Which place’s debt rules apply—and who can help?

SettleADebt — S_AR PASS-13

Arkansas ordinary consumer-debt interest, usury, contractual charges, and judgment-interest accounting

Research/access date: October 27, 2026, Pacific and UTC. Session clock checks recorded October 27 at 08:28:17 PDT / 15:28:17 UTC and 08:43:53 PDT / 15:43:53 UTC. These are session checkpoints, not individual source-opening timestamps. Exact opening times for individual sources are unknown.

Provenance: Earlier raw answers remain unchanged. The supplied coordinator-review history is not an independent review or source-opening record. No legal conclusion from an unreviewed earlier pass was adopted. No private borrower, provider, charter, account, contract, property, or docket inquiry was performed.

Scope: Ordinary consumer-debt interest and charge classification, necessary constitutional and federal actor gates, limited usury consequences, and prejudgment/postjudgment interest. No actual rate, debt, contract, claimant, payment allocation, remedy, or collection permission is determined.

Principal findings

For loans governed by Amendment 89, § 3, the constitutional ceiling is 17% per annum—not the former Federal Reserve discount-rate-plus-five formula. Amendment 89 became effective January 1, 2011 and applies to the loans and bonds specified in its application clause. Its separate Arkansas-main-office insured-depository provision incorporates a frozen March 1, 2009 federal statute, and federal loan-interest law remains independently material. A generic “bank,” “fintech,” or “bank partner” label does not establish the applicable rate. C001–C005. Arkansas Secretary of State

The current state consequence for an excessive contract under § 3 is voidness as to principal and interest. The former Amendment 60 double-interest-paid remedy must not be silently carried forward as the current Amendment 89 remedy. National-bank and insured-bank federal remedies have their own text, predicates, recipients, and two-year triggers. C037–C048. Arkansas Secretary of State+2

Charge labels are not decisive. The Arkansas cases distinguish lender overhead and disguised compensation from genuine third-party expenditures, and an avoidable default penalty from recurring compensation for unpaid principal. Those holdings were decided under historical rate ceilings and remedies. Their charge-classification reasoning must be separated from the superseded numerical limits and sanctions. C019–C036. Justia Law+2

Arkansas judgment interest uses a different formula from ordinary loan pricing. Section 16-65-114 uses the applicable contract rate or the Federal Reserve primary credit rate at judgment entry plus two percentage points, whichever is greater, for contract actions; the constitutional limit still applies. Appropriate prejudgment interest also requires the facts supporting ascertainability. C070–C078. Justia Law+1

The payment-allocation statute is narrower than a universal “interest first” rule. Section 4-57-101(c)’s defined consumer loan excludes credit-card debt, open accounts, and installment loans. Its prohibition on adding unpaid interest to principal cannot be indiscriminately applied—or treated as permission to compound—to every excluded category. C009–C010, C081–C084. law.justia.com

Currentness is partially authenticated, not comprehensively certified. Official constitutional text, selected enacted amendments, current federal bodies, final rules, and published opinions were read. The complete current Arkansas Code chain, frozen federal incorporations, and full judicial-treatment history remain open.

In this report, S001 means S_AR-P13-S001, and C001 means S_AR-P13-C001. Full literal HTTPS URLs and exact reading limits appear in the source register.

A. Constitutional, contractual, and temporal architecture

A1. Rate architecture matrix

Amendment 89’s definition of a loan or financing encompasses advances with a repayment agreement, including listed instruments such as loans, leases, installment-sale agreements, and notes. It therefore does not support a blanket “credit sale is never subject to usury” proposition. Conversely, classification of a particular time-price arrangement, lease, open account, or forbearance still requires its substance and governing law. C002–C005. Arkansas Secretary of State+1

A2. Supersession and commencement

The official Constitution was read both for the operative Amendment 89 provisions and the historical Article 19 text. A historical case quoting a ten-percent or discount-rate ceiling is not evidence that the old ceiling remains current. C001, C015–C018. Arkansas Secretary of State+2

A3. No-rate, period, payment, and compounding provisions

Section 4-57-101 provides several distinct rules:

• A stated interest rate without a specified period is construed per annum.
• A month is treated as one-twelfth of a year and thirty days; a fractional month uses the stated proportion.
• For the subsection’s defined consumer loan, payments apply first to accrued interest and then principal.
• If a payment does not cover accrued interest, that shortfall is not added to principal under that subsection.
• The defined consumer loan excludes credit-card debt, open accounts, and installment loans.
• If no rate is agreed, subsection (d) supplies six percent per annum.

Those exclusions are not affirmative authorization to compound interest or impose any fee on the excluded products. Their payment and accrual rules require a separate contract/statute analysis. C007–C010, C081–C084. law.justia.com

Section 4-57-102 contains a specific reservation/discount provision for identified instruments and periods, with an Amendment 89 rate condition. Its unusual period wording was read; it is not treated as a universal authorization for every one-year upfront charge. Section 103 provides an itemized-statement right on the specified written request. Section 105 prohibits indirect as well as direct excessive compensation for the loan or forbearance. C011–C013.

B. Charge classification, intent, and proof

B1. Charge matrix

The state charge decisions were read in their actual majority bodies. Most predate Amendment 89. This report uses their classification and proof reasoning with that temporal qualification; it does not carry forward their former rate ceilings or automatic remedies. C019–C036. Justia Law+3

B2. Intent and burden

In Hickman, the court required clear and convincing proof of the lender’s pertinent intent. The required intent was to charge the rate that proved excessive, not knowledge that the law prohibited it. The court examined the agreement, testimony, amortization and tax treatment rather than accepting a generic “prevailing commercial rate” phrase as conclusive.

That is a historical Amendment 60 holding. No complete post-Amendment-89 treatment establishing every present application of that burden was obtained. It is nevertheless directly relevant evidence of why a rate calculation alone may not establish every usury element. C019–C020. FindLaw Caselaw

The cases also examine the transaction at inception. Later modification or extension can present a separate transaction question. Actual charges and contemporaneous records may evidence the original bargain, but a later error is not automatically proof that every earlier obligation was usurious. C021.

B3. Interest is not identical to disclosed APR

Three measurements must be kept separate:

1. The substantive Arkansas interest/usury classification and its applicable base.
2. Federal bank-law “interest” under the relevant federal statute/regulation.
3. Regulation Z’s finance-charge and APR disclosure methodology.

Regulation Z § 1026.4 has its own inclusions, exclusions, third-party conditions and default-charge rules. Section 1026.22 measures APR using its applicable method. Section 1610(d) preserves state-law rules concerning permitted interest and charges subject to the specified federal exception.

Therefore, a disclosed APR neither proves nor disproves Arkansas usury by itself. Conversely, a charge excluded from the federal disclosure finance charge is not automatically authorized under Arkansas contract law. C031–C033. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau+2

B4. Attorney and collection charges

Section 4-56-101 addresses a promissory-note provision for reasonable attorney fees, subject to its ten-percent measure of principal due plus accrued interest and the actual-services/contract predicates. Section 16-22-308 separately permits a reasonable prevailing-party fee in its listed civil actions, unless otherwise provided by law or contract.

Neither provision makes ten percent an automatic award. Their interaction, the instrument, the claim, the work, and the order must be established. The former usury-specific fee provision in § 4-57-108 was repealed by Act 1124. C034–C036, C039. Justia Law+2

C. Civil consequences and remedy gates

C037–C048, C100. The federal statutory triggers are deliberately stated as written. This report does not decide whether a particular payment sequence is one transaction or several, whether a later collector is a proper statutory defendant, or when an actual limitations period expires. US Code+2

Historical repeal matters

Henslee held that former §§ 4-57-106 and 107 conflicted with Amendment 60’s remedy and were impliedly repealed. Amendment 89 later changed the constitutional regime again. An old code excerpt cannot be used to restore a repealed lien-cancellation procedure or remedy without establishing a current legal basis. C038–C040. Justia Law

D. Actor, exportation, assignment, and choice-of-law gates

D1. Federal/state actor matrix

D2. Published federal holdings and current rule status

Marquette applied § 85 to the actual national-bank home-state structure before the Court. Smiley upheld the inclusion of late-payment fees in federal bank “interest.” The latter used the then-existing administrative-law framework.

Loper Bright overruled Chevron’s mandatory-deference methodology, but expressly preserved prior decisions’ specific holdings under ordinary statutory stare decisis. It therefore does not automatically erase Smiley. C049–C052. GovInfo+2

The OCC’s 2020 transfer rule became effective August 3, 2020; the FDIC rule became effective August 21, 2020. Both were read with their scope statements. Neither establishes who the true lender was in every partnership arrangement.

Public Law 117-24, approved June 30, 2021, disapproved the separate OCC true-lender rule published at 85 FR 68742. That disapproval is not a repeal of every transfer regulation. Current eCFR text was read, but no complete litigation-status or nationwide-preemption certificate is claimed. C057–C061. OCC.gov+2

D3. Credit-union boundary

Section 1757 contains the statutory fifteen-percent framework and authority for temporary Board increases. The current official NCUA letter, 26-FCU-02, states that the ordinary eighteen-percent ceiling extends through September 10, 2027. The active letter and official release were read; the letter’s modification date is not the Board’s meeting date.

The current displayed § 701.21(b) is reserved. Older summaries of that subsection must not be quoted as current text without checking the amendment history. Special payday-alternative and secured-product branches were not completed. C062–C065. NCUA+2

D4. Choice of law

Evans upheld the Texas-law analysis on actual approval, funding, payment, contract and other contacts. It does not establish that naming another state in a form or selling a debt there automatically exports its ceiling.

The current § 4-1-301 text was examined in Act 997 of 2025, effective September 1, 2026. It retains the relevant reasonable-relationship structure and specific UCC exceptions, with transition/saving provisions. An older mirror labeled effective only until that date is not sufficient alone.

The actual agreement, parties, transaction contacts, substantive issue and federal overlays remain necessary. C066–C069. FindLaw Caselaw+2

E. Prejudgment and postjudgment interest

E1. Rate and event matrix

Let DDD be the legally relevant judgment-entry date, RDR_DRD​ the verified Federal Reserve primary credit rate at that date, and rcr_crc​ the valid applicable contract rate.

For the ordinary contract branch:

rJ=max⁡(rc, RD+0.02),r_J=\max(r_c,\ R_D+0.02),rJ​=max(rc​, RD​+0.02),subject to § 16-65-114(a)(2)’s applicable Amendment 89 ceiling.

For the stated noncontract branch:

rJ=RD+0.02,r_J=R_D+0.02,rJ​=RD​+0.02,again subject to the applicable cap.

These formulas do not validate an unlawful contract rate. They also do not establish that every claimed prejudgment amount qualifies. C073–C078. Justia Law

C070–C089. Justia Law+2

E2. The verified historical reference rate

The Federal Reserve’s published discount-rate minutes confirm that the St. Louis primary credit rate became 4.5% effective December 19, 2024. The initial implementation note identified the first group of banks; the later official minutes expressly confirmed St. Louis and the other specified banks on the same effective date.

This verified historical rate is used only in Model 4. No October 27, 2026 spot rate is supplied. For an unverified date, the rate remains RDR_DRD​, not a guess. C087–C088. federalreserve.gov

E3. Accrual and allocation controls

A complete judgment ledger must distinguish:

1. Debt principal before judgment.
2. Lawful prejudgment interest actually included.
3. Authorized costs and quantified fees.
4. The resulting interest-bearing judgment base.
5. New simple interest.
6. Actual payment and its authorized allocation.
7. Any separate fee judgment or modified amount with another start date.

Section 16-65-103 addresses dollars-and-cents judgments. It does not, standing alone, specify every permissible daily rounding or monthly compounding practice. The models below expressly stipulate their rounding and allocation conventions rather than claim a universal implementation rule. C079–C084.

F. Published-opinion register

Only the material majority analysis and disposition are used. Quoted underlying authorities were not counted as fresh reads. Older charge cases are preserved at their actual constitutional version.

No full citator, nationwide litigation-status clearance, or absence-of-authority certificate is claimed.

G. Four independently worked fictional models

All actors, contracts, payments, charges and orders are fictional. Each legal predicate is expressly assumed or held. No actual borrowing, payment, filing or collection permission is supplied.

M01 — Local nonbank loan with no agreed rate

Assumptions

• Post-2011 Arkansas-governed personal loan.
• Genuine local nonbank lender.
• A single-payment loan, not credit-card debt, an open account, or an installment loan for § 101(c).
• Written obligation contains no agreed interest rate.
• No federal or special-sector rule displaces the stated analysis.
• Actual $500 payment credited April 1, 2026.

First interval

Principal advanced January 1, 2026: $3,000.

January 1 to April 1 is three statutory months:

I=3,000×0.06×312=$45.00I=3,000\times0.06\times\frac{3}{12}=\boxed{$45.00}I=3,000×0.06×123​=$45.00​Payment allocation:

$500−$45=$455 principal reduction$500-$45=$455\text{ principal reduction}$500−$45=$455 principal reduction$3,000−$455=$2,545 remaining principal$3,000-$455=\boxed{$2,545\text{ remaining principal}}$3,000−$455=$2,545 remaining principal​### Second interval

April 1 to May 1 is one statutory month:

I=2,545×0.06×112=$12.725I=2,545\times0.06\times\frac{1}{12}=$12.725I=2,545×0.06×121​=$12.725For this model only, interest is rounded half-up to cents at the interval’s end:

I=$12.73I=\boxed{$12.73}I=$12.73​Amount due before another payment=2,545+12.73=$2,557.73\text{Amount due before another payment}=2,545+12.73

=\boxed{$2,557.73}Amount due before another payment=2,545+12.73=$2,557.73​| Item | Amount | | --- | --- | | Cash advanced | $3,000.00 | | Actual cash received from borrower | $500.00 | | Interest actually paid | $45.00 | | Principal actually credited | $455.00 | | Unpaid principal | $2,545.00 | | Separately accrued unpaid interest | $12.73 |

The $12.73 is not capitalized into principal under the assumed applicable subsection. The statutory monthly convention avoids treating these intervals as an invented actual/365 or actual/366 calculation.

Adverse branch: If the transaction is an excluded installment loan or open account, this subsection’s allocation rule is not automatically applicable. The no-rate, contract, and other-law analysis must be performed separately. C007–C010, C082–C084, C094.

M02 — Upfront lender charge versus genuine third-party cost

Common facts

• One-year bullet obligation.
• Face principal: $1,000.
• Stated annual interest: 15%, or $150.
• A $100 amount is withheld at funding.
• No special § 4-57-102 discount authorization is assumed.
• No maturity payment has occurred.

Branch A: retained lender compensation

Borrower receives $900 cash; lender retains $100 for its own ordinary processing/overhead.

Funding reconciliation:

$1,000=$900 borrower cash+$100 retained by lender$1,000=$900\text{ borrower cash}+$100\text{ retained by lender}$1,000=$900 borrower cash+$100 retained by lenderClaimed maturity payment:

$1,000+$150=$1,150$1,000+$150=\boxed{$1,150}$1,000+$150=$1,150​If the $100 is legally classified as interest and the relevant one-year compensation base is the actual $900 advanced:

Compensation=100+150=$250\text{Compensation}=100+150=$250Compensation=100+150=$250250900×100=27.777…% for the stipulated one-year interval\frac{250}{900}\times100 =\boxed{27.777\ldots%\text{ for the stipulated one-year interval}}900250​×100=27.777…% for the stipulated one-year interval​This is conditional simple-yield arithmetic, not a representation that it is the Regulation Z APR. It exceeds 17% under the assumed § 3 classification, but the legal result still requires the applicable charge, base, intent, actor and transaction findings.

Branch B: actual independent third-party service

Assume instead that the $100 is actually paid to an independent provider for a legitimate financed service received by the borrower, with no disguised lender profit and all required authority established.

$1,000=$900 cash+$100 financed service value$1,000=$900\text{ cash}+$100\text{ financed service value}$1,000=$900 cash+$100 financed service valueLender compensation on the assumed $1,000 principal:

150/1,000=15%150/1,000=\boxed{15%}150/1,000=15%​That branch is not proved merely by writing “third-party fee.” The actual invoice, disbursement, service, authorization, markup, relationship and legal classification remain necessary.

Adverse branch: A later refund of the $100 is a real cash event if it occurs, but it does not automatically prove that an initially usurious transaction was lawful. C022–C032, C095.

M03 — State voidness versus a federal paid-interest remedy

State § 3 branch

Assume a post-2011 local nonbank one-year loan:

• Principal: $1,000.
• Agreed and intentionally charged rate: 18%.
• Applicable ceiling: 17%.
• All other necessary usury predicates are judicially established.
• Actual borrower payment: $600.
• The lender’s ledger applied $180 to interest and $420 to principal.

Book arithmetic:

1,000−420=$580 book principal1,000-420=\boxed{$580\text{ book principal}}1,000−420=$580 book principal​Cash reconciliation:

$600=$180 labeled interest+$420 labeled principal$600=$180\text{ labeled interest}+$420\text{ labeled principal}$600=$180 labeled interest+$420 labeled principalUnder the assumed established Amendment 89 § 3 violation, § 6(b)’s principal-and-interest voidness matters. The $580 bookkeeping balance is not thereby a collectible amount.

This pass does not infer an automatic $600 refund, $360 recovery, or net judgment from that sentence alone. The affirmative recovery theory and defenses remain to be established.

Distinct national-bank counterfactual

Change the actor to a genuine national bank. Eighteen percent is not automatically unlawful; first establish the rate permitted under § 85.

Only if the applicable § 86 predicates are met—including knowing excess and the relevant paid-interest facts—would twice the actual $180 interest paid yield:

2×180=$3602\times180=\boxed{$360}2×180=$360​That is a conditional statutory recovery measure, not an automatic offset against the $580 ledger and not the Arkansas § 3 remedy.

If the lender only charged $180 but no interest was actually paid, the paid-interest recovery base has not been established. The separate forfeiture branch must be analyzed on its own terms.

The federal two-year wording is recorded, but no actual limitations deadline is computed. C037–C048, C096.

M04 — Prejudgment interest, entry-date rate, fee quantification, and partial payment

Stipulated legal facts

• Ordinary Arkansas-governed contract claim; lawful contract rate 6%.
• Principal wrongfully withheld: $10,000.
• Exact loss ascertainable as of June 19, 2024.
• Judgment entered December 19, 2024.
• The official St. Louis primary credit rate on that date was 4.5%.
• The court lawfully includes prejudgment interest, $175 costs, and a fee quantified that same day at $500.
• The order directs accrual from entry without an interest delay.
• For this model, the lawful order uses simple statutory-month accounting and interest-first payment allocation; no universal judgment-allocation rule is inferred.
• Half-up cent rounding occurs at the stated interval/payment boundaries.

Rate

4.5%+2%=6.5%4.5%+2%=6.5%4.5%+2%=6.5%max⁡(6%,6.5%)=6.5%\max(6%,6.5%)=\boxed{6.5%}max(6%,6.5%)=6.5%​### Prejudgment amount

June 19 to December 19 is six statutory months:

10,000×0.065×612=$32510,000\times0.065\times\frac{6}{12}=\boxed{$325}10,000×0.065×126​=$325​Initial judgment base:

10,000+325+175+500=$11,00010,000+325+175+500=\boxed{$11,000}10,000+325+175+500=$11,000​### First postjudgment interval and actual payment

December 19 to January 19:

11,000×0.065/12=$59.583333…11,000\times0.065/12=$59.583333\ldots11,000×0.065/12=$59.583333…Rounded interval interest: $59.58.

Actual payment credited January 19, 2025: $1,000.

1,000−59.58=$940.42 reduction of judgment base1,000-59.58=$940.42\text{ reduction of judgment base}1,000−59.58=$940.42 reduction of judgment base11,000−940.42=$10,059.58 remaining base11,000-940.42=\boxed{$10,059.58\text{ remaining base}}11,000−940.42=$10,059.58 remaining base​### Second interval

January 19 to February 19:

10,059.58×0.065/12=$54.489391…10,059.58\times0.065/12=$54.489391\ldots10,059.58×0.065/12=$54.489391…Rounded interest: $54.49.

10,059.58+54.49=$10,114.0710,059.58+54.49=\boxed{$10,114.07}10,059.58+54.49=$10,114.07​Conservation check:

11,000+59.58+54.49−1,000=$10,114.0711,000+59.58+54.49-1,000=\boxed{$10,114.07}11,000+59.58+54.49−1,000=$10,114.07​Under the assumed thirty-day-month convention, equivalent daily accrual units are:

• Before payment: 11,000×0.065/360=$1.986111…11,000\times0.065/360=$1.986111\ldots11,000×0.065/360=$1.986111….
• After payment: 10,059.58×0.065/360=$1.816313…10,059.58\times0.065/360=$1.816313\ldots10,059.58×0.065/360=$1.816313….

These are not mixed with actual calendar-day counts. The leap year does not change this expressly chosen statutory-month model.

Adverse branches

• If the $500 fee is quantified later, Daniel requires its start date to be examined separately.
• If the actual order includes the delay addressed in Downtown Texarkana, the period differs.
• A later Federal Reserve change does not automatically reset the entry-date rate.
• An escrow deposit is not substituted for the actual January 19 credit.
• A usurious contract rate is not validated by selecting a lower judgment rate.
• Actual capitalization, payment allocation and rounding must match the governing order and law.

C070–C089, C097. Federal Reserve+1

H. Twelve additional fictional postures

I. Complete source and access register

Register conventions

All substantive reads and attempts below occurred October 27, 2026 in both Pacific and UTC. Exact individual opening times are unknown.

• P: official primary enactment, statute, regulation or judicial body.
• R: actual primary text/opinion reproduced by a nonofficial host.
• M: secondary codification.
• G: official guidance or administrative source.
• F: failed/incomplete access.

The 2025 Arkansas mirrors are not official October 2026 authentication. Multiple sections grouped in one row are not independent corroboration.

I1. Arkansas architecture and statutes

I2. Arkansas published cases

I3. Federal statutes, regulations, and agency actions

The OLRC pages below displayed laws through Public Law 119-124, October 15, 2026, where that currency header appeared. Current eCFR bodies displayed Title 12 through October 23, 2026. Those are not unqualified October 27 all-law certificates.

I4. Federal decisions, reference rate, and access limits

S048 — Failed and uncompleted official routes

Other search hits—including petitions, summaries and nonresponsive sector matters—were not promoted into holdings or current-law proof.

J. Atomic claim register

Types: T direct text; H published holding; I reasoned inference; C expressly conditional model; G unresolved source/application gap.

J1. Architecture and charges

J2. Remedies and actor gates

J3. Judgment accounting and models

K. Granular coverage and exact remaining work

K1. Core coverage — 30 rows

K2. Actor/workflow coverage — 10 rows

K3. Currentness and source gaps — 8 rows

K4. Additional factual/legal holds — 8 rows

K5. Model coverage — 4 rows

K6. Territorial and actual-record holds — 6 rows

K7. Deferred families — 10 rows

K8. Documented-scope crosswalk — 3 rows

L. Researcher self-check

The most consequential verified distinctions are:

• Current Amendment 89 versus historical ceilings and remedies.
• Loan pricing versus judgment-interest calculation.
• Arkansas interest, federal bank interest, and disclosed APR.
• Lawful origination versus later transfer.
• Penal amount or refund measure versus actual paid-interest evidence.
• Judgment balance versus actual credited payment and component-specific accrual.

The principal unresolved matters are the frozen federal incorporations, complete current Arkansas enactment/commencement chains, modern application of historical usury proof doctrine, affirmative recovery of previously paid amounts under the current state regime, current judicial treatment of transfer/true-lender issues, and actual contract/order/payment facts.

Register counts: 49 source/access groups; 100 atomic claims; 19 published-case entries; 4 worked models; 12 additional fictional postures; 30 core-coverage rows; 10 workflow rows; 8 currentness rows; 8 additional holds; 4 model rows; 6 territorial/actual-record rows; 10 deferred-family rows; and 3 scope-crosswalk rows. Grouped sections, repeated URLs, and summary holds are not counted as independent corroborating authorities or accepted coverage.

No independent review, local write, unseen model claim, actual borrowing or collection permission, guaranteed remedy, complete current-law certificate, or publication/operational readiness is asserted.

END S_AR PASS-13.