First, usury interest is generally illegal.
1, it is illegal for usury interest to generally exceed the principal multiplied by 15.4%. The people's court shall support the lender's request to the borrower to pay interest at the agreed interest rate if the interest rate agreed by the borrower and the borrower does not exceed the annual interest rate of 24%. The interest rate agreed between the borrower and the borrower exceeds the annual interest rate of 36%, and the interest agreement in excess is invalid. The people's court shall support the borrower's request to the lender to return the interest paid in excess of 36% of the annual interest rate.
2. Legal basis: Article 680th of the Civil Code of People's Republic of China (PRC).
It is forbidden to lend at high interest, and the interest rate of borrowing shall not violate the relevant provisions of the state.
If there is no agreement on the payment of interest in the loan contract, it shall be deemed that there is no interest.
If the loan contract does not specify the method of interest payment, and the parties cannot reach a supplementary agreement, the interest shall be determined according to the local or the parties' trading methods, trading habits, market interest rates and other factors; Loans between natural persons are regarded as having no interest.
Second, what is the crime of usury interest exceeding the principal?
The crime of usury with interest exceeding the principal depends on the situation:
1. In usury activities, it constitutes the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits if high-interest lending reaches a certain amount;
2. For the purpose of lending, taking credit funds from financial institutions and lending them to others at a high interest rate, and the illegal amount is large, which constitutes the crime of lending at a high interest rate;
3. For the purpose of illegal possession, illegal fund-raising by fraudulent means, and a large amount constitutes the crime of fund-raising fraud;
4. Usury can easily lead to criminal offences such as illegal detention, kidnapping, injury and fraud;
5. Private intermediaries and individuals' legitimate income from self-owned funds with high interest rate are private lending behaviors. In case of lending disputes, they belong to the category of civil adjustment.