Can You Get Your Money Out of a Loan Early?

October 26, 2026
Loan Structure & Exit Strategy

People ask about the rate first and the term second. It should be the other way round, because the term is the part you cannot change your mind about.

So let us deal with the question directly. You have funded a loan. Six months in, something comes up and you want your money back. What actually happens?

The honest answer is: probably nothing, until the loan matures. Here is why, and what the real options are.

What you actually agreed to

A GAP loan runs six months to three years. You receive interest during the term and the principal comes back at maturity. That is the shape of it.

There is no redemption button. There is no fund to sell units back to. Your money is secured by a first-position mortgage on a specific property, held by a specific borrower, for a specific period. That is exactly what makes the return what it is — and it is also exactly what makes it illiquid.

Anyone who offers you a property-backed return and instant access to your capital is offering you one of those two things and not the other.

The three ways money can come back sooner

The borrower repays early. This happens. A borrower sells the property or refinances, and the loan is settled ahead of maturity. It is good news for your capital and less good for your return, because the interest stops. Whether a borrower can prepay, and on what terms, is set out in the loan documents. Read that clause before you fund, not after.

Someone takes your place. A loan position can sometimes be transferred to another lender who wants it. That depends on the loan documents, on the legal structure, and on finding somebody who actually wants that file at that moment. It is not a market. It is a favour that sometimes lines up. Treat it as a possibility, never as a plan.

The loan matures. The ordinary route. At maturity the principal is due. Most borrowers repay, refinance or sell.

Sun setting over the dry hills and pasture of inland Guanacaste

And if the borrower does not repay at maturity?

This is the part of the conversation that gets skipped, so let us not skip it.

Sometimes a borrower asks for an extension. Often that is the sensible outcome for everybody, and it is your decision whether to grant it. Sometimes it is not, and enforcement follows. Enforcement in Costa Rica is a legal process. It costs money, it takes time, and how long it takes is not up to you.

First-lien position is real protection and it is the reason GAP never arranges second-position loans. But holding first position is not the same as being handed the property, and it is not the same as being repaid. Plan on the basis that a difficult file can tie your capital up well past the maturity date.

What this means for how much you lend

Do not lend money you might need.

That sounds obvious written down, and people still get it wrong, usually because the return is attractive and the risk feels distant. The question to ask yourself is not whether you can afford to lose it. It is whether you can afford not to touch it for a year longer than you planned.

If you need some of your capital accessible, keep that portion somewhere accessible. If you want to lend but keep things moving, shorter terms give you more decision points, though shorter loans are not always the ones available when you have cash ready.

Which is the other thing worth saying plainly: there is often a gap between one loan being repaid and the next suitable file appearing. Your money is not earning during that gap. Continuous placement is not something anyone can promise you, and we do not.