CHARLESTON – The Administrative Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has set the interest rate at 5.5 percent for judgments and decrees entered during the 2019 calendar year.
West Virginia Code §56-6-31 requires the Administrative Office annually to determine the interest rate to be paid upon judgments or decrees for the payment of money. It requires the pre-judgment and post-judgement interest rate to be 2 percentage points above the Fifth Federal Reserve District secondary discount rate in effect on the second day of January of the year in which the judgment or decree is entered.
The law also says the rate cannot exceed 9 percent per year or be less than 4 percent per year. The main bank for the Fifth Federal Reserve District is the Fifth Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Va. That bank’s secondary discount rate on January 2, 2019, was 3.5 percent. The rate of interest on judgements and decrees entered in 2019, therefore, is 5.5 percent.
The law also requires the Administrative Office to notify promptly the courts and members of the West Virginia State Bar of the rate of interest in effect for each calendar year. The Supreme Court has notified the Bar and posted the rate information online at http://www.courtswv.gov/legal-community/pdfs/interest2019.pdf.