French term (edited): � terme

It strikes me that it doesn't make sense unless one considers that "à terme" does NOT refer to the "terme" of the loan, but rather to a more general "later date".

All loans are redeemed on maturity in one form or another: so saying it can't be redeemed at maturity just doesn't make sense.
In addition, these are "instalment loans" which (to me, anyway) implies the loan capital is being repaid on each instalment, so there will be nothing left to pay back on maturity...

I would contrast this with loans based on an "endowment" system, where the instalments are paid into an insurance policy, rather than into repaying the loan amount, and this policy will then be used to "redeem the loan at maturity".
But again, even if this were the case here, it strikes me as nonsensical to say that they can't be redeemed at maturity.



What this sentence appears to be saying is that since interest is paid up front, it is impossible to gain any advantage by redeeming the loan (i.e. repaying it early). Redemption of sums outstanding is expressed as being something that "can't be done", but I suspect this is more a question of "pointlessness" rather than actually being forbidden
.

The other possibility (IMHO) is that there is a missing "que" before "à terme": "le rachat éventuel des encours ne pourra se faire qu'à terme"