---
title: O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12. Interest on judgments.
collection: code
id: 7-4-12
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12 (2025)
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date: 2025
status: active
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heading_path: BANKING AND FINANCE / INTEREST AND USURY / IN GENERAL
---

# O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12. Interest on judgments.

(a) All judgments in this state shall bear annual interest upon the principal amount recovered at a rate equal to the prime rate as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as published in statistical release H. 15 or any publication that may supersede it, on the day the judgment is entered plus 3 percent.

(b) If the judgment is rendered on a written contract or obligation providing for interest at a specified rate, the judgment shall bear interest at the rate specified in the contract or obligation.

(c) The postjudgment interest provided for in this Code section shall apply automatically to all judgments in this state and the interest shall be collectable as a part of each judgment whether or not the judgment specifically reflects the entitlement to postjudgment interest.

(d) This Code section shall apply to all civil actions filed on or after July 1, 2003.

## History

Laws 1845, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 394.; Code 1863, § 2027; Code 1868, § 2028; Code 1873, § 2054; Code 1882, § 2054; Civil Code 1895, § 2882; Civil Code 1910, § 3432; Code 1933, § 57-108; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1118, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 195, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 352, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 7; Ga. L. 2003, p. 820, § 1.

## Cross References

Amount of judgment upon which interest may be charged, § 9-12-10.

Pre-judgment interest in highway condemnation proceedings, § 32-3-19.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1988, the hyphen was deleted in the word “postjudgment” in subsection (c).

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2003, “July 1, 2003” was substituted for “the effective date of this Code section” in subsection (d).

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2003, p. 820, § 9, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that this Act “shall apply to all civil actions filed on or after July 1, 2003.”

## Law Reviews

For article discussing methods of computation of finance charges in Georgia consumer credit contracts, see 30 Mercer L. Rev. 281 (1978).

For note on the 2003 amendment to this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 28 (2003).

For annual survey of trial practice and procedure, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2004).