Section 334.03 Usurious Contracts Invalid; Exceptions
334.03 USURIOUS CONTRACTS INVALID; EXCEPTIONS.
All bonds, bills, notes, mortgages, and all other contracts and securities, and all deposits of goods, or any other thing, whereupon or whereby there shall be reserved, secured, or taken any greater sum or value for the loan or forbearance of any money, goods, or things in action than prescribed, except such instruments which are taken or received in accordance with and in reliance upon the provisions of any statute, shall be void except as to a holder in due course. No merely clerical error in the computation of interest, made without intent to avoid the provisions of this chapter, shall constitute usury. Interest at the rate of 1/12 of eight percent for every 30 days shall not be construed to exceed eight percent per annum; nor shall the payment of interest in advance of one year, or any less time, at a rate not exceeding eight percent per annum constitute usury; and nothing herein shall prevent the purchase of negotiable mercantile paper, usurious or otherwise, for a valuable consideration, by a purchaser without notice, at any price before the maturity of the same, when there has been no intent to evade the provisions of this chapter, or where such purchase has not been a part of the original usurious transactions; but where the original holder of a usurious note sells the same to an innocent purchaser, the maker thereof, or the maker's representatives, may recover back from the original holder the amount of principal and interest paid on the note. This section does not apply when the loan or forbearance is made by a lender and the lender is subject to section 47.59 or 48.196 or chapter 56 in connection with the loan or forbearance. For purposes of this section, the term "lender" means a bank or savings bank organized under the laws of this state, a federally chartered savings association or savings bank, a savings association organized under chapter 51A, a federally chartered credit union, a credit union organized under chapter 52, an industrial loan and thrift company organized under chapter 53, a licensed lender under chapter 56, or a mortgagee or lender approved or certified by the secretary of housing and urban development or approved or certified by the administrator of veterans affairs.
History:
(7038) RL s 2735; 1923 c 283 s 1; 1965 c 391 s 1; 1978 c 529 s 7; 1980 c 606 s 4; 1981 c 258 s 22; 1982 c 547 s 10; 1986 c 444; 1996 c 414 art 2 s 13