GA Code § 7-4-10 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 7 - Banking and Finance|Chapter 4 - Interest and Usury|Article 1 - In General|§ 7-4-10. Usury Forfeits Entire Interest; Right of Setoff; How Forfeiture Discharged; When Time Bars Action or Defense

  Any person, company, or corporation violating the provisions of Code Section 7-4-2 shall forfeit the entire interest so charged or taken or contracted to be reserved, charged, or taken. No further penalty or forfeiture shall be occasioned, suffered, or allowed.   The amount forfeited as provided in subsection (a) of this Code section may be pleaded as a setoff in any action for the recovery of the principal sum loaned or advanced by the defendant in said action.   No contrivance or arrangement between the parties to any such unlawful transaction or their privies, except an actual and full payment of the amount forfeited as provided in subsection (a) of this Code section, shall have the effect of discharging such forfeiture.   No plea or action for the recovery of such forfeiture shall be barred by lapse of time shorter than one year.    (Ga. L. 1875, p. 105, §§ 3, 4; Code 1882, §§ 2057b, 2057c, 2057d, 2057e; Civil Code 1895, §§ 2888, 2889, 2890, 2891; Civil Code 1910, §§ 3438, 3439, 3440, 3441; Ga. L. 1916, p. 48, §§ 1, 2; Code 1933, §§ 57-112, 57-113, 57-114, 57-115.)   Law reviews.   - For article discussing methods of computation of finance charges in Georgia consumer credit contracts, see 30 Mercer L. Rev. 281 (1978). For note discussing problems with profits generated by escrow account, and proposing federal legislative reform, see 10 Ga. St. B.J. 618 (1974). For note discussing penalties for violations of the usury statutes, and procedures for invoking the usury defense, see 12 Ga. L. Rev. 814 (1978).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   ANALYSIS    General Consideration   Forfeiture   Setoff   Statute of Limitations    RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 44B Am. Jur. 2d, Interest and Usury, §§ 172 et seq., 196, 286 et seq.   C.J.S.   - 47 C.J.S., Interest and Usury; Consumer Credit, §§ 286 et seq., 325, 400, 401.   ALR.    - Right to have usurious payments made on previous obligation applied as payment of principal on renewal, 13 A.L.R. 1244.    Affirmative liability for usurious penalty or excess interest paid under usurious contract in event of assignment or transfer, 78 A.L.R. 408.    Right to have usurious payments of interest applied as credit on principal as affected by statute of limitations, 101 A.L.R. 741.    Validity or voluntary conveyance consideration for which was tainted by usury, 102 A.L.R. 483.    When does limitation commence to run against action, defense, or counterclaim based on usury, 108 A.L.R. 622.    Right of junior mortgagee to attack senior mortgage for usury, 121 A.L.R. 879.    Usury as affecting conditional sale contract, 152 A.L.R. 598.    Payment or offer to pay principal and interest as condition of relief in equity against usurious contract, 166 A.L.R. 458.   Availability of setoff, counterclaim, or the like to recover either penalty for usury in, or usurious interest paid on, separate transaction or instrument, 54 A.L.R.2d 1344.   Right, in absence of statute expressly so providing, to recover back usurious payments, 59 A.L.R.2d 522.   Validity, and applicability to causes of action not already barred, of a statute enlarging limitation period, 79 A.L.R.2d 1080.   Statute of limitations: effect of delay in appointing administrator or other representative on cause of action accruing at or after death of person in whose favor it would have accrued, 28 A.L.R.3d 1141.   Validity under usury laws of provision calling for repayment of principal which exceeds sum loaned by amount reflecting any decline in purchasing power of dollar, 90 A.L.R.3d 763.