North Carolina Late Fee Calculator

Work out interest on an overdue B2B invoice under North Carolina law. The legal default rate — what applies when the contract is silent — is 8%, and the statute is quoted verbatim below. All math runs locally in your browser.

8% legal default rate (contract silent)
Max written B2B rate
No cap on an 'exempt loan' under § 24-9 — loan amount $300,000 or more, a borrower that is not a natural person, or a natural person borrowing primarily for a non-consumer purpose — and there a usury claim or defense is barred. Outside § 24-9, any rate may still be agreed in writing where principal exceeds $25,000 (§ 24-1.1(a)(2)); only principal of $25,000 or less is capped, at the greater of 16% or the six-month T-bill noncompetitive rate + 6%, announced monthly by the Commissioner of Banks (§ 24-1.1(c)).
Cap regime
No statutory cap
Statute
N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9
Verified
— how we verify · changelog

Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach.

Pre-filled with North Carolina's statutory default (8%) — the rate that applies when no rate was agreed. If your contract states a different rate, enter that instead.

What North Carolina law actually says

§ 24-1: [...] the legal rate of interest shall be eight percent (8%) per annum [...] and no more. § 24-9(b): [...] any borrower in an exempt loan transaction may agree to pay, and any lender [...] may charge and collect [...] interest at any rate [...]. A claim or defense of usury is prohibited in an exempt loan transaction.
— N.C.G.S. § 24-1; N.C.G.S. § 24-9(b). Read it at the official source · row verified 2026-08-19.

Quoted verbatim from the linked official source — not our paraphrase. How we source and re-check every row is documented in the data methodology.

Maximum late fee in North Carolina — written B2B contracts

No statutory cap

Any loan to a business entity OR for a business/commercial purpose is an 'exempt loan transaction' — any rate, usury defense barred. The floating cap hits only small consumer-type loans.

Basis: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-9, 24-1.1(a). Compare all 51 jurisdictions on the full state table and the cap-regime map.

B2B invoices only — not rent, not consumer debt

Everything on this page is about business-to-business invoices. Residential rent late fees live in North Carolina's landlord-tenant law and consumer credit has separate, stricter rules — two different bodies of law. The distinction is explained in B2B invoice late fees vs. residential rent.

Use this data

North Carolina's row — rate, cap, citation, verbatim quote, verification date — is part of our open 51-jurisdiction dataset: CSV · JSON (CC BY 4.0, cite myinvoicetemplate.com). Set late-fee terms on your next invoice with the free invoice generator, or state them clearly using the wording guidance in the payment terms guide.

North Carolina late fee FAQ

Can I charge late fees on overdue invoices in North Carolina?

Yes — on business-to-business invoices. If your contract or invoice states a late-fee rate, that rate governs (subject to the cap rules below). If nothing was agreed: 8%. Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach. Statute: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9, verified 2026-08-19. Consumer and rent debts follow separate laws.

What is the maximum late fee I can charge in North Carolina?

For a written B2B contract: No cap on an 'exempt loan' under § 24-9 — loan amount $300,000 or more, a borrower that is not a natural person, or a natural person borrowing primarily for a non-consumer purpose — and there a usury claim or defense is barred. Outside § 24-9, any rate may still be agreed in writing where principal exceeds $25,000 (§ 24-1.1(a)(2)); only principal of $25,000 or less is capped, at the greater of 16% or the six-month T-bill noncompetitive rate + 6%, announced monthly by the Commissioner of Banks (§ 24-1.1(c)). Basis: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-9, 24-1.1(a). The full cap analysis is in the section above; this covers business-to-business deals only — consumer credit has stricter separate caps.

What interest applies if my contract doesn't mention late fees in North Carolina?

The statutory default rate of 8%. Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach. Statute: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9 (verbatim quote on this page, verified 2026-08-19).

Does this cover rent, apartment, or consumer late fees in North Carolina?

No. This page covers business-to-business invoices only. Residential rent late fees are governed by North Carolina's landlord-tenant law, and consumer credit for personal, family, or household purposes has its own stricter caps and disclosure rules. Those are different statutes than the commercial-interest law cited here.

Where does this data come from, and when was it verified?

Every figure on this page comes from our 51-jurisdiction dataset: each row researched against the controlling statute or the state's official current-rate page, independently re-checked, and stamped with its own verification date — North Carolina's row was last verified 2026-08-19. The operative legal text is quoted verbatim on this page with a link to the official source, the methodology is public, every verification pass is logged in the changelog, and the full dataset is downloadable (CC BY 4.0).

Not legal advice. This page summarizes North Carolina's commercial-interest statute for general information, with the verification date shown above — it tells you when we last confirmed the figures, not that they are still current today. Statutes change and courts interpret them; verify the cited statute at the official source, or ask a licensed attorney in your state, before charging or demanding interest.