Phrasal verbs · Free lesson
Pay off a loan: the remaining debt reaches zero
A payment confirmation tells you money moved. It does not always tell you the loan is finished. Look at the remaining balance before choosing how to describe it.
Professor Scott MendozaMeaning in this lesson
pay off
To finish repaying a debt, so none of that debt remains.
Example
“I finally paid off the loan.”
I made the final payment and no longer owe money on that loan.
The short answer
I paid off the loan reports a completed repayment: nothing remains to be paid on that loan. Making one payment is not enough if some of that same debt is still owed. For a loan you have already mentioned, say I paid it off.
Check what is left, not just what was paid.
Imagine a £600 loan. Paying £200 leaves £400, so you made a payment on it. Paying the full amount owed clears that loan: you paid it off. The past form is paid, not payed.
Two different results
I made a payment on the loan. I still owe £400.
I finally paid off the loan. I owe nothing more on it.
I finally paid it off.
You can pay off the loan or pay the loan off. With it, keep the pronoun in the middle: pay it off.
Read the remaining balance
A payment has left money owing
I still owe £400.
The full debt has been cleared
I owe nothing more on this loan.
Report the completed result
I finally paid it off.
Try it now
Match the words to the repayment.
Read all answers and explanations
Which record supports “You paid off the loan”?
You owed £600, paid the full £600 and now owe nothing on that loan.The second record clears the whole loan. The first is only a partial repayment; the third adds borrowing rather than clearing the debt.
A friend says, “I am paying off the loan.” What does that sentence tell you?
The speaker is in the process of repaying the loan.Am paying off presents repayment as a process in progress. It does not claim the final payment has already happened or that payments have stopped.
Keep paid off and replace the loan with it. Choose the correct sentence.
I finally paid it off.Paid is the correct past form. The pronoun it belongs between paid and off. Paid off it has the wrong pronoun order; payed is not the money-payment form.
Put it into practice
Keep the facts; fix the report.
You paid £200 yesterday and still owe £400 on the same loan. Choose a report that keeps both facts.
I paid off the loan yesterday. I still owe £400 on it.
See a model answer
I made a £200 payment on the loan yesterday. I still owe £400 on it.
An accurate edit changes the description, not the facts. Made a payment does not claim the loan is fully repaid.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Is pay back wrong if I repay the whole loan?
No. You can pay back an entire loan. Pay off highlights reaching the end of that debt; do not turn the contrast into a rule that pay back only means partial repayment.
I paid back the full amount.
Does pay off require several payments?
No. You can clear a debt in one payment or reach the final payment after many. The expression focuses on completion, not the number of payments.
I paid it off in one payment.
Take it into your day
Paid off the loan: that loan is finished. Paying off the loan: repayment is in progress.
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