West 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.

Where there is no written agreement on the rate, the legal rate of interest is $6 upon $100 for a year (6% per annum), proportionately for greater or lesser sums and periods. Verified on the official West Virginia Code site (code.wvlegislature.gov). Note: post-judgment interest is set separately by a formula in W. Va. Code § 56-6-31 (not verified here).

Parties may contract in writing for interest not exceeding 8% per annum (§ 47-6-5(b)); a 9% ceiling applies to first-lien residential real estate loans (with a mandatory no-prepayment-penalty clause). West Virginia's nominal caps are unusually low; various exceptions for regulated lenders and under the WV consumer-credit statutes (ch. 46A) and federal preemption may allow higher rates in particular commercial settings - no general business/corporate exemption was verified in this research, so verify with counsel before charging above 8% on B2B credit.

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State: W. Va. Code § 5A-3-54 (Prompt Pay Act) - historically required payment of legitimate uncontested invoices within 60 days with interest at the tax commissioner's current rate (§ 11-10-17a); as amended by the Prompt Payment Act of 2023 (SB 436), payment is required within 45 business days with interest thereafter at the Wall Street Journal prime rate plus 3%. Local: § 7-5-7 (Prompt Pay Act of 1995) applies similar rules to counties/municipal bodies. No general private-commercial prompt-payment act found.

No distinctive West Virginia statute on flat late fees for commercial invoices was found; default principles apply (agreed, reasonable fees enforceable subject to the liquidated-damages/penalty doctrine). Given the low 8% written-contract usury ceiling in § 47-6-5(b) and no verified broad commercial exemption, percentage-based late charges on B2B invoices above that level carry meaningful usury-recharacterization risk in WV - verify with counsel.