Late fees and interest on unpaid invoices: every state

The short answer

It depends on the state, on what you agreed and on who the customer is. In 39 states and DC the law sets a fixed rate on money owed when no rate was agreed, from 5% to 15% a year (for Georgia and Mississippi, not fully confirmed); in 6 states it floats with a federal rate (Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada and Ohio); New Mexico and Tennessee (not fully confirmed) set an upper limit instead; and Arkansas (not fully confirmed), New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York have no single figure.

The most you can set by agreement is one figure for every customer in 1 state, a figure for homeowners only in 5 states and DC, and no general cap was found in 3 states (Arizona, Idaho and Utah). In the other 41 states it depends, and each state's page quotes on what. In 39 states and DC the text read says a rate or a late fee has to be agreed first.

This is a plain-words summary of each state's own laws as of November 6, 2026, not legal advice. Rules have exceptions. Check the state's own text, linked on every state's page, or a lawyer before you charge a late fee or interest.

Work out a late charge

Put in the invoice amount, how many days it is late and the rate or fee your terms set. It works out simple interest: a yearly rate times the days late over 365, a monthly rate times 12 times the days late over 365, or one flat fee, and it shows the arithmetic. The 10% a year it starts with is only an example; it does not check a rate against any state's limits, so compare with your state's page.

Every state, in a line

Each state has its own page: the rate when none was agreed, the most you can set for a homeowner and a business, its late-fee rules, whether it must be agreed first, and prompt payment on construction, each with the state's own words.

• Alabama — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Alaska — 10.5% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Arizona — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; no general cap found
• Arkansas — no single rate if none was agreed; at most 17% by agreement (not fully confirmed)
• California — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal (its own sources give two answers)
• Colorado — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Connecticut — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Delaware — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• District of Columbia — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; at most 24% by agreement for homeowners
• Florida — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Georgia — 7% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal (not fully confirmed)
• Hawaii — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Idaho — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; no general cap found
• Illinois — 5% a year if no rate was agreed; at most 9% by agreement for homeowners
• Indiana — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Iowa — 5% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Kansas — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Kentucky — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Louisiana — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Maine — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Maryland — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Massachusetts — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Michigan — 5% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Minnesota — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Mississippi — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal (not fully confirmed)
• Missouri — 9% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Montana — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Nebraska — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; at most 16% by agreement for homeowners (its own sources give two answers)
• Nevada — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• New Hampshire — no single rate if none was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• New Jersey — no single rate if none was agreed; at most 16% by agreement for homeowners
• New Mexico — up to 15% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• New York — no single rate if none was agreed; at most 16% by agreement for homeowners
• North Carolina — 8% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• North Dakota — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Ohio — a floating rate if no rate was agreed; at most 8% by agreement for homeowners
• Oklahoma — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Oregon — 9% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Pennsylvania — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Rhode Island — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• South Carolina — 8.75% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• South Dakota — 15% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Tennessee — up to 10% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal (not fully confirmed)
• Texas — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Utah — 10% a year if no rate was agreed; no general cap found
• Vermont — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Virginia — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Washington — 12% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• West Virginia — 6% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Wisconsin — 5% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal
• Wyoming — 7% a year if no rate was agreed; the most you can set depends on the deal

The one federal rule: no late fee on a late fee

Under the FTC Credit Practices Rule (16 CFR § 444.4), a creditor may not levy or collect a delinquency charge on a payment that is otherwise a full payment for the period and is paid on its due date or within a grace period, when the only delinquency is a late fee assessed on earlier installments. It reaches a creditor who sells goods or services to consumers on a deferred payment basis, a consumer being a natural person buying for personal, family, or household use.

It is the one federal rule these pages cover; everything else here is each state's own law. The rule's own words:

• “it is an unfair act or practice within the meaning of section 5 of that Act for a creditor, directly or indirectly, to levy or collect any deliquency charge on a payment, which payment is otherwise a full payment for the applicable period and is paid on its due date or within an applicable grace period, when the only delinquency is attributable to late fee(s) or delinquency charge(s) assessed on earlier installment(s).” — 16 CFR § 444.4 (FTC Credit Practices Rule — Late charges), read November 6, 2026
• “A person who sells goods or services to consumers on a deferred payment basis or pursuant to a lease-purchase arrangement within the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission.” — 16 CFR § 444.1 (definitions), read November 6, 2026
• “A natural person who seeks or acquires goods, services, or money for personal, family, or household use.” — 16 CFR § 444.1 (definitions), read November 6, 2026

What this means on your invoice

Put the rate or the fee in your terms before the work starts. In 39 states and DC the text read says a rate or late fee has to be agreed first. The late fee wording has lines to copy onto an estimate and an invoice.

A homeowner and a business can differ. In 5 states and DC the most you can set is one figure only for a homeowner's account, and business customers have their own rule; each state's page says which.

Construction work has its own clock. 35 states have a prompt payment law for private construction, with interest or deadlines on payments to contractors; for the other 16 none was found in our check, which is not proof there is none.

No late fee on a late fee for a homeowner on credit: see the federal rule above.

Check an invoice against these rules: paste it into the free invoice checker and pick your state, and it shows the state's answer beside the late fee your invoice states.

About this data

Every answer comes from the state's own pages: its statutes, constitution, agencies and courts, each quoted and linked on that state's page with the date it was read. Nothing was filled in from a blog or a summary site. Checked November 6, 2026.

Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee keep their free official code on LexisNexis, whose full sections sit behind a CAPTCHA, so some of their quotes are the section text its search results show; each answer resting only on one says "not fully confirmed: from the official code site's search listing". Tennessee could not be confirmed in full and says so on every answer. Where a state's own sources give two answers (California, Nebraska and Vermont), its page shows both. Rates that float are given as the state's formula, with today's figure only where the state's own page gives one.

Where our data comes from

From the job to the invoice

Workeey does not add late fees or interest to an invoice for you: any late fee is yours to set in your terms and to add to the bill yourself.

In Workeey you can switch reminder texts on for an invoice, and Workeey texts the client on a schedule while it is unpaid; the late payment reminder templates have the emails and the letter. See pricing for what each plan includes.