Florida late fee calculator

Yes, if you count it as simple interest and the obligation is $500,000 or less. Fla. Stat. sections 687.02 and 687.03 set the line at the equivalent of 18 percent a year simple interest. 1.5 percent a month times 12 is 18 percent. You are on the line, not under it by a cushion. Compound the same rate and you can cross it. The rate also has to be in the contract. A silent invoice does not get 18 percent. It gets the quarterly rate under section 55.03.

Whatever section 55.03 says this quarter. Section 687.01 provides that when interest accrues without a special contract for the rate, the rate is the one in section 55.03. The Chief Financial Officer sets it four times a year from the New York Fed discount rate plus 4 percentage points. I am not printing a percent on this page because it will be wrong next quarter. Look up the quarter that covers your overdue period. Do not substitute 18 percent. That number is the ceiling on a contract rate, not the gift you receive for leaving the invoice blank.

Yes. Section 687.02 says that if the loan, forbearance, or obligation exceeds $500,000, it is not usurious unless the rate exceeds the rate in section 687.071. That criminal usury statute is where rates over 25 percent a year become a different kind of problem. A $20,000 invoice never gets this exception. A large contract might. Do not use the exception as a reason to charge 30 percent on a small bill by adding unrelated invoices together. The statute talks about the obligation. If you are near $500,000, have someone read 687.02 against the actual documents.

Eight thousand dollars, exclusive of costs, interest, and attorney fees. Florida Small Claims Rule 7.010 says the small claims rules apply to county court actions for money or property that do not exceed that amount. Interest you add under the contract does not eat the $8,000 by itself, because the rule excludes interest. A $7,500 invoice plus a few hundred dollars of interest can still fit. A $9,000 invoice does not. County court can hear larger civil claims under section 34.01. Small claims is the informal track. Pick it only when the principal demand fits.

Five years. Fla. Stat. section 95.11(2)(b) is the limitations period for a legal or equitable action on a contract founded on a written instrument. The five years run from when the cause of action accrues, which is the breach. Oral contracts and some other claims have shorter periods, so do not mix them up. A written invoice with terms is what you want if you are relying on the five year statute. Keep the PDF. If you are inside the last year, stop negotiating by email alone and look at filing. Florida is not a ten year state.

Do not. Sections 687.02 and 687.03 are written in simple interest. The statute even talks about spreading charges over the term so you cannot hide a higher rate inside fees. Compounding 1.5 percent a month produces an effective rate over 18 percent, which is the thing the statute forbids on an obligation of $500,000 or less. This calculator divides the year by 365 and applies the rate once to the original amount. If your contract says 'compounded monthly,' change the contract or get advice before you calculate it that way. Simple interest is the version you can explain.

Not the one people usually mean. The Local Government Prompt Payment Act, section 218.70 and the sections around it, binds local governments. Section 715.12 is about construction contracts. A private company that hired you for work outside construction is not on those clocks. Your leverage is the written rate, the 18 percent simple interest ceiling, and the five year statute. If the client is a city or you are owed on a construction project, stop and read the prompt payment section that actually names your role. Citing the wrong act makes a true debt look sloppy.

Yes, if you want 1.5 percent a month. The 18 percent ceiling is a ceiling on a contracted rate, not a rate the statute inserts. Section 687.01 is what happens with no special contract, and it points at the moving section 55.03 rate. 'Everyone in my industry charges 1.5 percent' is not a special contract with this client. Put the sentence on the proposal. If this invoice already went out blank, calculate the 55.03 rate for the right quarter and say so in the email.

They are talking about a landlord tenant statute. Florida limits residential late fees in the landlord tenant act. Those limits are about rent. They are not section 687.02, and they do not cap a business invoice at a few percent of the bill or a flat $20. Reply with the contract sentence and, if you are at 1.5 percent simple, with the fact that 18 percent a year is the civil ceiling, not a rent table. If you actually leased them space, then yes, read the landlord tenant section and do not use this page. Name the relationship correctly.