Colorado § 5-12-101 - Legal rate of interest.

§ 5-12-101. Legal rate of interest.

If there is no agreement or provision of law for a different rate, the interest on money shall be at the rate of eight percent per annum, compounded annually.

Source: L. 71: R&RE, p. 852, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 73-12-101. L. 75: Entire section amended, p. 257, § 1, effective July 1. L. 79: Entire section amended, p. 315, § 1, effective June 20.

Cross references: For interest on damages for personal injuries, see § 13-21-101.

COLORADO COMMENT

The provisions of this Article 12 are derived in part from Article 1 of Chapter 73, C.R.S. 1963, in effect prior to this Code.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Notice to Attorneys", see 12 Dicta 196 (1935). For article, "A Decade of Colorado Law: Conflict of Laws, Security, "Colorado Interest Law", see 34 Dicta 398 (1957). For article, "The Revolution in Consumer Credit Legislation", see 45 Den. L.J. 679 (1968). For article, "Collecting Pre- and Post-Judgment Interest in Colorado: A Primer", see 15 Colo. Law. 753 (1986). For article, "An Update of Appendices from Collecting Pre- and Post-Judgment Interest in Colorado", see 15 Colo. Law. 990 (1986). For article, "Recovery of Interest: Parts I and II", see 18 Colo. Law. 1063 and 1307 (1989). For article, "Show Me the Money: The Surprising Complexity of Cash Bequests", see 55 Colo. Law. 42 (Mar. 2026).

Annotator's note. Since § 5-12-101 is similar to repealed § 73-1-1, C.R.S. 1963, CSA, C. 88, § 1, and laws antecedent to CSA, C. 88, § 1, relevant cases construing those provisions have been included in the annotations to this section.

Change in legal rate does not affect preexisting contracts. Salazar v. Taylor, 18 Colo. 538, 33 P. 369 (1893); Bankers Trust Co. v. Int'l Trust Co., 108 Colo. 15, 113 P.2d 656 (1941).

Interest awarded. M.L.G. Corp. v. Davis, 672 P.2d 1019 (Colo. App. 1983).

This section does not apply to a situation covered by the prompt payment statute. To the extent there is a conflict, the more specific prompt payment statute prevails over this section. New Design Constr. Co. v. Hamon Contractors, Inc., 215 P.3d 1172 (Colo. App. 2008).

Applied in Farmers State Bank v. Klein, 159 Colo. 165, 410 P.2d 632 (1966); Equal Emp. Opportunity Comm'n v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 634 F.2d 1273 (10th Cir. 1980); Martinez v. Cont'l Enters., 730 P.2d 308 (Colo. 1986); Hansen v. Lederman, 759 P.2d 810 (Colo. App. 1988); Colo. Springs v. Timberlane Assoc., 807 P.2d 1177 (Colo. App. 1990).