Statutory interest: what the Civil Code gives a creditor

Paolo, a furniture restorer in Turin, lent 15,000 € to a former client who promised to repay in spring. Summer came and went. Paolo assumes he can add whatever interest seems fair. He cannot: the Civil Code fixes both when interest starts and at what rate, and for 73 days of 2026 the answer is exactly 48 €, not a round figure picked in anger.

Two kinds of interest, two sets of rules

Italian law has two regimes for a creditor paid late. The general one sits in the Civil Code and applies to any debt of money. The special one, Legislative Decree 231 of 2002, covers commercial transactions between businesses or with public administrations, and it is far more generous to the creditor.

Knowing which regime applies comes first, because the rates differ widely. This module deals with the general regime: a private loan, a consumer who pays late, a deposit returned late between private persons. The second module turns to invoices between businesses, where the special decree takes over.

The line between the two follows the definitions of the decree. It speaks of contracts between businesses, or between businesses and public administrations, for the supply of goods or services against a price. A sale to a consumer falls outside that definition, and so does a loan between two private persons.

When a sum of money starts to bear interest

Article 1282 of the Civil Code lays down the starting principle. Money claims that are liquid and due produce interest by operation of law, unless the law or the title says otherwise. Liquid means the amount is certain; due means the date for payment has passed. Nothing needs to be asked for.

The same article sets two exceptions. Claims for rents do not produce interest until the debtor is put in default, unless the parties agreed otherwise. And a claim for reimbursing expenses on property to be returned bears no interest while the spender enjoyed that property without paying for it.

Default, or mora, is the second mechanism. Article 1224 provides that in obligations to pay money, statutory interest is owed from the day of default, even if it was not owed before and even if the creditor proves no loss at all. The interest is a fixed compensation, not a damage to demonstrate.

If a higher rate than the statutory one was owed before default, the default interest runs at that same higher rate. And a creditor who shows a greater loss may claim further compensation, except where the parties had agreed the rate of default interest in advance. An agreed rate closes that door.

Putting the debtor in default

Article 1219 states how default happens. The debtor is put in default by a demand or request made in writing. An oral reminder, however insistent, does not do it. A letter, a certified email or any written document that clearly asks for payment does.

• No written demand is needed when the debt arises from an unlawful act
• No written demand is needed when the debtor has declared in writing that he will not pay
• No written demand is needed when the term has expired and the performance is due at the creditor's domicile

The third exception depends on where payment has to be made, a question governed by rules this course does not examine. The prudent course is therefore simple. When in doubt, send the written demand. It costs almost nothing, it fixes a date that nobody can dispute, and it removes an argument from the debtor's side.

The article adds a rule for heirs. If the term expires after the debtor's death, the heirs are put in default only by a written demand, and only once eight days have passed since it was made. A creditor dealing with an estate should count from the demand, not from the original due date.

Who sets the statutory rate, and how

Article 1284 still opens with a rate of 5 per cent a year, a figure written into the Code long ago. The same sentence lets the Minister change it every year by a decree published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale no later than 15 December of the preceding year. The decree, not the old figure, gives the rate applied.

The Minister does not choose freely. The rate is set on the basis of the average gross annual yield of State securities lasting no more than twelve months, taking into account the inflation recorded in the year. If no new rate is fixed by 15 December, the previous one stays in force for the next year.

The 2026 rate comes from the ministerial decree of 10 December 2025, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale of 13 December 2025. The 2025 rate comes from the decree of 10 December 2024. Both are recorded as update notes under article 1284 in the consolidated text of the Code served by the Gazzetta Ufficiale.

The rate moves more than one might think. The notes under article 1284 run from very low rates in the years of near-zero yields to far higher ones when inflation returned. That volatility is why a claim spanning several years must never apply a single rate to the whole period.

The article also governs agreed interest. When the parties provide for interest without fixing its measure, it runs at the statutory rate. Interest above the statutory measure must be set in writing; otherwise only the statutory rate is owed. A handshake on a higher rate is worth the statutory rate and nothing more.

Computing statutory interest by the day

Statutory interest is simple interest: it is computed on the principal only, and interest already accrued does not itself bear interest. The computation takes three inputs, the sum owed, the rate of the year and the number of days, and one convention on the length of the year.

ActioFin's statutory interest calculator works in two steps. It first computes the interest for a full year and rounds it to the cent, then prorates it to the days of the period over a year of 365 days, the length of 2026. The method is transparent, so anyone can check the figure by hand.

A period that straddles two years must be split. Each calendar year has its own rate, so the days falling in each year are computed separately and the two results are added. Applying the 2026 rate to days of 2025 is the most common error in home-made interest claims.

The calculator only knows the 2026 rate, and says so. For days in another year, it tells you to split the computation and use that year's rate. That limit is deliberate: a rate not read on its official source is a rate the tool refuses to apply on your behalf.

When the claim goes to court

Article 1284 contains a rule that changes the arithmetic of a dispute. If the parties have not fixed the rate, then from the moment a claim is brought before a court, the statutory rate becomes equal to the one provided by the special legislation on late payment in commercial transactions.

The same applies to the act that starts arbitration proceedings. In other words, a debtor who forces the creditor to sue pays, from the date of the claim, the far higher rate built for commercial transactions, even if the debt itself was never commercial. The rule is meant to discourage waiting for the judge.

According to the note under the article, this rule produces effects for proceedings started from the thirtieth day after the entry into force of the conversion law of Decree-Law 132 of 2014. For any proceedings started today, it applies. The second module explains how that commercial rate is built.

Writing a statutory-interest claim

Before any court, there is a letter. Under the Civil Code that letter does double duty: it puts the debtor in default, which starts statutory interest where it was not already running, and it states what is owed. Written well, it often settles the matter without further steps.

The letter should name the debt and its origin, the date it fell due, the principal still unpaid and a clear request to pay. If interest is already running, add the rate of each year concerned, the days counted in each and the resulting amounts. A debtor who can verify the figures has one less reason to delay.

Choose a channel that leaves a trace. A registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or a certified email both prove the date on which the demand reached the debtor. That date matters twice: it can be the starting point of the interest, and it is the evidence a judge will ask for first.

Keep the arithmetic modest and exact. Statutory rates in recent years have been low, and the interest on a small debt over a few months amounts to a few euros. Claiming more than the Code allows weakens the whole letter; claiming the exact figure, with its method, strengthens it.

Finally, update the claim when the year turns. A letter sent in December and a payment received in February straddle two rates. Recompute the interest at payment, split by calendar year, rather than carrying forward the figure written in the first letter.