The New York General Obligations Law provides that the legal rate of interest charged on a loan is six (6) percent per annum unless a different rate of interest is fixed under section 14 (a) of the Banking Law. Section 14 (a) of the New York Banking Law holds that the maximum rate of interest shall be sixteen (16) percent per year. Therefore, it is black letter law that a loan agreement that charges an individual borrower with interest in excess of 16% is usurious, on its face, and may be unenforceable. Please contact the New York trial attorneys at Bashian & Papantoniou for a consultation, if you have been sued under a loan agreement that seeks annualized interest at a rate in excess of 16%.
