[Guthrie]

In answer to your original question: You can get pre-printed forms for such at Office Depot, Staples, or whatever you have in your area. If you don't want to spend the money, you can find plenty of books of forms at the library.

If you can afford to loan someone $15K, you should probably fork over another couple of hundred and pay a lawyer to draft a proper agreement.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've been through the legal wringer many times, and I can tell you without hesitation that anything you get in writing is better than nothing. I've seen scraps of paper, napkins, and doodling admitted as evidence and hold up.

Even if he has no collateral, and there's a good chance the loan will be uncollectible, you still want to get in in writing. If your friend dies, you have a claim against the estate. If he has any assets at the time of death, life insurance, or a claim against the drunk driver who killed him, you may ultimately collect some money. A verbal agreement is fairly useless in these cases.

If he files bankruptcy, your written loan agreement won't get you any cash if he has none, but you may find yourself with a nice tax deduction. There may be all kinds of qualifications on this regarding your relationship, the nature of the loan, and the relative timeline, but it can't hurt to get it in writing up front.