Virginia late fee law

6%per year

Attaches to the debt by operation of law when you agreed no rate, so it accrues before any lawsuit and can be stated on a demand letter.

The legal rate of interest is an annual rate of 6%, implied whenever there is an obligation to pay interest but no express contract fixing a different rate (§ 6.2-301(A)-(B)). The statute also expressly lets a seller or service provider collect the legal rate on an open account, absent a written credit agreement, if payment is not made within 60 days of a billing statement. Verified on the official Virginia Code site (law.lis.virginia.gov).

General contract cap: no loan contract may exceed 12% per year except as otherwise permitted (§ 6.2-303, verified official). For B2B credit the cap is largely inapplicable: § 6.2-317 bars any usury defense (statutory or case law) in connection with a loan for business or investment purposes of $5,000 or more (a loan is deemed business/investment if not for personal, family, or household purposes), and § 6.2-308 bars specified business entities (e.g., certain partnerships and real-estate joint ventures, among others) from pleading usury - for such loans, interest may be collected as agreed.

public+private-construction

Public: Virginia Prompt Payment Act (Va. Code §§ 2.2-4347 to 2.2-4356) covers state agencies and local public bodies; late payments accrue interest at the rate in the contract or, by default, the WSJ prime rate (lower of split rates), not to exceed the § 58.1-1812 rate (§ 2.2-4355). Private construction: § 11-4.6 (verified official) requires owners/GCs on private construction contracts to pay subcontractors within the earlier of 60 days of invoice after satisfactory completion or 7 days after receiving payment, with interest penalties for late payment 'consistent with § 2.2-4355'; pay-if-paid conditioning is restricted.

No distinctive Virginia statute on flat late fees for commercial invoices was found; default principles apply - agreed late fees are enforceable if reasonable under the liquidated-damages/penalty doctrine, and § 6.2-317's business-purpose usury exemption sharply limits any usury-recharacterization argument for B2B charges of $5,000+.