Promissory Note

A person is not liable on an instrument unless the person signed it or an authorized agent signed on the person's behalf under section 3402.

The constitutional interest restrictions do not apply to a loan, or a forbearance, extension or modification of a loan, made or arranged by a licensed California real estate broker and secured in whole or part by liens…

An increase under a variable-rate provision in a security document or evidence of debt from a lender other than a supervised financial organization is valid only if the document contains the listed terms, including…

A legal contract rate keeps running after breach until superseded by a verdict or new obligation, and a contract entered after January 1, 1986 with no stipulated rate bears 10 percent per annum after breach, excluding a…

Text as amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 851: a judgment by confession is unenforceable and may not be entered in any superior court, except one obtained or entered before January 1, 2023.

Text of California's UCC 3-104: a negotiable instrument is an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or order, on demand or at a definite time, and…

Text on when a promise is unconditional for section 3104: it is conditional if it states an express condition to payment, or that it is subject to or governed by another writing, or that rights or obligations are stated…

Unless the instrument provides otherwise it bears no interest, interest runs from the instrument's date, the rate may be fixed or variable and may refer to outside information, and if the amount cannot be ascertained…

Text of the limitation periods: an action on a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the stated or accelerated due date;

Text on accommodation parties: a party who signs to incur liability without being a direct beneficiary of the value given is an accommodation party, is bound in the capacity in which it signs, is liable notwithstanding…

Small-loan licensing rule: without a small loan license from the Banking Commissioner, and unless exempt under 36a-557, no person may make a small loan to a Connecticut borrower or broker, arrange or assist in one.

Text permitting, on a loan over ten thousand dollars to a person or entity engaged in commercial, manufacturing, industrial or nonconsumer pursuits, a loan agreement under which interest accrues and accrued interest is…

Anti-evasion rule: no lender may, with intent to evade section 37-4, accept a note for a greater amount than the sum actually loaned.

Limit on attorney's fee clauses in contracts or leases for money, property or services used primarily for personal, family or household purposes: the holder may not collect fees for a salaried employee attorney or…

Reciprocity rule: where a consumer contract or lease provides for the commercial party's attorney's fee to be paid by the consumer, a fee is awarded as a matter of law to a consumer who successfully prosecutes or…

Text on when a promise is unconditional: it is conditional if it states an express condition, is subject to or governed by another writing, or states that rights are set out in another writing, while a mere reference to…

Definitions for Connecticut's small loan statutes, including advertising, APR calculated under the federal Military Lending Act, and the terms that determine what counts as a small loan and a Connecticut borrower.

Connecticut's UCC Article 3 definition: a negotiable instrument is an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or order, on demand or at a definite time,…

Text on interest in a negotiable instrument: absent a contrary provision an instrument bears no interest, interest runs from the date of the instrument, and the rate may be fixed or variable and may refer to information…

Connecticut's limitation period for notes: an action on a note payable at a definite time must be brought within six years after the stated or accelerated due date, and on a demand note within six years after demand,…

Delaware usury definition and remedy: usury is a charge of a higher rate than the law permits, the borrower need not pay the excess over the lawful rate and may deduct it from the debt, and a borrower who has paid may…

Delaware confession of judgment procedure: the prothonotary may enter judgment by confession on a bond, note or other obligation containing a warrant of attorney, but it does not become final until the defendant-obligor…

Text on when a promise is unconditional: it is conditional if it states an express condition, is subject to or governed by another writing, or states that rights are set out in another writing, while a mere reference to…

Delaware limitation for promissory notes and bills of exchange: the action may be commenced within 6 years from the accrual of the cause of action. Read with 6 Del. C.

Definitions for the licensed lenders chapter, including person, licensee and Commissioner. Read with § 2202. This source alone does not establish the licensing status of a particular lender.

No corporation, limited partnership, statutory or business trust, limited liability company or association with corporate powers may interpose the defense of usury.

Delaware's UCC Article 3 definition: a negotiable instrument is an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or order, on demand or at a definite time,…

Text on interest in a negotiable instrument: absent a contrary provision an instrument bears no interest, interest runs from the date of the instrument, and the rate may be fixed or variable and may refer to outside…

Delaware's UCC limitation period for notes: an action on a note payable at a definite time must be brought within six years after the stated or accelerated due date, and on a demand note within six years after demand,…

Contract limitations text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

District of Columbia usury rule: a person who contracts in the District verbally for more than 6% per year, or in writing for more than §§ 28-3301, 28-3308, Chapter 36 or the money-lender provisions permit, forfeits the…

District of Columbia text: in an action on a contract at a forbidden rate, interest already paid is credited against principal and judgment is limited to the balance, with protection for a bona fide indorsee of…

District of Columbia text: in a consumer credit sale or direct installment loan, the agreement may provide for the consumer to pay reasonable attorney's fees not exceeding 15% of the unpaid balance.

District of Columbia text allowing a person who paid interest above the lawful rate, whether in advance or not, to sue within one year after payment to recover the unlawful interest paid.

District of Columbia scope provision: the subchapter applies to actions to enforce rights arising from a consumer credit sale or a direct installment loan.

District of Columbia text barring, in consumer credit sales and direct installment loans other than revolving accounts, a payment schedule in which any one payment is not substantially equal to the others or the…

A creditor may not take an assignment of the consumer's earnings for payment or as security for an obligation arising out of a consumer credit sale or direct installment loan, and may not take or accept a warrant, power…

District of Columbia text: in a consumer credit sale a seller may not take a negotiable instrument other than a check as evidence of the consumer's obligation, and a holder who takes such an instrument with knowledge of…

Interest text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement. This source alone does not establish enforceability or complete coverage.

Florida text allowing a consumer finance licensee to lend up to $25,000 at maximum rates of 36 percent on the first $10,000, 30 percent on the part between $10,000 and $20,000 and 24 percent on the part above $20,000,…

Florida text making it usury to reserve, charge or take on a loan, advance, line of credit or forbearance a rate greater than the equivalent of 18 percent per annum simple interest, directly or by any device, with the…

Florida text requiring a license to engage in the business of making consumer finance loans, and prohibiting a person engaged in the business of making loans from charging more than the rates the section describes…

Florida text under which the Chief Financial Officer sets the judgment interest rate quarterly from the averaged Federal Reserve Bank of New York discount rate plus 400 basis points, with the further provisions on how…

Florida text declaring null and void all powers of attorney for confessing or suffering judgment to pass by default or otherwise, and all general releases of error, made before an action is brought.

Florida text defining a negotiable instrument as an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and listing…

Florida text stating that, unless the instrument provides otherwise, an instrument is not payable with interest and interest runs from the date of the instrument, that interest may be stated as a fixed or variable…

Florida text stating that chapter 95 governs when an action to enforce an obligation, duty or right under the negotiable instruments chapter must be commenced.

Florida text providing that where interest accrues without a special contract for the rate, the rate is the rate provided in section 55.03. Read it with section 55.03 before leaving a rate unstated.

Interest scope text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Maryland Consumer Loan Law text listing what a lender may not take as security, beginning with any confession of judgment or power of attorney to confess judgment or appear for the borrower, and continuing with other…

Maryland definitions for the interest and usury subtitle, including borrower, commercial loan (a loan solely to acquire or carry on a business, or to a business organization), effective rate of simple interest, interest…

Maryland text: a person may not engage in the business of making loans under the Consumer Loan Law without a license under, or an exemption from, Financial Institutions Title 11, Subtitle 2.

Consumer means an actual or prospective purchaser, lessee or recipient of consumer goods, services, realty or credit, and expressly includes a co-obligor or surety for a consumer.

Interest and scope of credit rules text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Interest and scope of credit rules text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Maryland text requiring a lender, before the loan contract is signed, to give the borrower a written statement of the principal, the finance charge in dollars, the annual effective rate of simple interest and the other…

Maryland usury penalty: a lender who violates the subtitle forfeits to the borrower the greater of three times the excess interest and charges collected or $500, with a cure if the lender gives notice and substitutes a…

Maryland UCC Article 3 definition of a negotiable instrument: an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, payable to bearer or order, on demand or at a definite time, with no other undertaking…

Maryland text: an instrument bears no interest unless it provides otherwise, interest runs from the instrument's date, the rate may be fixed or variable or refer to outside information, and an unascertainable rate falls…

Massachusetts UCC text on the unconditional-promise requirement of section 3-104(a): a promise is unconditional unless it states an express condition to payment, that it is subject to or governed by another writing, or…

Text on loans under one thousand dollars at more than six per cent: the loan is discharged on payment of principal with interest at the agreed rate up to eighteen per cent for the stated period and six per cent…

Massachusetts UCC text defining a negotiable instrument: an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and…

Massachusetts UCC text on interest: unless the instrument provides otherwise it bears no interest, interest on an interest-bearing instrument runs from the date of the instrument, and the rate may be fixed or variable…

Massachusetts UCC limitations text: an action on a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the stated or accelerated due date;

Interest text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement. This source alone does not establish enforceability or complete coverage.

Penalty section: carrying on the business of making loans, buying notes or furnishing endorsements to which sections 96 to 111 apply without a license is punishable by imprisonment or fine, and the section states the…

Small loans licensing rule: no person may engage in the business of making loans of six thousand dollars or less where interest and expenses exceed twelve per cent per annum without a license from the commissioner of…

Contract prejudgment interest text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Massachusetts criminal usury statute: knowingly contracting for or receiving interest and expenses exceeding twenty per cent per annum on a loan is criminal usury, punishable by imprisonment or fine, with interest and…

A promise or order is unconditional unless it states an express condition to payment, states that it is subject to or governed by another writing, or states that rights or obligations are set out in another writing;

No person may engage in business as a consumer lender or sales finance company without a license, and the department issues licenses specifying which activity the licensee may conduct.

A depository institution, trust company, insurance company or pawnbroker operating under R.S. 45:22-1 et seq. may conduct consumer loan business without a license and without being subject to the act.

No corporation, limited liability company or limited liability partnership may plead or set up the defense of usury in an action to recover damages or enforce a remedy on an obligation it executed.

Definitions for New Jersey's UCC Article 3, including "maker" (a person who signs or is identified in a note as undertaking to pay), "order," "drawer," "drawee" and "good faith." Read the full list, and the index of…

New Jersey text defining a negotiable instrument: an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and stating…

Unless the instrument provides otherwise it is not payable with interest, and interest on an interest-bearing instrument runs from the date of the instrument;

An action on a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the stated or accelerated due date;

A person is not liable on an instrument unless the person signed it or is represented by an agent whose signature is binding under 12A:3-402, and a signature may be made manually or by a device or machine and by any…

Writing requirements and definitions text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

A judgment by confession may be entered without an action on the defendant's affidavit stating the sum, authorizing entry, stating the county where the defendant resides and, if applicable, that the consumer-debt…

Settlements, compromise evidence and judgment interest text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Civil usury text: the rate of interest on a loan or forbearance is six per centum per annum unless a different rate is prescribed under Banking Law § 14-a, no person may charge more, and interest includes all amounts…

Text setting the maximum rate of interest provided for in General Obligations Law § 5-501 at sixteen per centum per annum, stating that the rate includes all amounts paid to or for the lender in consideration for the…

Licensed-lender text: no person or entity may engage in the business of making loans of $25,000 or less to an individual for personal, family, household or investment purposes, or $50,000 or less for business and…

The six-year period for an action upon a contractual obligation or liability, express or implied, which remains the limitation for non-consumer debt and for consumer obligations that fall outside the CPLR 214-i…

Interest is at the rate of nine percent per year except where otherwise provided by statute, with a separate lower rate for certain consumer-debt judgments.

Distinguish Article 29-H conduct rules from remedies. Section 602 includes public enforcement and a narrow private action for an aggrieved recipient served with more than 50 information subpoenas per month under its…

Contract writings, modification and scope restrictions text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Ohio text under the general loan law providing that a registrant may make loans other than residential mortgage loans on the terms of sections 1321.51 to 1321.60, and that loans to Ohio residents are considered made in…

Interest text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement. This source alone does not establish enforceability or complete coverage.

Ohio text providing that on judgments, decrees or orders rendered on a bond, bill, note or other written instrument that stipulates for interest in accordance with section 1343.01, interest is computed until payment at…

Ohio text defining a negotiable instrument as an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and listing the…

Ohio text stating that, unless the instrument provides otherwise, an instrument is not payable with interest and interest on an interest-bearing instrument runs from the date of the instrument, and that interest may be…

Ohio text stating that an action to enforce a note payable at a definite time must be brought within six years after the stated or accelerated due date, and that a demand note is subject to six years after demand or is…

Ohio text governing confession of judgment on a warrant of attorney: the attorney must produce the warrant to the court, judgment is confessed in the municipal court or county where the maker resides or signed, and the…

Ohio text stating that no person shall engage in the business of lending money in amounts of five thousand dollars or less, or charge more than a non-licensee may charge on such a loan, without a license from the…

Interest on obligations text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Consumer transaction scope text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

A person is not liable on an instrument unless the person signed it or is represented by an agent or representative whose signature is binding under section 3402;

Rule text: an "action" is a proceeding to enter a judgment by confession for money pursuant to an instrument authorizing the confession, other than an instrument executed by a natural person in connection with a…

A promise or order is unconditional unless it states an express condition to payment, that it is subject to or governed by another writing, or that rights or obligations are stated in another writing;

Rule text: the action is commenced by filing a complaint substantially in the form of Rule 2952;

Rule text listing what the complaint must contain: the parties' names and last known addresses, the original or a reproduction of the instrument showing the defendant's signature or an explanation of why it is…

Definitions for Pennsylvania's UCC Division 3, including "maker" (a person who signs or is identified in a note as undertaking to pay), "order," "drawer" and "drawee," with the note that the "good faith" definition was…

Pennsylvania text defining a negotiable instrument: an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and stating…

Unless the instrument provides otherwise it is not payable with interest, and interest on an interest-bearing instrument runs from the date of the instrument;

An action on a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the stated or accelerated due date;

Interest on judgments text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Texas text allowing a creditor on a commercial loan to charge interest not exceeding the applicable ceilings computed under chapter 303, and applying the other provisions, remedies and penalties of the subtitle to…

Texas text making a creditor who contracts for, charges or receives usurious interest in a personal, family or household transaction liable for the greater of three times the excess interest or the lesser of $2,000 or…

Texas text making a creditor who charges or receives legal interest greater than the amount authorized liable for the greater of three times the excess or the lesser of $2,000 or 20 percent of principal, applying only…

Texas text allowing a creditor and obligor on a commercial loan to agree to a prepayment premium, make-whole premium or similar charge payable on voluntary or involuntary prepayment or acceleration, and stating that…

Texas text stating that the maximum rate of interest is 10 percent a year except as otherwise fixed by law, that a loan providing for 10 percent or less is not subject to chapter 342, and that a loan described by…

Texas text defining a negotiable instrument as an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest, payable to bearer or to order, on demand or at a definite time, and listing the…

Texas text stating that, unless the instrument provides otherwise, an instrument is not payable with interest and interest runs from the date of the instrument, that interest may be stated as a fixed or variable amount…

Texas text stating that an action to enforce a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the stated or accelerated due date, and that a demand note is subject to six years after demand or…

Texas text stating that a creditor may contract for, charge and receive interest, that the maximum rate is 10 percent a year except as otherwise provided by law, that a greater rate is usurious unless otherwise…

Interest without an agreed rate text. Read the complete provision, including scope, definitions, exceptions and effective dates, before applying it to this agreement.

Virginia text: no judgment may be confessed under a confession-of-judgment provision in a note, bond or other evidence of debt unless the instrument carries the prescribed boldface notice of at least eight-point type on…

The court or jury may fix the date interest begins on any principal sum awarded, and the order must provide for interest until the principal is paid.

The judgment rate of interest in Virginia is six percent per year, except that a money judgment arising from a contract carries the contract rate if higher.

Virginia text allowing a borrower to plead usury in general terms and providing that, if the contract is usurious, judgment is rendered only for the principal sum.

Virginia text barring corporations, registered partnerships, limited liability companies, business trusts and certain real-estate joint ventures from pleading usury to avoid paying interest they contracted to pay.

Virginia late-charge rule: a lender or seller may impose a late charge only if it is specified in the contract and does not exceed five percent of the installment, with a seven-calendar-day grace period built into the…

Virginia text permitting a debtor, or an attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney, to confess judgment in the clerk's office of any circuit court for the principal and interest the creditor will accept, with the…

The legal rate of interest in Virginia is an annual rate of six percent, implied whenever there is an obligation to pay interest and no express contract rate, subject to 8.3A-112(b) and 6.2-302.

Virginia Consumer Finance Act licensing rule: a person may not engage in the business of making loans to individuals for personal, family or household purposes and charge more than § 6.2-303 permits without a Commission…