7 U.S.C. § 1946
Loans made under this subchapter shall be payable in not to exceed seven years. The Secretary may consolidate or reschedule outstanding loans for payment over a period not to exceed seven years (or, in the case of loans for farm operating purposes, fifteen years) from the date of such consolidation or rescheduling, and the amount of unpaid principal and interest of the prior loans so consolidated or rescheduled shall not create a new charge against any loan levels authorized by law. A new loan may be included in a consolidation. Such new loan shall be charged against any loan level authorized by law. Except as otherwise provided for farm loans under section 1981b of this title, the interest rate on such consolidated or rescheduled loans, other than guaranteed loans, may be changed by the Secretary to a rate not to exceed the rate being charged for loans made under this subchapter at the time of the consolidation or rescheduling. The interest rate on any guaranteed loan under this subchapter that may be consolidated or rescheduled for payment shall be such rate as may be agreed upon by the borrower and the lender, but not in excess of a rate as may be determined by the Secretary.
A loan made or guaranteed by the Secretary under this subchapter may be in the form of a line-of-credit loan.
A line-of-credit loan under paragraph (1) shall terminate not later than 5 years after the date that the loan is made or guaranteed.
For purposes of determining eligibility for a farm operating loan under this subchapter, each year during which a farmer or rancher takes an advance or draws on a line-of-credit loan the farmer or rancher shall be considered to have received an operating loan for 1 year.
If a borrower does not pay an installment on a line-of-credit loan on schedule, the borrower may not take an advance or draw on the line-of-credit, unless the Secretary determines that-
A line-of-credit loan may be used to finance the production or marketing of an agricultural commodity that-
1See References in Text note below.
7 U.S.C. § 1946
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTParagraph (3), referred to in subsec. (a)(1), was repealed by Pub. L. 104-127, title VI, §661(g), Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1107.Section 2279(e) of this title, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), was redesignated section 2279(a) of this title by section 12301(b)(3) of Pub. L. 115-334.
AMENDMENTS2014-Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 113-79 inserted "a microloan to a beginning farmer or rancher or veteran farmer or rancher (as defined in section 2279(e) of this title), or" after "The interest rate on".1996-Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 104-127, §661(g), struck out par. (3) which read as follows: "The interest rate on any loan (other than a guaranteed loan) made or insured under clause (5) of section 1942(a) of this title for activities that involve the use of prime farmland as defined in section 1927(a)(6)(C) of this title shall be the interest rate otherwise applicable under this section increased by 2 per centum per annum."Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104-127, §614, added subsec. (c). 1990-Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 101-624 amended par. (2) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (2) read as follows: "The interest rate on any loan (other than a guaranteed loan) to a low-income, limited resource borrower under this subchapter shall be the interest rate otherwise applicable under this section reduced by 3 per centum per annum." 1984-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98-258 inserted "(or, in the case of loans for farm operating purposes, fifteen years)" and substituted "Except as otherwise provided for farm loans under section 1981b of this title, the interest rate" for "The interest rate". 1981-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97-35 redesignated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted reference to loans guaranteed under pars. (2) and (3), and added pars. (2) and (3). 1978- Pub. L. 95-334 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted provisions relating to depositing of charges and provisions relating to interest rates on guaranteed loans, struck out provisions relating to payment and renewal of loans, and added subsec. (b).1968- Pub. L. 90-488 substituted provisions for determination of interest rate by taking into consideration current average market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the average maturities of the loans, adjusted to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum, plus not to exceed 1 per centum per annum as determined by the Secretary, for former prohibition of an interest rate exceeding 5 per centum per annum.
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1981 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 97-35 applicable to loans made after Sept. 30, 1981, see section 160(c) of Pub. L. 97-35 set out as a note under section 1927 of this title.
- beginning farmer or rancher
- The term "beginning farmer or rancher" means such term as defined by the Secretary.
- borrower
- The term "borrower" means any farm borrower who has outstanding obligations to the Secretary under any farmer program loan, without regard to whether the loan has been accelerated, but does not include any farm borrower all of whose loans and accounts have been foreclosed on or liquidated, voluntarily or otherwise.
- farmer
- The term "farmer" includes a person who is engaged in, or who, with assistance afforded under this chapter, intends to engage in, fish farming.