eForms vs Lend Right for a family loan in Canada

eForms gives away loan-agreement templates for free, which is hard to argue with on price. The catch for Canadians is in the fine print: the templates are written for the United States, and you finish them by hand. Here's an honest comparison.

What eForms is

eForms is a large, well-known free-template site. You pick a document — there's a loan agreement, a family loan agreement, a promissory note, and dozens of others — fill in the blanks, and download it as a PDF or Word file at no charge. For a quick, no-cost starting point, it's genuinely useful.

Two things are worth knowing before you rely on one for a Canadian loan.

It's built for the United States. eForms' loan templates are framed around US law. Their family-loan guidance talks about not charging more than "the state's usury rate", the governing-law clause reads "the laws located in the state of ___", and they recommend signing in front of two witnesses and attaching a notary acknowledgement. None of that maps cleanly onto Canada, where interest is governed federally by the Interest Act and the criminal-rate cap, and most family loans don't need a notary at all.

You finish it by hand. The free template is a document you download, print, fill, and sign yourself — there's no built-in way for both people to sign online. That's fine if you're in the same room with a printer; it's friction if you aren't.

What Lend Right is

Lend Right does one thing: it builds a clear loan agreement for money lent between family or friends in Canada, and gets both people to sign it. It's guided rather than a blank template — you answer plain questions and it assembles the agreement — and it's Canada-aware (interest as an annual rate under the Interest Act, the 35% criminal cap, common-law provinces).

It isn't free: drafting and previewing cost nothing, and there's a flat fee to finalise, with no subscription. The lender can even set it so the borrower covers that fee. In exchange, you get a Canada-correct agreement and online signing, instead of a US template you adapt and print.

eForms vs Lend Right, side by side

Swipe sideways if the table is cut off →

Pricing and features for any third-party service change over time — always confirm current details on the provider's own website before deciding.

So which should you use?

Be honest about what you're optimising for.

Choose eForms if price is the only consideration, you're comfortable adapting a US template to your situation, and you don't mind printing and signing by hand. It's a fine free starting point, especially if you just want to see what a loan agreement looks like.

Choose Lend Right if you'd rather not gamble on US-written wording for a Canadian loan, you want interest handled the way Canadian law expects, and you want both people to sign from their phones without a printer or a notary. The flat fee buys you Canada-correctness and a signed document, not a blank you have to finish.

Whichever you choose, get the Canadian basics right

Whatever route you take, a solid family loan agreement in Canada should name both parties, state the amount, set out the repayment plan, express any interest as an annual rate (kept under the criminal-interest cap), and be signed by both people. A US template can be adapted to do this, but you have to know what to change. For the full checklist, see what a personal loan agreement needs to include in Canada, and if you're charging interest, how to legally charge interest on a family loan.