Markets/en/Portal:Small Loans/Amendments-and-Addenda:Small Loans

💡 In simple words: When you borrow money, sometimes you need to change the plan. This page shows how to ask your lender for changes - like paying later, doing work instead of paying, or getting help from a friend. It's easier and nicer than hiding when you have problems.

🎯 In 20 seconds (scientific summary): We are heading towards formalized micro-lending frameworks where amendments function as primary dispute-prevention mechanisms rather than exception handling. This emerging approach suggests that contractual flexibility—rescheduling, service conversion, guarantor addition—integrated into standardized templates reduces default stigma and strengthens relational trust. The hypothesis proposes that transparent, pre-agreed modification pathways embedded in initial agreements shift borrower behaviour from avoidance to proactive communication.

Section 3 of the Small Loans portal, instantiated from the amendments and addenda model. Draft material, intended to be validated by lawyers.

Amendments and addenda: small loans

Why they matter more here than anywhere

In this market, the amendment is not paperwork: it is the escape route from shame. Rescheduling by amendment turns "I could not pay and I hid" into "I saw it coming and we adjusted". The contract's talk-first clause (S7) makes renegotiation the expected path; the templates below make it a five-minute act.

Example amendment: rescheduling an installment

Amends: Small loan agreement between [Anna] and [Marc], [reference]. Subject: rescheduling of installment 3. Original terms (Annex 1): installment 3 of 6, CHF 50, due 15 September. Amended terms: installment 3 split into CHF 20 due 15 September and CHF 30 due 15 October; installments 4 to 6 unchanged. Final repayment date moves from 15 December to 15 January. Reason: the Borrower announced on 2 September, before the due date, an unexpected expense. Financial impact: total repaid unchanged; no interest, no penalty. Everything else unchanged. Signatures: Anna · date. Marc · date.

All names and figures on this page are placeholders for illustration.

Example amendment: converting part of the debt into services

Amends: Small loan agreement between [Lender] and [Borrower], [reference]. Subject: conversion of the remaining balance. Original terms: remaining balance of CHF 120 payable in 3 installments. Amended terms: remaining balance converted into [service: 6 hours of gardening / childcare / meals], as valued and scheduled in the updated Annex 1. Full performance of the service counts as full repayment. Reason: agreed under clause S7, option 3, at the Borrower's proposal. Everything else unchanged. Signatures: both parties · dates.

• Commentary: service conversion keeps repayment possible when money is not. The valuation line is essential: both parties must agree what one hour of the service is worth before it starts, or the conversion just moves the dispute.

Example addendum: adding a guarantor after signature

Supplements: Small loan agreement between [Lender] and [Borrower], [reference]. Subject: addition of a guarantor. New element: [Name], trusted by both parties, guarantees repayment up to CHF [cap], only after the recovery ladder steps of clause S8 up to day 30 have been exhausted. The guarantor received a copy of the full agreement and of this addendum before signing. Relation to existing clauses: this addendum adds to the agreement and modifies none of its existing clauses. Signatures: Lender · Borrower · Guarantor · dates.

• Commentary: adding a guarantor mid-loan often happens after a first rescheduling, as a way to keep trust. The "received a copy" line protects the guarantor: nobody should guarantee a contract they have not read.

Example addendum: activating a support group

Supplements: Small loan agreement, [reference]. Subject: activation of a mutual support group (clause S4). New element: the persons listed in the new Annex 2 [3 to 5 names] agree to be informed of the schedule and, if asked under clause S4, to remind and help privately. Each member signed the acknowledgment line of Annex 2. Relation to existing clauses: none modified. Signatures: both parties · dates.

See also

• Contract, clauses S4, S5, S7, S8 · Follow-up messages
• Back to the Small Loans portal