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Ohio’s 6% Interest Cap on Deployment — Wider Than the Federal One, and It Covers the Spouse

The federal cap holds interest at 6% only on debts taken on before military service. Ohio’s own provision limits interest and finance charges to 6% for a service member deployed at least 180 days, and for the spouse, and the Ohio judiciary’s own bench aid states plainly that Ohio law does not limit coverage to pre-service loans.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The federal cap holds interest at 6% only on debts taken on before military service. Ohio’s own provision limits interest and finance charges to 6% for a service member deployed at least 180 days, and for the spouse, and the Ohio judiciary’s own bench aid states plainly that Ohio law does not limit coverage to pre-service loans.

What it's worth: Interest and finance charges held to 6% while deployed — on debt taken on during service as well as before it

  • The Ohio judiciary’s own bench aid states: "Ohio law limits interest and finance charges to 6% for servicememberss and spouses where servicemember is deployed for at least 180 days. Ohio law does not limit coverage to only pre-service loans. It allows creditors to request a showing of ‘material impact’ by servicemember."
  • The saving depends entirely on what you owe and at what rate, so we publish no figure.
  • The federal ceiling in the same bench aid is 6% on debts incurred before military service, retroactive to the date of entry on active duty, where military service has a material impact on the ability to repay. The Ohio provision is the wider of the two on the pre-service point.

Who is entitled to it

  • The cap is written for the deployed service member.
  • The spouse is named in the Ohio provision, not left to the federal rule.
  • A current deployment on active duty is what the Ohio provision turns on.
  • Your home is in Ohio.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Write to each creditor with a copy of the deployment orders and ask for the rate to be brought down to 6%.
  2. 2Do not stop at loans taken out before you joined. The bench aid says in terms that the Ohio provision is not limited to pre-service loans, which is the point at which it goes beyond the federal rule.
  3. 3Say whose debt it is. The Ohio provision is described as running to the service member and the spouse, so a joint account or the spouse’s own account is worth raising.
  4. 4Be ready for the material-impact question. The bench aid notes that Ohio law allows a creditor to ask the service member to show that military service has had a material impact.
  5. 5Keep the correspondence. If the creditor sues, the court is where this gets enforced, and the bench aid is written for the judge who will hear it.
  6. 6Ask the Ohio Attorney General’s legal assistance programme for military personnel and their families if a creditor refuses, and ask your installation legal assistance office as well.
Form
A written request to the creditor, with a copy of the orders
File with
Each creditor — and the court, if the creditor sues
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe commonly repeated line is that the 6% cap only reaches debt you already had when you were called up. That is the federal rule. The Ohio judiciary’s own bench aid says Ohio law does not limit coverage to pre-service loans.
Worth knowingThe 180-day deployment threshold is the Ohio condition, and it is longer than the federal rule needs. A short deployment may still be covered federally on pre-service debt even when the Ohio provision does not bite.
Worth knowingThe spouse is named. A creditor who tells a spouse that civil relief is the service member’s business alone is not describing the Ohio provision as the bench aid states it.
Known gapWe did not read Ohio Rev. Code §1343.031 itself, so the definition of "deployed", the precise treatment of finance charges and any exclusions are not verified. That statute is now a candidate.

Sources

Why only one source type: The authority is Ohio Rev. Code §1343.031 and no official host would serve it this session: codes.ohio.gov refused retrieval and legislature.ohio.gov refused the connection. The bench aid the Ohio Judicial Conference distributes to Ohio judges is the operative statement of what an Ohio court will apply, and it is quoted rather than paraphrased above.

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