balloon payment

British

noun

a large payment that concludes a series of smaller payments, for example in order to repay a loan

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“If you have to pay a balloon payment at the end of the forbearance and you can’t afford that, that could put you in a much more difficult situation,” Cohen said.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 31, 2025

In some cases, drivers pay monthly fees before paying a so-called "balloon payment" at the end.

From BBC • Aug. 4, 2025

“It also alleviates the anxiety of having to figure out how to pay off a large balloon payment in the future.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2023

Instead, the foundation acted as the lender, effectively extending a mortgage to Peart’s business for an $800,000 down payment, a $1.83 million balloon payment in July 2022 and interim interest payments of $11,000 a month.

From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2021

Indeed, while the company met its roughly $3.6 billion in interest payments on its debt last year, it still faces a $20 billion balloon payment coming due in 2014.

From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2010

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023