Usury rate (determination): revision for loans and overdrafts (September 2025)

Sovereign Order No. 11.478 of 10 September 2025 (JDM No. 8765 of 19 September 2025) repeals and replaces Article 2 of Sovereign Order No. 2.271 of 6 July 2009 on the determination of the usury rate, as amended.

As of 20 September 2025, the "average rate charged under the same conditions by lenders acting in good faith" is set as follows:

— For individuals:

Overdrafts: 14.33% (previously 13.66%)

Personal loans: 3.61% (previously 4.96%)

Property loans: 3.34% (previously 4.69%)

— For businesses and sole traders:

Overdrafts: 4,39% (previously 6.59%)

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Penalties for abuse :

Article 357 of the Criminal Code punishes the use of an effective interest rate that is more than half the average rate charged under the same conditions by bona fide lenders for credit transactions involving the same risks as the loan in question, with a fine of between €9,000 and €18,000.

Excessive collections are automatically deducted from the normal interest due on the date of the proceedings and, alternatively, from the principal of the debt.

If the debt is extinguished in terms of capital and interest, the lender will be ordered to repay to the borrower the sums wrongly collected, with interest from the day they were collected.

The usury rate should not be confused with the legal interest rate (set, in all matters, at 4% per annum since 1 March 2025 by Sovereign Order No. 11.091 of 18 February 2025), which is used to calculate interest on sums payable in the event of late payment ordered by a court decision.

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