12 U.S.C. § 86 (2024)

This is the official text of 12 U.S.C. § 86 (2024), part of Federal (US Code)’s United States Code — the codified general and permanent federal statutes of the United States, organized into more than 50 numbered titles by subject.

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Usurious interest; penalty for taking; limitations

Official statutory text

The taking, receiving, reserving, or charging a rate of interest greater than is allowed by section 85 of this title, when knowingly done, shall be deemed a forfeiture of the entire interest which the note, bill, or other evidence of debt carries with it, or which has been agreed to be paid thereon. In case the greater rate of interest has been paid, the person by whom it has been paid, or his legal representatives, may recover back, in an action in the nature of an action of debt, twice the amount of the interest thus paid from the association taking or receiving the same: Provided, That such action is commenced within two years from the time the usurious transaction occurred.

(R.S. §5198.)

Editorial Notes

Codification

R.S. §5198 (less last sentence) derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, §30, 13 Stat. 108, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.

Section is based on R.S. §5198, less last sentence as added by act Feb. 18, 1875, ch. 80, §1, 18 Stat. 320, which is classified to section 94 of this title.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.