoff [________________________________]
Collateral remedy [________________________________]
Collection cost / attorney fee [________________________________]
Waivers and nonwaivable rights [________________________________]

Do not add automatic acceleration, banker's lien, confession, blanket waiver,
self-help, bondless injunction, or "maximum lawful rate" cure boilerplate
without transaction-specific authority.

9. Negotiability and Transfer Election

Question Reviewed answer
Is negotiability intended? [YES / NO / UNRESOLVED]
Additional undertakings compatible with that intent? [________________________________]
Order / bearer / named-payee wording [________________________________]
Definite payment-time analysis [________________________________]
Reference to other documents [________________________________]
Assignment / transfer restrictions [________________________________]
Notice and proof before redirected payment [________________________________]
Claims and defenses treatment [________________________________]

If the note is intended to be non-negotiable, use a reviewed conspicuous
statement. If negotiability is intended, do not import an entire loan agreement
into the note without analyzing each undertaking.

10. Dispute, Notice, and Execution Schedule

Item Selected and verified term
Governing law [________________________________]
Court jurisdiction and venue [________________________________]
Arbitration [________________________________]
Jury rights [________________________________]
Provisional / equitable relief [________________________________]
Contract notice methods and effective time [________________________________]
Mandatory notice overrides [________________________________]
Counterparts and electronic execution [________________________________]
Original note custody / authoritative copy [________________________________]
Notarization or acknowledgment [________________________________]
Tax, reporting, privacy, and record retention [________________________________]

11. Note and Closing Assembly

  • ☐ reviewed installment promissory note
  • ☐ final amortization schedule
  • ☐ economic-term and charge schedule
  • ☐ required consumer or other disclosures and notices
  • ☐ funding authorization and disbursement record
  • ☐ security agreement and perfection documents, if applicable
  • ☐ deed of trust / real-property documents, if applicable
  • ☐ guaranty, if applicable
  • ☐ entity approvals and signer authority
  • ☐ broker / lender license and exemption record
  • ☐ closing, payment, and servicing instructions

Final Counsel Check

  • ☐ lender, borrower, purpose, amount, security, broker, and property classified
  • ☐ licensing, exemption, disclosure, interest, fee, and prepayment analysis complete
  • ☐ payment schedule independently checked
  • ☐ negotiability election matches every note term
  • ☐ collateral, guaranty, default, and remedy documents coordinate
  • ☐ arbitration, jury, forum, notice, electronic-execution, and original-note issues resolved
  • ☐ no unsupported rate, cure, waiver, setoff, fee, lien, or enforcement claim remains
  • ☐ every bracket completed or deleted and the final note reviewed before signature

Prepared by: [________________________________]

Review date: [__/__/____]

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About This Template

Financial and banking documents govern loans, security interests, account agreements, and commercial transactions between lenders, borrowers, and financial institutions. Promissory notes, guaranties, security agreements, and UCC filings have precise legal requirements, and mistakes can leave a lender unsecured or a borrower on the hook for more than they agreed to. Well-drafted finance paperwork protects both sides and keeps the deal enforceable if something goes wrong later.

Important Notice

This template is provided for informational purposes. It is not legal advice. We recommend having an attorney review any legal document before signing, especially for high-value or complex matters.

Checked against the law it cites

A reviewer verified this template's legal citations against the official source on 2026-08-25.

Last updated: 2026-08-25

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