Balloon Maturity

1. A repayment schedule for a bond issue where a large number of the bonds come due at a one time (normally at the final maturity date).
2. A final loan payment that is considerably higher than prior payments. This is also known as a "balloon payment."

When a balloon maturity occurs, a company must pay the principle back to borrowers on many bonds at once. If the company is short on cash then it may have trouble making all the payments.