Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

A Missouri business is considering charging interest on outstanding accounts. Are there any laws governing how much notice the company needs to provide their customers? Any restriction on the terms used, i.e. finance charge vs. late fee vs. interest? Etc.


Asked on 7/28/10, 12:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anthony Smith LawSmith

Most debt is based upon a contract. One party to acontract may nto l\alter the terms without the agreement of the other. Otherwise, the court may sy there was nto binding deal to start with. This plays out as, I sell you x for $Y. You are late paying me $Y, so I say, now you have to pay me $Y + Q% as interest. You sue and Seek $Y + Q%. The court sees that there was nto dagreemetn for Q%, so they might decide that there was never really adeal for $Y, because you now claim the deal is defferent than what it seems you agreed to aoringianlly, so you get nothing, and the other side keeps x.

There is no set time period. If you wish to charge interest beyond the statutory amount, then get an agreement to that, singed by someone with authortity from the other side. If they already owe you the money, then it may be too late to increase the amount they owe, beyond the statutory interest amount.

Good luck

Good luck

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Answered on 8/03/10, 2:21 pm


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