By Charlotte GAUCHON
22 March 2025
Any financial transaction can quickly fall into the trap of excessive interest rates. Alongside the TEG (Taux Effectif Global), usury constitutes a legal bulwark against abuse by lenders. But what exactly does this concept mean under French law? When does a rate become usurious? Who can claim usury? Legal definition of usury Article L.314-6 of the French Consumer Code defines a usurious loan as «a loan granted at an overall effective rate which, at the time it is granted, exceeds by more than a third the average effective rate applied during the previous quarter by credit institutions and finance companies for transactions of the same nature involving similar risks». In other words, for a loan to be considered usurious, its rate must be one-third higher than the average rate for similar loans. This threshold is known as the «usury rate». Usurious lending involves...
EN 
FR