In a loan transaction, the date on which the term of the loan expires and the outstanding principal balance of the loan must be repaid to the lender. All other amounts payable by the borrower under the loan agreement, such as interest, fees, and expenses, must also usually be paid at maturity. Under the terms of a loan agreement, certain specified payment obligations of the borrower may continue after maturity, such as indemnity obligations.

In loan transactions where the borrower has not fully drawn the loan commitment, the lender's commitment to make new loans expires on the maturity date at the latest. In some transactions, the commitment period expires before maturity, in which case the earlier date on which the commitment expires is often called the commitment termination date. This leaves a period of time between the commitment termination date and maturity during which the borrower cannot obtain new loans but does not have to repay outstanding loans that it previously borrowed. In other loan transactions, the commitment expires on the maturity date, though in practice the borrower is unlikely to borrow new loans when the maturity of its loan is imminent. In loan agreement terminology, maturity is sometimes referred to as "final maturity" or the "maturity date."

In the context of debt securities, a maturity date is the date when the principal amount of a bond, note, or other debt instrument is typically repaid to the investor along with the final interest payment.