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NOTE WITH 12% INTEREST RATE FOR LESS THAN A YEAR WAS USURIOUS.

The First Department determined a note was void as usurious.  Although the face of the note indicated the interest rate was 12%, the duration of the note was less than a year.  The actual interest was a usurious 36%:

It is true that the stated rate on the four-month note is 12%. However, it does not say 12% per annum. Where, as here, the loan is for less than a year, the interest rate is annualized … , and thus, the annual rate on the note is 36%, well above the criminal usury rate of 25%. It is also true that the note says, “in no event shall the rate of interest payable hereunder exceed the maximum interest permitted to be charged by applicable law and any interest paid in excess of the permitted rate shall be credited to principal and any balance refunded to” defendant. However, that does not make the subject note nonusurious … . Furthermore, even if defendant drafted the note, that “does not relieve the lender from a defense of usury” … . Bakhash v Winston, 2015 NY Slip Op 08966, 1st Dept 12-8-15

MONTHLY COMPILATION INDEX ENTRIES FOR THIS CASE:

USURY (EFFECTIVE ANNUAL INTEREST ON NOTE WAS 36%)

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