Interest is allowed on most judgments entered in the federal courts from the date of judgment until paid.
The types of judgments generally fall under one of three statutes:
- 28 U.S.C. 1961, which governs civil and bankruptcy adversary judgment interest;
- 18 U.S.C. 3612 (f)(2), which governs criminal judgments or sentences; and
- 40 U.S.C. 3116, which governs deficiency judgments in condemnation proceedings.
These statutory references should be checked with reliable statutory data bases such as Westlaw. Lexis, or other appropriately maintained sources of the U.S. Code for the latest changes.
Under each of the above statutes the rate of interest used in calculating the amount of post judgment interest is the weekly average 1-year constant maturity (nominal) Treasury yield, as published by the Federal Reserve System. Prior to December 21, 2000 the rate of interest allowed under the statutes cited above was based on the coupon issue yield equivalent (as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury) of the average accepted auction price for the last auction of 52 week t- bills settled immediately preceding entry of the judgment. The way the rate is used differs under each of the cited statutes, so those sections should be reviewed to determine how to apply it to any particular judgment.
Current Applicable Rates
Effective October 11, 2016 the Federal Reserve Board ceased publication of the following interest rates on its Selected Interest Rates (H.15) statistical release: Eurodollar deposits, corporate bonds, state and local bonds, and conventional mortgages. The interest rate swaps continued to be published for two more weeks and was discontinued on October 31, 2016.
A list of sources for the discontinued data is available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/h15_technical_qa.htm
The Board will continue to publish the following interest rates in the H.15 release: federal funds (effective), commercial paper, bank prime loan, discount window primary credit, and U.S. Treasury securities.
Additionally, as of October 11, 2016, the Board no longer publishes the H.15 in PDF format or publish weekly and monthly averages directly on the H.15. Weekly and monthly averages continue to be available through the Board's Data Download Program.
The H.15 will be published at 4:15pm every business day (excluding holidays).