Maximum Interest Rate by State 2026: Usury Limits, All 50 States

There is no single national maximum. Interest ceilings are set state by state, and within a state they differ by the type of obligation and often by the type of borrower. The general contract ceilings on this page run from 6% in Pennsylvania up to 45% in Colorado, and 13 jurisdictions set no general limit at all. Separately, national banks may export the rate allowed by their home state under federal law, which is why a credit card issued from Delaware or South Dakota can carry a rate no local usury statute would permit.

The maximum legal interest rate varies significantly by state. Among the states that set a general limit in statute, the range runs from 6% in Pennsylvania to 45% in Colorado, and 13 jurisdictions set no general limit at all on a rate agreed in writing. It also depends on the kind of credit and on who is borrowing. Thirteen jurisdictions set no general ceiling at all on a rate agreed in writing, so there is no maximum to exceed. Among the states that do state one outright, the range runs from 6% to 45% for the same kind of written agreement. Most states also set a lower rate that applies when nothing was agreed, and a third rate again once a court enters judgment. Separately, a national bank may charge the rate its own home state allows to a customer anywhere in the country, which is why a credit card rate can exceed every figure on this page.

It depends entirely on who is lending, who is borrowing and which state law governs. A 30% rate is well above the general usury ceiling in most states and would be unlawful for an ordinary private loan in, for example, Alabama at 8% or Illinois at 9%. It is squarely lawful in states with no general limit such as New Hampshire, Nevada and South Dakota, and it is routinely lawful on a credit card issued by a national bank regardless of your own state, because of federal rate exportation. It may also be lawful in a state with a low ceiling if the lender is a licensed consumer lender operating under a separate statute.

No, many states have exceptions for specific types of loans. Credit cards are often subject to the issuing bank home state laws rather than the borrower state. Mortgage loans are frequently exempted from state usury limits. Auto loans may have higher permissible interest rates than unsecured personal loans. Business and commercial loans are often subject to different and higher limits than consumer loans. Payday loans attract specific regulations in some states for short-term, high-interest lending.

Whatever rate your customer agreed to in writing, up to your state usury ceiling for that kind of obligation. If your terms specify a late payment rate, that agreed rate governs and the general usury limit in the table above is the cap. If your terms are silent, you generally fall back to the state default legal rate, which is usually much lower, and in some states you may not be able to charge interest at all without an agreement. A common commercial practice is 1.5% per month, which is 18% a year, and that figure exceeds the general ceiling in a substantial number of states once the borrower is a consumer. Check your own state row before printing a rate on your invoice template.

Federal regulations can supersede state usury laws in several important ways. The National Banking Act allows nationally chartered banks to charge interest rates permitted in their home states, regardless of borrower location. The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 preempts state usury caps for many types of federally related loans. Federal credit union laws set specific rate limits for federal credit unions that can override state limits. The Military Lending Act caps rates for active-duty service members and dependants at 36% APR regardless of state law. These federal preemptions can create situations where lenders may legally charge rates that exceed state usury caps.

Often not, or not in the same way. Many states exempt corporate borrowers, commercial and business purpose loans, or loans above a threshold amount from their general usury ceiling. In the data on this page, 15 jurisdictions carry an explicit business, corporate or non-consumer distinction in their general limit. Louisiana, Missouri and Wisconsin remove the limit entirely for corporations, Virginia removes it for corporations and business loans over $5,000, and South Carolina removes it for non-consumer transactions. Note that several of those states also have anti-evasion rules: forming a corporation for the sole purpose of escaping the usury cap is a well-litigated tactic and does not reliably work.

No, this strategy generally will not work. While many states do have higher usury limits or exemptions for loans to businesses or corporations, courts look at the substance of transactions rather than just their form. If a court determines that a corporation was formed solely to evade usury laws for what is effectively a personal loan, the usury laws will still apply. This is sometimes referred to as looking at the true purpose of the loan. Several states, including Louisiana, Missouri and Wisconsin, explicitly warn in their statutes that forming a corporation specifically to circumvent usury laws will not protect the lender from usury violations.

The common exemptions are national banks and federally insured institutions, which may export their home state rate under the National Bank Act and the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act; licensed consumer lenders, pawnbrokers and small loan companies operating under a separate licensing statute with its own ceiling; corporate and commercial borrowers in the states that exempt them; and in many states loans above a stated dollar threshold. Certain transactions are also treated as not being loans at all, such as time price differentials on retail installment sales, which is why store financing can look like it exceeds a state ceiling.

For most cards the answer is that your own state ceiling does not control it. Under Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha (1978) a national bank may charge the rate permitted by the state where the bank is located to customers anywhere in the country. That is why so many issuers are based in South Dakota, which sets no general usury limit at all, and in Delaware, whose general ceiling is a formula tied to the Federal Reserve rate rather than a fixed cap. Your state figure in the table above applies to lenders that are not exporting a rate this way, and state ceilings do still bite on some store cards, credit union cards and cards issued by state-chartered lenders. The main federal exception is the Military Lending Act, which caps most consumer credit to active duty service members and their dependants at 36% Military Annual Percentage Rate.

The legal interest rate is a baseline figure set by state law that typically applies where no specific interest rate has been agreed in a contract, or for certain court judgments. It serves as a default rate. The general usury limit is the maximum interest rate a lender can charge on loans and other credit agreements under normal circumstances, and it is the main ceiling that prohibits excessive interest rates. They are usually different numbers and the gap can be wide. In Alabama the legal interest rate is 6% while the general usury limit is 8%, so when no rate is specified 6% applies and an agreed rate may run to 8%. Even that is only half the rule: Alabama lifts the ceiling entirely once principal reaches $2,000. New Jersey sets a legal rate of 6% and a general limit of 16%. The 30% and 50% figures usually quoted for New Jersey are its criminal usury thresholds, not its civil ceiling.

The consequence varies sharply by state and is one of the reasons this is not a subject to guess at. Some states make the excess interest alone unrecoverable. Some forfeit all interest on the loan. A few forfeit principal as well, and several attach criminal liability above a higher threshold, which is where the term criminal usury comes from: New York at 25% against a 16% civil limit, Ohio at 25% against an 8% civil ceiling, and Florida at 25%. Colorado is the odd one out, setting its criminal line at the same 45% as its civil ceiling rather than above it. Penalties this severe are the reason a written agreed rate should be checked against the ceiling before it is used, not after a dispute.

Under every general usury ceiling in the table on this page, yes. No state sets its general contract ceiling anywhere near 100%. Where triple digit rates are advertised lawfully, the lender is not operating under the general usury chapter at all: it holds a license under a small loan or deferred deposit statute that carries its own cap, or it is a bank exporting the rate its home state allows. The general ceiling and the rate on a high cost product are set by different statutes, which is why both can be true at the same time.

Usury is charging interest above the rate the law allows. It describes the overcharge rather than the loan, so a lender charging a lawful rate is not a usurer however high that rate looks, and a lender charging a point over the ceiling is, however small the excess. Which ceiling applies depends on the state whose law governs the agreement, on the kind of credit, and in many states on whether the borrower is a business.

Thirteen jurisdictions place no general ceiling at all on a rate agreed in writing, so nothing in their general usury law limits it. Among the states that do state a ceiling, Colorado is the highest at 45% and Pennsylvania the lowest at 6%. A high ceiling and no ceiling are not the same thing: several states with no general limit cap licensed lenders separately, so reading the general chapter alone would not tell you what a consumer can be charged there.

Usually not the figure in the table on this page. Vehicle finance is normally written under a motor vehicle retail installment or sales finance act rather than the general usury chapter, and those statutes carry their own rate schedules, which often vary with the age of the vehicle. A dealer arranged rate above the general ceiling is commonly lawful for that reason rather than in spite of it. Check your state motor vehicle finance statute, not its general usury limit.

A written agreement overrides the default legal rate, but it does not override the usury ceiling. Those are two different things and conflating them is the most common mistake on this subject. Agreeing a rate in writing moves you from the default legal rate up to whatever you agreed, and the general usury limit is the ceiling on what you were allowed to agree. A rate above the ceiling is not saved by the fact that both parties signed it, which is precisely what usury statutes exist to prevent.