A loan on terms less onerous than prevailing market rates. This may take various forms. A loan may carry a low rate of interest, the start of interest payments may be deferred, repayment may be spread over an unusually long period, it may be easy to arrange deferment of interest or redemption payments, or the debtor may be allowed to make interest or redemption payments in soft currency. With a hard loan interest is at market rates, and interest and redemption payments have to be made promptly in hard currency.