Code of Virginia § 6.2-1520. Rate of interest; late charges; processing fees.

486 words·~2 min read·/va/title-6-2/chapter-15/6-2-1520

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A. A licensee may make installment loans of between $300 and $35,000, which loans shall have a term of no fewer than six months and no more than 120 months and shall be repayable in at least six substantially equal consecutive payments. A licensee may charge and collect interest on a loan made under this chapter at a single annual rate not to exceed 36 percent. Interest shall not be charged on an add-on basis and shall not be compounded but shall be computed and paid only as a percentage of the unpaid principal balance.

Interest shall be computed on the basis of the number of days elapsed; however, if part or all of the consideration for a loan contract is the unpaid principal balance of a prior loan, then the principal amount payable under the loan contract may include any unpaid interest on the prior loan that has accrued within 90 days before the making of the new loan contract. For the purpose of computing interest, a day may equal 1/360th or 1/365th of a year.

B. A licensee may charge a late payment fee of $20 for any payment or portion of a payment not received and applied within 10 days of the contractual due date. For purposes of this section, a late payment fee for any individual scheduled contractual payment due may be assessed only once. The late payment fee shall be specified in the contract between the lender and the borrower.

C. A licensee may charge a loan processing fee not to exceed the greater of $50 or six percent of the principal amount of the loan, provided that the loan processing fee shall in no event exceed $150. The loan processing fee shall be stated in the loan contract. The loan processing fee shall not be deemed to constitute interest charged on the principal amount of the loan for purposes of determining whether the interest charged exceeds the 36 percent annual contract interest rate limitation imposed by subsection A.

Upon payment of the full amount of principal due plus accrued interest and any other applicable fees within the first 30 days, whether through outside funds or a refinancing under a new loan advance, the borrower shall be entitled to a full rebate of the loan processing fee less an amount not to exceed $50 or the actual loan processing fee, whichever is less. If a loan is refinanced or renewed, a licensee may assess an additional loan processing fee on the loan no more than once during any 12-month period.

D. A licensee may collect from the borrower the amount of any actual fees necessary to file, record, or release its security interest with any public official or agency of a locality or the Commonwealth as may be required by law.

1995, c. 2 , § 6.1-272.1; 2001, c. 308 ; 2010, c. 794 ; 2020, cc. 1215 , 1258 .