Judgment Interest Calculator Guide for Hawaii

Hawaii interest rules

This source-backed guide covers Hawaii judgment, legal-rate, written-contract, and prejudgment-interest commencement rules. It certifies only the quoted source-backed rules below; related interest categories remain outside this page unless they are expressly listed in the receipt.

Judgment interest

Hawaii civil judgments bear interest at 10% per year, and no more.

On judgment. §478-3 On judgment. Interest at the rate of ten per cent a year, and no more, shall be allowed on any judgment recovered before any court in the State, in any civil suit.

Legal rate when no written contract fixes another rate

When no express written contract fixes a different rate, Hawaii allows 10% interest per year for the listed money-due, settlement-account, money-received, and open-account categories; State obligations use the quarterly prime rate, capped at 10% per year.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 478-2. §478-2 Legal rate; computation. When there is no express written contract fixing a different rate of interest, interest shall be allowed at the rate of ten per cent a year, except that, with respect to obligations of the State, interest shall be allowed at the prime rate for each calendar quarter but in no event shall exceed ten per cent a year, as follows: (1) For money due on any bond, bill, promissory note, or other instrument of writing, or for money lent, after it becomes due; (2) For money due on the settlement of accounts, from the day on which the balance is ascertained; (3) For money received to the use of another, from the date of a demand made; and (4) For money upon an open account, after sixty days from the date of the last item or transaction.

Written contract rates

For covered consumer credit transactions and home business loans, Hawaii allows written simple-interest rates up to 1% per month or 12% per year, or up to 2% per month or 24% per year for covered financial institutions; other written-contract transactions may stipulate any rate not otherwise prohibited by law.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 478-4. §478-4 Rate by written contract. (a) It shall in no case be deemed unlawful, with respect to any consumer credit transaction (except a credit card agreement) and any home business loan to stipulate by written contract, for any rate of simple interest not exceeding one per cent per month or twelve per cent a year or, in the event the creditor is a financial institution regulated under chapter 412 (other than a trust company or a credit union), for any rate of simple interest not exceeding two per cent per month or twenty-four per cent a year. (b) As an alternative to the rate of interest specified in subsection (a), it shall be lawful with respect to any consumer credit transaction (except a credit card agreement) and any home business loan to stipulate by written contract for the payment and receipt of a finance charge in any form or forms at an annual percentage rate not to exceed twelve per cent, or twenty-four per cent in the event the creditor is a financial institution regulated under chapter 412 (other than a trust company or a credit union), together in either case with any other charges that are excluded or excludable from the determination of finance charge under the Truth in Lending Act. The rates in this subsection shall be available as alternative permissible rates for any of the credit transactions referred to, whether in fact or in law the Truth in Lending Act applies to the transaction, notwithstanding the advance, fixed, or variable manner in which interest or finance charge may be computed under the contract, and whether the contract uses the terms interest, annual percentage rate, finance charge, or any combination of such terms. For rate computation purposes, with respect to any contract to which this subsection may apply, the creditor conclusively shall be presumed to have given all disclosures in the manner, form, and at the time contemplated by the Truth in Lending Act, including those necessary to exclude any charges from the finance charge. (c) With respect to any transaction other than a consumer credit transaction, a home business loan, or a credit card agreement, it shall be lawful to stipulate by written contract for any rate of interest not otherwise prohibited by law.

Prejudgment-interest commencement date

In Hawaii civil cases, the judge may designate the commencement date for interest to fit the circumstances; the earliest date may be the injury date for tort cases or the breach date for contract cases.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 636-16. Awarding interest. In awarding interest in civil cases, the judge is authorized to designate the commencement date to conform with the circumstances of each case, provided that the earliest commencement date in cases arising in tort, may be the date when the injury first occurred and in cases arising by breach of contract, it may be the date when the breach first occurred.

Not certified by this page

• This receipt does not certify Hawaii ERISA interest, federal postjudgment interest, escrow interest, residential security-deposit interest, tax interest, statutory penalty schemes outside Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 478-2, 478-3, 478-4, and 636-16, or case-law exceptions listed in annotations.

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DocketMath's interest calculator can model interest scenarios once you identify the controlling jurisdiction, amount, rate type, and accrual date. Use the source panel for the verified source-backed rule.

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Sources

• On judgment — On judgment
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 478-2 — Legal rate; computation
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 478-4 — Rate by written contract
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 636-16 — Awarding interest

All sources are official primary law published by www.capitol.hawaii.gov.

Corroboration method: Official Hawaii Legislature section pages are Cloudflare-blocked to plain curl in this environment; verbatim text was fetched from Wayback Machine snapshots of the same official .gov URLs, matching the existing Hawaii receipt pattern in this repository.