Generating a promissory note
A loan's notarised promissory note: what you need first, what data it carries and where it comes from.
The notarised promissory note is the document that turns a loan into an enforceable commitment before a notary. Prestafolio generates it from an existing loan, as a Word (.docx) file, so you can review it, tweak the wording if your notary asks for it, print it and sign it.
When you use it: when the amount or the risk justifies formalising. For a small loan to someone you trust, the simple contract is probably enough; for a large one, the promissory note.
Before generating: register the people
A promissory note needs an attorney (or notary) and one or two witnesses. You register those people once in Prestafolio and then reuse them across every note you produce.
For the attorney you must have:
- Their name
- Their bar/licence number
- The province where they practise
For each witness you should have: name, ID number, address, nationality, marital status and occupation. The more complete the record, the more complete the document.
If you try to generate a note with an attorney who does not exist, does not belong to your account, or whom you registered as a witness (not as an attorney), the generation is rejected. Same for witnesses. This check is deliberate: the document is never assembled from data that is not yours.
What you need to generate it
Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
Plan | Any: the legal module is in Basic, Gold and Premium |
Permission | legal:create: the owner always has it; an agent must be granted it |
The loan | It must exist and, if you are a collector, be assigned to you |
People | 1 attorney + 1 or 2 witnesses (you cannot list the same witness twice) |
The result is a file named pagare-[loan id].docx.
What data the note carries and where it comes from
This matters: you do not write the note's content. The only thing you choose is which attorney and which witnesses to reference. Everything else is assembled by Prestafolio from information it already holds:
Part of the document | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
City and province of the act | Your company details |
Creditor (you) | Your company's name, tax ID and address |
Debtor | The client's record: name, gender, ID, address, nationality, marital status and type of work |
Terms | The loan: amount, interest (amount and percentage), late-payment percentage, number of instalments and payment frequency |
Due date | The last date on the loan's schedule |
Issue date | The day you generate it |
Attorney | Name, licence number and province |
Witnesses | Name, gender, ID, address, nationality, marital status and occupation |
The practical consequence: if the client's record is half-filled, the note comes out half-filled. Before generating it, complete the client's ID number, address, nationality and marital status, and check that your company details (name, tax ID, address, city and province) are set. Five minutes there save you a trip back from the notary.
Special cases
Open loans (interest by days). On an open loan the interest is not fixed in advance: it depends on how many days the client takes to pay. For that reason, on an open loan's note the total interest is declared as zero: better than spelling out a figure that would mislead the parties. The interest and late-payment percentages do appear.
A single witness. That is valid: the note accepts one or two. Two makes it sturdier, but one is enough to generate it.
Collectors. An agent can only generate notes for the loans assigned to them. For another collector's loan they get a "loan not found".
After generating it
The .docx downloads to your computer. From there, the flow is the usual one:
- Open and review it. It is deliberately editable: if your notary has a preferred formula, adjust it.
- Print it in as many copies as you need.
- Sign it with the debtor and the witnesses before the attorney.
- Scan the signed copy and store it in Prestafolio: attach it to the client's record.
Prestafolio does not keep a copy of the note it generates: it is assembled on the spot and handed to you. If you lose it, generate it again (it will carry that day's issue date). That is why step 4 matters: the signed document is the one with legal value, and that one is worth filing.