23. Prescribed maximum rate of interest
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Where, in any proceedings taken in any court by a moneylender in respect of any money lent or in respect of any agreement or security in respect of money lent, it is found that the interest charged exceeds the prescribed maximum rate of interest for such loan, the court shall, unless the contrary is proved, presume for the purposes of section 22 that the interest charged is excessive and that the transaction is harsh and unconscionable or substantially unfair, but this provision shall be without prejudice to the powers of the court under that section where the court is satisfied that the interest charged, although not exceeding the prescribed maximum rate of interest for that loan, is excessive or that the transaction is harsh or unconscionable or substantially unfair.
moneylender
“moneylender” includes every person whose business is that of moneylending or who carries on or advertises or announces himself or holds himself out in any way as carrying on that business whether or not that person also possesses or earns property or money derived from sources other than the lending of money and whether or not that person carries on the business as a principal or as an agent but does not include —(a)any body corporate, incorporated or empowered by a special Act of Parliament or by any other Act to lend money in accordance with that Act;(b)any society registered under the Cooperative Societies Act;(c)any person bona fide carrying on the business of banking or insurance or bona fide carrying on any business not having for its primary object the lending of money in the course of which and for the purposes whereof he lends money;(d)any pawnbroker licensed under the provisions of any written law in force in Singapore relating to the licensing of pawnbrokers; and(e)any finance company licensed under the Finance Companies Act.
Where a court reopens a transaction of a moneylender under section 22, the court may require the moneylender to produce any licence granted to him in accordance with the provisions of this Act and may cause such particulars as the court thinks desirable to be endorsed on any such licence and a copy of the particulars to be sent to the Registrar.
The powers of a court under section 22(3) may be exercised notwithstanding that the moneylender’s right of action for the recovery of the money lent is barred.
In no case shall interest at any time be recoverable by a moneylender of an amount in excess of the sum then due as principal unless a court, having regard to all circumstances, otherwise decrees.
principal
“principal”, in relation to a loan, means the amount actually lent to and received by the borrower;
No person who is neither a moneylender nor one of the persons referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e) of the definition of “moneylender” in section 2 shall, in respect of money lent by him, in any case recover in excess of the money actually lent by him (whether the excess is claimed by way of interest or otherwise) any sum greater than an amount equal to simple interest at the rate of 20% per annum on the money actually lent by him.
A moneylender who charges interest for a loan at a rate exceeding the maximum rate of interest prescribed for such a loan shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 and for a second or subsequent offence —
to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both; or
where the moneylender is a company, to a fine not exceeding $10,000.