Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: hard loan responsibility

I would like to see the contracts. I suspect there may be a way to challenge and escape that loan. Take a moment to look at my resume on my website. I am an excellent attorney, I can help you.

Re: hard loan responsibility

Pay?

Re: hard loan responsibility

Well, I guess the issue is "crooked." There is a law against loan sharking in California. Asking and receiving excessive interest is called "usury" and loans with unlawfully high interest rates are termed "usurious."

Neither the law nor making the compound interest calculations needed to prove violations is real simple. First of all, anything over 10% is suspect. Sometimes legal, sometimes not. But, you say, credit cards and hard-money mortgages usually go over 10% a year interest. That's because national banks and licensed real estate loan brokers, pawnshops and a bunch of others are exempt from the usury laws.

Usury is a crime; you can also bring a civil case against a lender who has committed usury and collect triple damages (get three times your interest back). BUT first you have to make sure that the lender isn't exempt; then you need to determine the annual interest rate, in your case starting with a principal sum (loan) of $23,000 in 19XX and a payback, principal plus $57,000 interest, in 2006. Probably usurious, but if the loan were made long enough ago, maybe not.

If you contact me with dates and other details, such as what licenses the lender might have, maybe I can give you a further answer.