Page:State ex rel. Bryant v. R & A Investment Co.pdf/6

294   "(ii) All such contracts having a rate of interest in excess of the maximum lawful rate shall be void as to the unpaid interest. A person who has paid interest in excess of the maximum lawful rate may recover, within the time provided by law, twice the amount of interest paid. It is unlauful for any person to knowingly charge a rate of interest in excess of the maximum lauful rate in effect at the time of the contract, and any person who does so shall be subject to such punishment as may be provided by law."

"(b) All contracts for consumer loans and credit sales having a greater rate of interest than seventeen percent (17%) per annum shall be void as to principal and interest and the General Assembly shall prohibit the same by law. [Emphasis added.]"

[2] The State argues that section 4-88-107(a)(10), which prohibits "[e]ngaging in any other unconscionable, false, or deceptive act or practice in business, commerce or trade," effectively supplements the constitutional provisions above. In Perryman v. Hackler, 323 Ark. 500, 916 S.W.2d 105 (1996), this court acknowledged that art. 19, § 13, expressly authorizes the General Assembly to enact legislation to punish parties who knowingly violate the usury provisions. Moreover, the plain language of subsection (b) mandates that the General Assembly prohibit usurious contracts. In this respect, we disagree with Mid South's interpretation that Amendment 60 merely allows the legislature to restate the language found in art. 19, § 13.

[3] Similarly, we refine Mid South's reliance on Perryman, 323 Ark. 500, 916 S.W.2d 105, for its assertion that the Attorney General lacks standing to enforce the constitution's usury provisions. Perryman involved a personal usury action, in which the appellants, who had defaulted on a usurious contract for real property that had been assigned to them, sought to recover for themselves the interest that their assignors had paid before assigning the contract, in addition to the interest that the appellant–assignees had paid. This court allowed the appellants to recover only such interest that they personally paid subsequent to the assignment. Here, the State is not bringing a personal claim for usury. Mid South contended in oral arguments before this court that each of the borrowers must bring an individual action for recovery, while admitting that its interest rates, which exceed 300% per annum,