CopyCited 28 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...ibits certain interest rates establishes a strong public policy against such conduct in this state where interstate loans are concerned. The usury statute itself, fraught as it is with exceptions, belies the imputation of a strong public policy. See § 687.031, Fla....
...In 1975 The Florida Consumer Finance Act allowed interest on small loans as high as 30% per annum, in contrast to the general usury ceiling of 10% per annum. §
516.031, Fla. Stat. (1975). The Savings Association Act made usury limits simply inapplicable to building and loan associations. §§ 665.395,
687.031, Fla....
CopyCited 13 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 1979 Fla. LEXIS 4548
...1. Does Section 656.17(1), which sets the allowable interest rate for Morris Plan banks and industrial savings banks, violate Article III, Section 11(a)(9), Florida Constitution? 2. Do the special provisions of existing statutory law referred to in Section 687.031, which creates statutory exceptions to the general law of Florida governing interest and usury, violate Article III, Section 11(a)(9), as being special laws fixing interest rates on private contracts? We answer both questions negatively and hold that neither section 656.17(1) [1] nor section 687.031, [2] Florida Statutes (1975), violates article III, Section 11(a)(9), Florida Constitution....
...Under the provisions of 12 U.S.C. § 85 (1945), the Bank was entitled to receive interest at the maximum rate allowed by Florida law. Cesary contended that under the Florida usury statute, the note was usurious on its face. The Bank defended the action on the basis of section 687.031, Florida Statutes, *919 which allows the charging of interest in excess of ten percent for loans arising under one or more statutory exceptions outlined elsewhere in the Florida Statutes....
...banks and Morris Plan banks, and that since the exception permits a 14.3 annual percentage rate, the eleven percent rate charged Cesary was not usurious. Cesary did not contest that the loans fall into the exception created by sections 656.17(1) and 687.031....
...Holding these two statutes constitutional, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered summary judgment for the Bank. That court said: The statutory exceptions to the Florida interest and usury law noted in Florida Statute § 687.031 are not special laws in the prohibited constitutional sense in that they have uniform operation throughout the State of Florida....
...grounds justifying the particular classifications and distinctions created by the Florida legislature for the exceptions to the general law governing interest and usury are unreasonable, and there is no substantial basis for holding Florida Statute 687.031 and the exceptions noted therein unconstitutional....
...nature of the lender's business, and the extent of existing government regulation. We concur with the rationale of the trial court and agree with Second National Bank that the classifications created by the legislature through enactment of sections 687.031 and 656.17(1) are reasonable and that these laws are general laws which operate uniformly throughout the state upon these classifications....
...Board of Public Instruction, supra . Cesary failed to show that the grounds justifying the particular classifications created by the legislature for exceptions to the general law governing interest and usury are unreasonable. The classifications of lenders created by sections 687.031 and 656.17(1) have a basis in real differences of conditions affecting the subject matter regulated....
...repayment can be made, the charges and costs which may be assessed, and the penalties to be imposed if any of the regulatory provisions are violated. Accordingly, we answer the certified questions in the negative. Neither section *922 656.17(1) nor section 687.031 violates article III, section 11(a)(9), Florida Constitution....
...orrower may be required to pay abstract costs, reasonable attorney's fees, documentary stamp taxes, other taxes, premiums on insurance, and other similar charges, if the bank deems the same necessary for the protection and security of said loan. [2] Section 687.031 provides: Construction, ss....
CopyCited 10 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1994 WL 316654
...1981) [ CMI ], which involved a usury issue not unlike the one found in this case, Justice Sundberg wrote the following about Florida's statutory usury laws: "The usury statute itself, fraught as it is with exceptions, belies the imputation of a strong public policy. See § 687.031, Fla....
...In 1975 The Florida Consumer Finance Act allowed interest on small loans as high as 30% per annum, in contrast to the general usury ceiling of 10% per annum. §
516.031, Fla. Stat. (1975). The Savings Association Act made usury limits simply inapplicable to building and loan associations. §§ 665.395,
687.031, Fla....
...§ 659.181, Fla. Stat. (1975). Florida has long recognized the general exception to usury laws of the time-price doctrine. See Davidson v. Davis,
59 Fla. 476,
52 So. 139 (1910). The usury law does not apply to the sale of bonds, or mortgages on those bonds, section
687.031(1), Florida Statutes (1975), or to the transfers of negotiable paper in certain cases, section
687.04, Florida Statutes (1975)....
