Usury Rate Calculator (Max Legal Interest)

Legal basis: State usury statutes vary (e.g., N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-501); 12 U.S.C. § 85 (National Bank Act interest exportation and preemption for national banks) · checked 2026-10-04 · Rates and limits change — verify the current figures.

Usury laws cap the interest a lender may charge. When a loan's rate exceeds the cap that applies to it, the consequences depend on the jurisdiction: the excess interest may be forfeited, the entire interest provision may be void, the lender may lose the right to collect any interest at all, or in a few places the lender can face penalties. There is no single national number. State caps differ dramatically, from rates in the teens or lower for consumer loans in some states to effectively no cap for business-purpose loans in others, and the cap usually depends on who is lending, who is borrowing and what the money is for.

For that reason the maximum lawful rate in this calculator is a user input. You look up the cap that plausibly applies to your loan, enter it alongside the loan's APR and balance, and the tool computes the spread and flags whether the loan appears to exceed the cap. The loan type you select is a label for the comparison, because the same dollar figure can be lawful as a business loan and unlawful as a consumer loan in the same state. The calculator also shows the monthly interest cost on the balance you enter and the excess interest the rate would generate in a year if it is above the cap.

The biggest trap in this area is federal preemption. National banks and many state-chartered, federally insured lenders can generally charge the rate allowed in their home state nationwide under the National Bank Act, and certain credit card and installment lending is further governed by federal law that limits state caps. Payday-style lending sits on yet another footing, with some states banning it outright, some capping it specifically, and some lenders routing around state caps through bank partnerships, a structure courts and regulators continue to examine. A rate that looks illegal against your state's general cap may be perfectly lawful because of who the lender is.

So treat this tool as an educational estimate for planning, not a legal conclusion. It cannot determine which cap applies to your specific loan, whether preemption applies, or what remedy your state provides. If a loan appears to exceed a cap, do not simply stop paying, because that creates its own default consequences; verify the applicable law and remedies with a licensed attorney or your state's financial regulator before acting.

This calculator is an educational estimate for planning purposes only. It is not legal advice, usury caps vary by state, loan type and lender, federal preemption can apply to banks, and the law changes. The applicable rule depends on your jurisdiction and specific loan terms. Consult a licensed attorney or your state financial regulator before relying on any result.